"JUSTICE LEAGUE" (2017) Review

"JUSTICE LEAGUE" (2017) Review

The D.C. Comics Extended Universe (DCEU) released its fifth film utilizing several characters that were either featured or hinted in its previous four films during the fall of 2017. Directed by Zack Snyder (well, most of it), "JUSTICE LEAGUE" proved to be an even more controversial entry than two of its previous films. Only for different reasons. 

Set some time after the present-day events of "WONDER WOMAN", "JUSTICE LEAGUE" begins with the Gotham City costumed vigilante Batman aka Bruce Wayne attempting to arrest a thief. However, his efforts are interrupted by the arrival of an alien creature known as a parademon. Realizing that he had dreamed of a similar creature in "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE", Batman realizes that Earth is about to face another alien threat. Before he can summon Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince, she learns of an even bigger threat from her mother, Queen Hippolyta of Themyscira. A former foe known as Steppenwolf has arrived on Earth to acquire the three Mother Boxes, sentient, miniaturized, portable supercomputers from his homeworld of Apokolips. One of the boxes had been guarded by the Amazons of Themyscira for thousands of years. The pair decides to find the other metahumans - Barry Allen aka the Flash, Victor Stone aka Cyborg (whose body was cured by a Mother Box) and Arthur Curry aka Aquaman - and form a team to fight against Steppenwolf. Bruce manages to easily recruit the Flash, but is unable to recruit Aquaman. And Diana encounters difficulty in recruiting Cyborg. But when Steppenwolf manages to acquire the second Mother Box in Aquaman's world of Atlantis, the "King of the Seven Seas" decides to join the newly formed Justice League to defeat the alien from Apokolips. However, it is not long before the League realizes they need a sixth member to help them defeat Steppenwolf - namely the recently deceased Superman.

Ever since the release of "MAN OF STEEL" in 2013, critics and some moviegoers have been highly critical of the DCEU. With the exception of "WONDER WOMAN", the franchise's movies have either received mixed reviews or panned. In the case of "JUSTICE LEAGUE", it has been panned . . . perhaps even more so than the other four films. Personally, I have been a major fan of the DCEU films before "JUSTICE LEAGUE". Do I believe the movie deserved to panned? Honestly? No. But I do feel that "JUSTICE LEAGUE" is probably the first DCEU film toward which I felt some disappointment.

There was a good deal from "JUSTICE LEAGUE" that I enjoyed. The creation of the Justice League began when Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman formed a team to battle Lex Luthor's creation, Doomsday, in "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE". This creation continued with Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince's recruitment of the Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman. And if I must be honest, I enjoyed how the movie's screenplay took its time in fusing these characters into the League. I found this especially satisfying, since both Cyborg and Aquaman proved rather difficult to recruit. What finally drove them all together as a team proved to be the threat of Steppenwolf. 

This leads me to something else I enjoyed about the film. Steppenwolf's acquisition of two Mother Boxes provided some first-rate action sequences featuring the Amazons on Themyscira and the Atlantis inhabitants' efforts to stop him. And they did not make it easy for him. I especially enjoyed the sequence featuring Steppenwolf's theft of the Mother Box on Themyscira. There were other action sequences that enjoyed. One of them included the League's first encounter with Steppenwolf inside an abandoned facility near the Gotham City Harbor. I also enjoyed the League's second attempt to defeat Steppenwolf and his Parademon army at a small Russian village, where the Apokoliptian planned to fuse the three Mother Boxes and terraform the Earth's surface. I also enjoyed an early action sequence that featured Wonder Woman's confrontation with a group of terrorists in London. But for me, my favorite action sequence featured the League's confrontation with a recently resurrected and amnesiac Superman. Although I found it rather scary, thanks to Henry Cavill's chilling performance, there was a comedic moment that I found very funny.

