I'm sure you don't need this speech again, especially since you just got it two weeks ago from my "Thor: Ragnarok" review, but I don't participate in this Marvel vs. DC war. I'm a fan of comic book movies and thus I will love and support any comic book movie that is done well, regardless of which studio it came from. On the other hand, I am not afraid to criticize a comic book that doesn't live up to its potential. I'm not going to salivate all over myself when another Marvel movie is presented to me and I'm not going to rail on every DC movie just because that seems to be the cool thing to do at the moment. It just so happens that Marvel has done a much better job recently at making quality films as they have their formula for success down pat while DC has stumbled all over themselves as they try to catch up and figure out their identity. But truth be told, I actually have more of an affinity towards the DC characters, which is why I was furious at Zack Snyder for taking a dump on Superman with "Man of Steel." It's also the reason why I wasn't quite as harsh as some on "Batman v. Superman" and "Suicide Squad" because I saw rays of hope from both. Lastly, I beamed about "Wonder Woman" because they finally got it right. That was classic DC entertainment there.
As pertaining to "Batman v. Superman" and "Suicide Squad," let's do a quick recap. "Batman v. Superman" was DC's catch-up movie. I actually loved the individual elements that happened in that movie, but I was frustrated because it was DC cramming in five movies at once instead of having the patience to properly set up "Justice League" like Marvel did with "The Avengers." With "Suicide Squad," I wasn't in love with what they did with the story and I think Enchantress was a big joke as a villain, albeit not Cara Delevingne's fault for the record, but I did love the characters they set up and the performances from the actors playing those characters. Specifically I think Will Smith and Margot Robbie nailed Deadshot and Harley Quinn respectively and I can't wait for those characters to return in the future. And shocker, I actually did like Jared Leto's Joker. I just thought he was underutilized and thus wasn't given the opportunity to prove his worth. Instead of being there solely to setup Harley Quinn's character, I think he should've also been the main villain of the movie. So yeah, neither movie was perfect, but both movies showed me that there is hope for the future of this franchise. If they can get the proper screenwriters and directors, they can totally make this work.
But let's slam on the brakes real quick. I think Zack Snyder is a good, humble human being. It took a lot of guts for him to walk on stage at Comic Con shortly after the epic failure in the eyes of many that was "Batman v. Superman" in order to showcase what he had in store for "Justice League." Comic book fans there booed him when he stepped on stage. But he took it and showcased "Justice League" anyways, which caused fans to have a change of heart as they went from booing to cheering. I think that shows that Zack Snyder is trying to improve and be better. But he's simply not the right man for the job. Yet that leads me to have to be somewhat sensitive because of the tragic situation where Zack Snyder's daughter committed suicide earlier this year, causing Snyder to step down from "Justice League" to spend time with family, leading Joss Whedon to step to the plate to finish what Snyder started. Thus in an unfortunate turn of events, Joss Whedon can now put on his resume that he directed or helped direct both "The Avengers" and "Justice League." But lest you think Whedon threw Snyder's movie in the trash and started over, allow me to inform you that this is still Snyder's film that Whedon finished, which I think was the right decision in this scenario.
With the knowledge behind us that this is still Snyder's film and not Whedon's, I think we have to give props to Snyder for making what might be his best film. I'm not going to give credit to Whedon for making this feel like an Avengers movie. I think this was Snyder's vision based on how morbidly he was attacked by fans after his last two films. Yet there is still some glaring Zack Snyder problems that holds this movie back. One of these problems is Snyder's over-reliance in CGI and special effects. I think he cares more about his big, epic action sequences than he does about giving us a good story to work with. Thus the story here is really thin, which is the exact opposite problem he had with "Batman v. Superman," which had way too many different story arcs that he tried to weave in. In both situations it's evident that he can't find the happy medium. He doesn't know how to tell a proper story. In "Justice League," Steppenwolf has come to wreak havoc on Earth as he tries to usher in the reign of Darkseid, thus our heroes have to band together to stop Steppenwolf and his army of giant metallic bugs, which reminded me of robot versions of the flying monkeys from "Wizard of Oz." That's kind of it. Thus we set the stage for a bunch of Zack Snyder action sequences.
And, oh yeah. Superman is dead. Yes, I just spoiled "Batman v. Superman" for you. But if you haven't watched that yet, were you really planning on it? If you're wanting to go see this movie without seeing "Batman v. Superman," you were going to learn that within the first five seconds anyways. And the movie will continue to remind you relentlessly to make sure you don't forget. I was like, I get it movie. Superman died. He got killed by Doomsday at the end of our previous movie. But did anyone really believe he was going to stay dead? Now I won't spoil this movie. Maybe he shows up here. Maybe he shows up in the next "Justice League" movie. Maybe he shows up in the end credits. I won't tell you. But Superman is going to show up at some point and all that I'll say here is that the death of Superman is a great story arc in the DC comics that these two movies combined have really dropped the ball. Much of the drama in "Justice League" is how the world and our remaining heroes deal with the aftereffects of him dying. Due to Warner Bros. demanding that this movie stay two hours or less, those studio mandates are another thing that hurts this movie as I could've used 20-30 minutes more of development that was cut short. Because yeah, this movie feels a bit rushed.
Lucky for us, we'll got Aquaman here fairly soon as his movie comes towards the end of next year and I'm confident that James Wan, director of "Furious 7" and a bunch of good horror films, will work his magic there. But I really love how they made Aquaman macho and manly. He's an awesome character in this movie, which is good because he's kind of a joke in the comics. I don't know when we're getting movies from the other two, but I want to take a moment to talk about Ezra Miller's version of the Flash, because I've been nervous about his introduction simply because I'm a huge fan of the TV version played by Grant Gustin. While not without its flaws, the CW has done a great job of bringing that character to life in a really entertaining TV show. And now four seasons into the TV show, we're just going to start over and try to get people to care about the Flash again on the big screen? How are we going to do that without the obvious comparison to the TV show? The answer is that they need to ignore the TV show to a certain extent and do their own thing. And they've done just that. Ezra Miller's Flash is quite a bit different than Grant Gustin's, which is why I feel I will be able to see and enjoy both characters separately as they are great for different reasons.
Since I've already gone really long in this review, I won't dive into any more specific details regarding Grant Gustin vs. Ezra Miller like I initially wanted to. Instead I'll let you find out on your own. Quickly about Cyborg, I knew close to nothing about him going in, but left the movie really intrigued and impressed with his character. All in all, these five superheroes coming together really helped me enjoy this movie because all five of them are perfectly cast and have great on-screen chemistry. I was sold with the drama among them as they were trying to figure out what they were going to do and I was entertained by the action sequences as they worked together to stop Steppenwolf and his metal bugs. Thus despite a story that really didn't exist and a villain in Steppenwolf that was as empty and hollow as they come, I enjoyed this movie quite a bit and I became really excited for the future of all these characters. This reminded me of a good pilot episode to what has the potential to be an epic series. I may not return to this specific movie too much in the future, but I'm excited for the direction that DC is heading. So go see this movie and enjoy the ride. And make sure to stay for all of the credits because epic things happen there. My grade for "Justice League" is an 8/10.
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