The death of Superman has affected everyone in the planet and now Batman will have to compensate for it by reuniting a team of extraordinary people to fight a threat that could destroy everything.
I'm going to start by saying this: Killing Superman in Batman V. Superman was a bad idea.
I'm not talking about the idea itself since killing the most powerful member of the Justice League is not bad per se, the problem is that it comes with serious ramifications that were going to affect future films and this is a point I'm going to reiterate once that I talk about the plot itself.
Yes, I've finally watched the biggest DC superhero movie of the year. Everything (Well, only three films to be honest) has been building-up to this moment, the epic story about the gathering of the world's greatest superheroes that are united to fight a threat that none of them can fight by themselves.
Yeaaaaah, that's yet another point that I'm going to touch later.
Of course, is necessary to mention the tumultuous development the project suffered. Zack Snyder was supposed to direct the whole film but his daughter sadly passed away and he was unable to finish his work. Then Joss Whedon came up to replace him but apparently the movie suffered a share amount of rewrites over its course and at the end, Snyder was credited as the full director while Whedon only received a screenplay credit. Such erratic path would affect any film and is not hard to see why DC fans would be concerned about the final result.
How is that result? Well, let's take a look.
The story focuses clearly on the repercussions from Batman V. Superman with Clark's dead and Bruce dealing with the arrival of Steppenwolf and other creatures from Apokolips which forces him to put together a group to be able to stop them.
And that's the plot, yes, that's all. Sure, is classic "unite the team" stuff but the problem is that such simple premise is not executed in an interesting enough way to compensate. Compared to the Avengers (and yes, I'm sadly going to compare both), Justice League never manages to create an epic story that gets the audience engaged, an interesting villain to be invested into nor even appropriate characterization to create an entertaining time.
What do I mean by this? Well, one of the biggest problems is the villain and that's one of the points I said I was going to touch. Steppenwolf is simply an one-dimensional adversary who just wants to conquer the world for the sake of it and doesn't offer much personality or charisma beyond that. Sure, he's powerful and presents an imposing antagonist for most of the team which would be acceptable if he wasn't So. F*cking. BORING!
This is especially ridiculous since for most of his history, Steppenwolf was never presented as an actual JL villain. Once again, let's compare him to Loki from the first Avengers movie, putting Loki as the main antagonist of that film made sense since he had a history with the team and also had his own unique charm so he didn't pass as an one-note villain. Steppenwolf could have been replaced by a big brute monster (or basically Doomsday again) and nothing would have been lost. What baffles me about this is that I thought all the New Gods teases that appeared in previous films were hinting the arrival of Darkseid and he most certainly would have presented a much more relevant menace for the heroes. Unfortunately, Darkseid doesn't even make a cameo and makes this whole situation completely disappointing in a sense of scale.
And that comes to my next point: Steppenwolf pretty much negates the whole idea of the Justice League. As I said before, this is a story about reuniting the world's greatest superheroes to fight a threat that none of them can fight by themselves.
But let's be honest, Superman could have handled this situation all by himself.
In fact that's pretty much what happens. Once Clark is brought back to life (Spoilers? Yeah, right), he spends a while not being himself but once that he returns to his senses he kicks Steppenwolf's ass quite quickly and easily, in a way that none of the other characters could. Yes, the rest of the cast continue to do stuff but you can't truly tell me that they were really necessary once that Superman appeared.
Speaking of which, this comes with my initial issue: Killing Superman so soon was a mistake. Why? Because this film tries to present Bruce as being a close friend of Clark for the most part of the story, to the point where he keeps calling him by his name, constantly missing him and saying how important he was for the whole world when we all know what happened during BVS in which both characters hated each other and there wasn't enough time to develop a close connection between the two once that they made... peace I guess.
This almost makes me feel like a missed an entry in this story, one that could have told the moment when both Bruce and Clark became good friends, building-up their relationship along with introduced the rest of the team to actually make this entire character turn believable. Alas, that didn't happen and makes the portrayals hard to buy (speaking of which, what's up with Superman turning into a maniac once that he comes back to life? He was even willing to kill Batman there).
All of these problems would turn any movie into a complete disaster... but I was surprised when I ended-up enjoying it quite a bit.
Yes, believe it or not, I actually liked a lot of what was presented here. Let's talk about the most prominent change compared to previous chapters in this overaching plot: The humour.
For the first time we actually get a good dose of humour that was completely missing in other DCEU entries and this might be thanks to Whedon's involvement. The characters joke constantly based on their own predicaments and surprisingly don't take the whole situation so seriously despite that they should at times. Hell, even Batman of all people has some of the best jokes in the movie which contrast strangely well with how grim and gritty his appearance was in BVS (despite of how much I hated Superman's portrayal during his rebirth, the segment actually makes fun of BVS which makes me appreciate it a bit more).
The dialogue is not perfect though, at times I feel like the exposition is too heavyhanded with characters telling their backgrounds in the most blunt way possible. I understand this is necessary considering that half of them are just being introduced but is still obnoxious.
But I can't really blame the actors for the film's problems because they're really good. Henry Cavill as Superman has good scenes (aside from the already mentioned) and finally delivers a more lighthearted version of the character that allows him for some moments of genuine comedy. Ditto Ben Affleck as Batman who gets an even better portrayal from his previous work which I already thought it was pretty solid. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is perfect, nothing more to say.
The newcomers were pleasent surprises as well. Jason Momoa became quickly a fan favorite due to his personality and he does portray a quite enjoyable Aquaman that is more in vein with Thor in terms of style. Ezra Miller as The Flash was even better though, he strangely mixes the geeky side of Barry Allen with the hyperactive nature of Bart Allen in a way that at times seems off but is also highly entertaining. Ray Fisher as Cyborg was decent, there's a good idea behind the character but he's mostly angsty because of his condition although he also has his shining and fun moments.
The supporting cast gets the job done at the very least. Jeremy Irons is the highlight thanks to his role as Alfred and his constant banter with Bruce provide some of the best scenes in the story. Amy Adams as Lois Lane is still serviceable and is at least necessary for the plot. Same opinion about J.K. Simmons who portrays the recently introduced Commisioner Gordon, is nothing great but works well enough.
I already mentioned how underwhelming Steppenwolf is as a villain but that's not really Claran Hinds' fault who provides the voice since he does a decent work. Is just that the idea of the character was not interesting.
The special effects are not bad but they're not great either, they deliver a strong enough spectacle (better than in Wonder Woman at least) but they're still not that impressive, particularly concerning Steppenwolf who is made by motion capture and his lack of personality is emphasized here.
To conclude, Justice League has problems, is strangely not as epic compared to previous flicks like Man of Steel or Batman V. Superman but still manages to be better in some aspects like the comedy and interactions between the characters. This actually creates hope for upcoming movies as long as they have a strong enough foundation, is the kind of direction that most fans have been asking for but not exactly with the best execution. That being said, there's still potential for development and I hope the new creative teams are able to achieve it.
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