As much as I enjoyed most of the film's action sequences, I found a good deal of its comedic and dramatic moments even more satisfying. It seemed pretty obvious to me that the film's two comedy relief characters were Barry Allen aka the Flash and Arthur Curry aka Aquaman. And I found both characters more than satisfactory, thanks to Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa's performances. Miller's Barry Allen was an extroverted and nervous personality that was at odds with his inability to easily befriend others. This was especially apparent in one scene that featured the initial meeting between Barry and Bruce Wayne at the former's abode and his attempts to befriend Victor Stone aka Cyborg. But the one scene that truly made me appreciate Miller's comedic talent occurred when the League clashed with a resurrected, yet amnesiac Superman and the Flash attempted to attack the Man of Steel from behind . . . and failed. Jason Momoa's portrayal of Arthur Curry also provided a good deal of the movie's comedic moments. Momoa's portrayal of the blunt and cynical King of the Seven Seas practically had me in stitches. But I especially enjoyed that moment when Aquaman unexpectedly went into a comedic spiel about fighting Steppenwolf and his appreciation for Wonder Woman . . . unaware that he was sitting on her Lasso of Truth.

However, there were many dramatic moments that made me happily realize that "JUSTICE LEAGUE" was not all comedy and action. The movie's opening credits featured a poignant montage that revealed the world's grief over Superman's death. One particular scene - a homeless man holding a "I TRIED" sign next to him - really resonated within me. I thought Martha Kent's visit to Lois Lane in Metropolis and the two women's shared grief over Clark/Superman's demise was particularly poignant, thanks to Diane Lane and Amy Adams' performances. I particularly enjoyed one scene that featured a tense conversation between Cyborg and his father, Dr. Silas Stone over the latter's decision to use a Mother Box to save the former's life. May I be frank? Both Ray Fisher, who portrayed the superhero and Joe Morton, who portrayed his father, really knocked it out of the ballpark in this scene. I was not that impressed by the CGI used for the Steppenwolf character. But I must admit that I enjoyed Ciarán Hinds' voice performance for the villain. The actor projected a good deal of style and menace into the character. 

I enjoyed Clark's reunion with both Lois and Martha. Although I feel that it was a bit too brief for my tastes, I cannot deny that I found it emotionally satisfying. And I enjoyed the tense conversation between Aquaman and future love interest, Mera of Atlantis. The scene seemed to give audiences a preview of the screen dynamics between Momoa and Amber Heard, who portrayed Mera. But if I had to pick my favorite dramatic moment in "JUSTICE LEAGUE", it would have to be the scene that featured Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince's conversation regarding his continuing guilt over his past attempt to kill Superman and her lingering grief over the death of her former lover/colleague, Steve Trevor. Thanks to superb and subtle performances from Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, the scene was a tense and angst-riddled moment that I truly enjoyed.

Zack Snyder had collaborated with cinematographer Larry Fong on four films - "300" (2007), "WATCHMEN" (2009), "SUCKER PUNCH" (2011) and especially, "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE" (2016). For "JUSTICE LEAGUE", Synder ended up collaborating with Fabian Wagner, who had previously spent most of his career in television - especially HBO's "GAME OF THRONES". However, I am not that familiar with Wagner's previous work. But I must admit that I was impressed by his work in "JUSTICE LEAGUE". His work proved to be a bit brighter than Fong's work in "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN". This is not that surprising, considering that the movie's narrative is slightly less angsty than the 2016 film. But I was especially impressed by his photography of the film's protagonists, as shown below:







One would be inclined to wonder why I had regarded "JUSTICE LEAGUE" as something of a disappointment, due to my positive comments on it. Well . . . I had problems with the film. Hell, I have expressed quibbles for about every comic book movie I have seen. My first problem with "JUSTICE LEAGUE" there were times when it seemed I was viewing a movie with two directors . . . with two different styles. Well of course the movie seemed to possess two different director. As everyone knows, Zack Snyder had experienced a family tragedy while dealing with the film's post-production. Unable to continue, he asked Joss Whedon, who had directed the two Avengers films for Marvel/Disney, to complete the post-production reshoots, using his notes. Well . . . Whedon did more than that. At the behest of the Warner Brothers executives, he chopped out a good deal of Snyder's work, re-shot and re-wrote at least 30 percent of the movie in a similar style he had used for the Avengers films. In the end, there were times when "JUSTICE LEAGUE" seemed like a DCEU film trying to look like a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie. I found this very confusing - especially in the film's third and final act. 

