As we all know, DC have been playing catch-up to Marvel for many years now. Sure, they’ve managed to get a few solo movies out expanding on some of the lore of their most popular characters such as Superman, Batman and most recently Wonder Woman, but is it enough to warrant a fully-blown Justice League movie so soon? Well, that’s exactly what I intend to find out. (Warning: Spoilers pertaining to the previous movie "Dawn of Justice" ahead).
Following the death of Superman at the deadly hands of Doomsday, the world is in a state of shock. However, an unexpected side effect of his passing was the triggering of three mystical cubes known as the “Mother Boxes”. This inadvertantly leads to the resurrection of the villainous Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds) back on Earth to wreak havoc as well as attempting to terraform our landscapes into something more in line with own home planet. As word of this gets back to Bruce Wayne (played by Ben Affleck), he immediately gets to work in putting together a team of superheroes he’s been tracking for some time. In no particular order, they are Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot), The Flash (played by Ezra Miller), Aquaman (played by Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (played by Ray Fisher). Together, they make up the legendary team known as the Justice League. As Steppenwolf and his minions continue to grow ever more powerful, the Justice League prepare for their very first battle to save the world from absolute dominion.
As with most movie fans out there, I was looking forward to this one. That’s actually a little of an understatement. Having really loved Man of Steel and being very lukewarm regarding Dawn of Justice, I had no idea what to expect. And the end result? Justice League did the trick. Kind of. We got pretty good portrayals of the superheroes I grew up being so fond of. The action was fast and did pack a serious punch. Underlying chemistry between each member of the Justice League was decent enough, given that two of the characters were new editions to the overall movie franchise. It all sufficed. But that’s about so far as it goes. One big difference I noted in this movie from the rest of the DCU releases, is the comedic value. Mainly, I believe, to respond to the hordes of critics deeming their movies too dark in tone and bleak looking. The man chosen for this most dubious of roles was Ezra Miller who, at many occasions throughout, threw in the obligatory one-liners or pulled the right “faces” to coax giggles out of theatre audiences. And whilst adequate enough, I also thought it felt a little out of context with the rest of the movie’s tone. Sure, some may like the mood switch overs from time to time, but I would have preferred a bit more consistency as a whole.
The visuals are pretty good, with Cyborg translating quite well over to the big screen. The effects for his character were reviled in fan forums after the trailer’s release a few months back, but I think the make-up and FX team did a great job. However, during the final act when the Justice League find themselves in other “terrain”, the cartoonish nature of the backgrounds stand out more than they should. I found the colours and saturation quite jarring to the eyes and that kinda took me out of the movie for a while. In general, I’m not quite sure what that missing element was to keep this movie from being a great one. I feel it had something to do with DC’s approach to taking on Marvel. The rich history evolved over years of "universe" building that Marvel enjoyed, simply cannot be replicated here by DC. Everything has been literally shoved down our throats too quickly, to the extent that we cannot possibly care as much for these set of characters as we do the more rounded and well-known ones from Marvel. Harsh, I know, but that’s how it stands for now. Also, a mention to Steppenwolf for being, at best, a throw away token bad guy. I felt he just didn’t have that much of a commanding presence on-screen and given the monumental task DC have of catching up with Marvel, opportunities like this are almost sacrificial. Still, he is serviceable to the plot and puts in a mediocre effect at giving our tough team something to worry about.
The film was not bad by a long shot, but it so needed to be "great". By the looks of things, DC will always be remembered for playing second fiddle to Marvel. So at this stage, I personally think it’s looking like a case of too little too late. I mean, the movies will always do well in terms of box offices figures, but standing the test of time is another matter altogether. Let’s hope they knock the next movie out of the park and find a better footing than the one they currently have. But make no mistake, time is running out. And fast.
And then we got Joker...
My Verdict: (6.5/10)
My Verdict: (6.5/10)
