Director – Zack Snyder (Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead)
Starring – Ben Affleck (Armageddon, Daredevil), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman, Fast Five), and Jason Momoa (Conan the Barbarian, Game of Thrones)
Release Date – 2017
Rating – 3.5/5
Comic adaptations have been a huge part of my life. I grew up in the late 80s and 90s where movies like Howard the Duck, Batman, Superman, and so forth were always being popped in my VCR. I grew up liking Marvel in general but my favorite characters, Flash and Green Lantern, was found in DC. These two characters was often overlooked until recent years.
With Marvel dominating the box office it was only a matter of time before DC created their own expanded cinematic universe. After Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman, Suicide Squad, and Wonder Woman the world finally got a live action Justice League film. Seeing Flash in a big budget film was something I did not want to pass up.
I took my daughter (in Wonder Woman attire) to see the film in theaters and loved it. When the film was released on blu I was lucky enough to get a copy to review. People can shit on this movie all they want but I really enjoyed it.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows Batman/Bruce Wayne (Affleck) who fears that the world is in grave danger without Superman. He begins a search for meta-humans that he can bring together to protect the world if the need ever rises. He tracks down Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman, Arthur Curry aka Aquaman, Barry Allen aka The Flash, and Victor Stone aka Cyborg.
They are reluctant to band together but when the evil Steppenwolf starts destroying the world searching for the Mother Boxes they come together to stop him. When they fail to do so they try to resurrect a fallen friend in order to save humanity.**Spoiler Alert**
I’ve enjoyed the DC universe so far. They do fall short on the content but the films so far has been fun. Justice League is another fantastic entry in the series of DC films but there was something I would have changed and none have to do with CGI lips.
The acting in this one is inconsistent. I’ve never been sold on Henry Cavill as Superman. He has the look but his personality on screen just doesn’t feel right to me. I blame Christopher Reeves and Dean Cain for bestowing that standard on me. He just doesn’t feel like the real man of steel to me. As for Batfleck, I support the decision to cast him 100 percent. He is amazing as Batman and embodies what I imagine that character to be. I love his performance.
The biggest shock of the film is Jason Mamoa as Aquaman. I really liked Mamoa in the most recent Conan film so I was excited to see him as a character I typically don’t care for. This new take on the character, mixed with Mamoa’s performance, created an unforgettable performance that delivered some bad ass actions scenes and comic relief when needed.
I also enjoyed Gal Gadot and Ezra Miller as Wonder Woman and Flash. Both really brought their characters to life even though Flash is acting more like Wally West instead of Barry Allen.
Now, with all that said, I was let down by how underutilized Ray Fisher was as Cyborg. This character could have easily took center stage but wasn’t. Damn shame.
The story for this one could have been so much more but instead it bottles up stories already on track to be told or already told by Marvel. The film, essentially, is superheroes teaming up to battle an alien menace searching the world for ancient artifacts. I’m not saying this has been a build up for Marvel for almost a decade but this is exactly what Marvel has been building up with their Thanos storyline. This is the first time Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Cyborg is put together in this universe with a storyline with Joker and the Enchantress already established and the best we could get is a story similar to their competitor, Marvel?
There is so much they could have done with the Justice League. Though the story isn’t original in that sense it still delivers high octane entertainment with a lot of character development and backstory. I enjoyed it in that sense. It may not be the best DC film but it was a fantastic popcorn flick.
Finally, the film has some great and not so great effects. Some of the visuals we get are fantastic. I loved the look of Cyborg and how he morphed into the things needed to prevail. I also loved the backdrops and some of the creatures but the fight scenes were a mess. The visual effects during these scenes were laughable. The fact they tried to pass it on to viewers is almost insulting.
Overall, Justice League is not perfect. Fuck, it is so far from perfect but it is a fun pop corn flick that gets some legendary comic heroes on the big screen. If you go into this expecting the best superhero movie ever made you will be very disappointed. If you go in expecting a fun superhero flick that takes the safe path you will enjoy yourself…at least I did.