One of the results of this hack job by Whedon and Warner Brothers, was the decision to change the film's composer. They tossed out Junkie XL (who had co-written the "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN" score with Hans Zimmer)'s score and hired Danny Elfman to replace it. Now . . . I have been a fan of some of Elfman's work for years. But what he did for this film's score? As far as I am concerned . . . nothing. Elfman fell back on the nostalgia factor by utilizing his old score from the two Batman films directed by Tim Burton. Worse, there was a moment following Superman's resurrection - I do no know if this happened or not, but I could have sworn that right after the resurrection or when the Man of Steel confronted Steppenwolf for the first time - Elfman even used a few bars from John Williams' score for the 1978 film, "SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE". All I can say that it was a very cringe-worthy moment for me.

Speaking of Superman . . . what in the hell happened? Granted, I really enjoyed the sequences featuring his resurrection, his clash with the League's other members and his reunions with Lois and Martha. But once Superman joined the League's battle against Steppenwolf . . . I just do not know what happened. It seemed as if someone - I suspect it was Whedon - tried to transform him into Christopher Reeve's version of the Man of Steel. Ugh! Look, Chris Reeve's Superman was fine for the late 20th century. But we are nearing the end of the 2010s. Henry Cavill had managed to establish his own version of Superman. There was no need to force him to copy another actor's style. One other fact bothered me. I am referring to the questionable CGI that tried to hide the mustache he was sporting, while filming "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT". Apparently, Paramount Studios refused to allow Cavill to shave the moustache for the "JUSTICE LEAGUE" re-shoots. Between the cringe-worthy grinning, the cheesy dialogue and that ridiculous race against the Flash in the first post-credit scene, I simply found myself feeling sorry for Henry Cavill. In fact, either Snyder or Whedon (I suspect the latter) tried to lighten up Affleck's performance as Batman by forcing the latter to spew some pretty lame jokes. Poor man. In their attempt to transform the movie into an Avengers film, the Warner Brothers suits damn near sabotaged both the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight.

But for me, the real problem proved to be the film's last act. It brought back bad memories of the last act of the 2015 movie, "THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON". The entire sequence featuring the Justice League's battle against Steppenwolf and the latter's parademon army at some Russian village struck me as simply confusing. It was beyond confusing. Between the questionable editing, the unattractive lighting, and the rushed action, I simply found the entire sequence hard to swallow. I can only thank God that Russian village was not rising in the sky, while the Justice League battle Steppenwolf. That shit would have been even more difficult to swallow. The first post-credit scene featuring Superman and the Flash's race to see who was the fastest did not help. Why is it so damn important in a D.C. Comics movie or television production to show a Kryptonian (whether it was Superman or Supergirl) in a race with the Flash? I disliked it in this movie and I disliked it in a Season One episode of the Arrowverse's "SUPERGIRL". Fortunately, the second post-credit scene nearly made up for the film's last thirty minutes or so. I will say that it involved Lex Luthor and one of Batman's former foes, Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke. It proved to be a great surprise.

So, there you have it. Do not get me wrong. "JUSTICE LEAGUE" provided some great action scenes and dramatic moments. It also featured some excellent performances, as well. However, it is quite obvious that the Warner Brothers executives and Joss Whedon made a serious mistake in ignoring Zack Snyder's post-production instructions and trying to transform the movie into their own version of a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film. In a way, they did. "JUSTICE LEAGUE" strongly reminded me of Marvel's 2015 movie, "THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON" - both the good and the bad.