Movie Review: All In? Justice League
So, the reviews are in and … yeah, the critics didn’t like Justice League. It’s certainly fair to say that DC has been less successful with movie adaptations of its superheroes compared to its comic rival, Marvel. In recent years, only the Wonder Woman film has been given a general thumbs-up; Suicide Squad was okay-ish, while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was as just plain bad, starting with the word ‘Martha.’ But, I will have to fight them on this one – Justice League definitely entertained me! DC made two movies in a row that don't suck. Finally, so ... good for them. Well done.
Justice League is not the mess it could have been, and that is actually saying a lot. The film was shot, reshot, lost Zack Snyder as a director, and director Joss Whedon stepped in and reshot again. Look, this one isn't going to win any movie awards, but for whatever reason, it worked. It's fun, the team feels like a team, and all the cast for what its worth played their part … well. Maybe it's just that the bar has been set so incredibly low, but I'm perfectly happy with a Justice League movie that does almost nothing more than move from plot A to plot B and so on until it ends.
The plot, of course, is pretty standard. Steppenwolf, a really big bad guy, is about to destroy the world by collecting the mother cubes, which will let him... destroy the world. The only way to stop it is to form a team -- a team of justice. With Superman (Henry Cavill) gone, Batman (Ben Affleck) decides he has to pull this team together and recruits Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). And you get the rest of the story without me giving any spoilers out.
Side note: Justice League could have really used four or five more movies leading into it. Good job to Marvel who does that well. While the character introductions are handled pretty slick they are clearly rushed, especially for The Flash (no pun intended) and Aquaman, whose introductions leave open so many unanswered questions. The beginning of the film jumps around so much from character to character it's tough to ever focus on what's actually going on. Batman to me (sorry Ben Affleck) felt flat and seemed like he was just going through the motions. He didn’t have his coming out the darkness, one-step-ahead thinking, and fight in him like we see in his previous movies and his suit in this movie looked pretty fake (sorry not sorry).
Maybe my expectation levels have sunk low, but I was pleasantly surprised by Justice League. Of course, Wonder Woman’s moments were definitely some of my favorite parts as she gets me hype everytime she fights. Flash was definitely the comedian in this film, and Aquaman's body -OH MY GOODNESS! As far as the movie goes, this was hugely enjoyable and the ten-year-old me left the cinema looking forward to the next Justice League. It tells a good-enough story and executes it in a good-enough way, so it's good enough to make me excited for what's to come next. If you saw Justice League, let me know your thoughts. I give it 3.75 out of 5 stars. Have a great week everyone! - xo Mel