Director: Zach Snyder Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures Genre(s): Action Rated: PG-13 (For sequences of sci-fi violence and action) |
The biggest accomplishment “Justice League” will be
remembered for is that it got made at all.
There has been so much written in the media about all the turmoil that
has gone on behind the scenes during the making of the film, that the fact that
we have it at all is - in itself - a news story. I wish I could say that while watching you
would be unaware of the behind-the-scenes problems, but the fact of the matter
is that “Justice League” is a Frankenstein monster of a movie that feels like
it was edited together from different artistic (and corporate) visions, with hardly
a functioning brain cell on display and forced humor in the midst of a movie
that is largely melancholic. Even the
colors go from being drab and lukewarm to bright and colorful, and I may be
crazy in noticing this, but Bruce Wayne seems to randomly gain and lose weight
in his chin.
I almost don’t know if I should be watching this as a movie
or as a cautionary tale of how spectacularly wrong things can go when you have
a studio that is more interested in making an expensive TV show as opposed to a
movie (though I’ve felt this way since the whole endeavor started with “Man of
Steel”). Mainly because I feel
discussing the changing of directors, forced editing of the run time to less
than two hours, and reshoots that stand out way more than they should are MUCH
more interesting topics at hand than anything that is going on in the
movie! For the story is just an excuse
to pull various characters that people love together in one adventures to save
the world from a charismatic villain, all during action sequences that are fun
and vibrant. Oh, wait, sorry, that’s not
“Justice League” that’s “The Avengers.”
This story gathers five iconic characters together (two who we know) to
find a bland villain with unclear motives, all while partaking in action
sequences that are rarely fun.
I admit to getting some joy out of watching The Flash (Ezra
Miller) doing his running thing and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) still kicks some
major butt, however even their scenes never reach anything remotely
memorable. Cyborg seems like he could
have a very good story arc (and Ray Fisher is easily the best actor in the
bunch), but it is one that needs its own two hour movie, and thus we only have
fifteen minutes to spend on it. Aquaman
(Jason Momoa) is a water guy of…some sort (I couldn’t really figure it out) who
goes from being brooding and serious until it’s time to get a ride on the
Batmobile and give out the trailers “YEEAAHHHHH” shout. All of them are brought together to destroy
an alien god creature who seems to want to summon power for one reason or
another. I also want to mention that it
doesn’t matter if his motivations are explained in the sequel, the only thing I
care about is that they aren’t explained now.
I was a bit late in writing my review and in that time I did
read some passing comments that people liked it because they thought the
characters had great dialog and worked well together. I’m not sure what they’re talking about as
the dialog about needing to save the world and getting along have been around at
least since Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier were chained together (and
hopefully I don’t have to mention other legendary actors within this review
again), and the characters don’t really talk to each other so much as they
shout and pontificate. There’s even a
scene where they discuss bringing a dead person back to life, and no one so
much as questions the moral complications of playing God (though they do
mention that they last time it happened things didn’t turn out so well). This leads to me to believe that people who
like the dialog and the characters here already liked them from the comics or
TV shows, always wanted to see this movie, and now that they are together that
is enough for them.
Which is…sad, really.
I would have hoped that after “Wonder Woman” and “Thor: Ragnorok” people
would understand that you can have your characters AND a good movie at the same
time! For many I’m sure having their
iconic favorites standing in a room bickering is enough to pass these days, and
I’m sorry but this isn’t enough to get me to care. How can I even claim this is a better movie
just because it’s not as terrible as “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?” It might not have been as painful an
experience this time around but it was also much more boring. It’s clear that changing the directors,
rewriting the script, and editing it down to a reasonable length wasn’t enough
to save anything and this mentality that people are just happy to have “Justice
League” at all seems like a really poor bar to have to pass to qualify as good
these days. But, hey, the movie
exists! If this fact makes you happy
enough then enjoy it until the next big superhero team up occurs.
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents there is a LOT of violence, some bad language, and sexual comments regarding Wonder Woman. Recommended for ages 13 and up.
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