In a world filled with comic book superhero movies, Warner Bros had a shot at making an impact with something new, something dark and something original. Unfortunately, perhaps due to a tragedy befallen to the initial films director, Zack Snyder, and a myriad of questionable decisions from Warner along the way, Justice League might be the most forgettable superhero film we've had in a decade or so.
It's standard of a review to outline the plot points of a film before diving it to give an analysis or an opinion but it's hard to point out the notable beats in this story. After the underwhelming and disappointing Batman V Superman (2016), Justice League's original vision was compromised as Warner Bros took the feedback on board from fans and critics alike. A combination of reshoots and additions made my Joss Whedon, turns Justice League (2017) into a tonal nightmare where the important plot points are overshadowed by the gags and the quips of a Justice League that seem to be ham-fisted in. Briefly, Steppenwolf wants to gather three mother boxes to give him the power to turn Earth into a hellscape. He's seemingly so powerful that Batman gathers a team of superheroes before they realise that they still need Superman to be able to win. They use one of the mother boxes to resurrect Superman to basically save the day. Instead of Warner Bros attempting to give the world an alternative to the action comedy blockbusters that Marvel provide, Justice League was reshot to compete beat for beat, joke for joke. However, with the tonal shift decided late in the production, the darker aesthetic and 'Snyder' aesthetic doesn't mesh with quips of Jason Mamoa's Aquaman.
Steppenwolf is the epitome of everything wrong with this film. His costume design is lacklustre, his story arc is generic and motivations are barely ever outlined. It's the typical big bad alien wants to make Earth a hellscape. There's very little nuance and along with that, no chance for audiences to really oppose him. If this is meant to be Justice League's equivalent of someone like Thanos then why does he feel so non-threatening. With all of the CGI and green screen that is so obviously crammed into this film, it's hard to view anything as real or based in reality. It feels like a glorified Saturday morning cartoon where the story is the last focus.
The hand over from Zack Snyder to Joss Whedon who clearly have such different styles and visions for the movie might be what hurt it the most. The suits that all the Justice League wear for the majority look out of place, with Henry Cavill being the only member of the team to look comfortable in the outfit they're wearing. Perhaps, the major changes in lighting and colour grading are the reason for this. The suits were initially designed with Snyder's dark comic book aesthetic in mind but when appointing Joss Whedon, scenes were brightened leaving the suits, and the characters in them, looking out of place.
Even an established actor like Ben Affleck still struggles to feel relatable and with no story arcs or developed back story from new additions to series in Cyborg, the Flash and Aquaman it's hard to understand how anybody ever thought audiences would connect with the characters. Ezra Miller's The Flash is where a lot of the comedy comes from as he attempts to do his best impression of Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010). With Cyborg, it's hard to criticise actor, Ray Fisher, because he has such little to do on screen that he was never going to stand out against powerhouses of the comic book world in Superman and Batman. There is a slightest attempt to give all three of the newer characters some backstory but they all feel incomplete and surface level. Perhaps the major problem with this film is that it doesn't feel like a film at all. It feels like four different incomplete films crammed together with a generic battle scene tacked on at the end.
The ending was the most underwhelming part of the film, when all could have been saved with a great epic battle between Steppenwolf and the Justice League, the film suffers from the same pitfalls that came before it in the DCEU. Just like in Man of Steel (2013), the action is mostly compiled of beams and Superman flying into Steppenwolf, smashing through walls. There's a lack of creativity in every aspect of not only this film, but the whole DC extended universe. There's an attempt to use the same ingredients that are put into the Marvel movies but the movie falls short in pretty much every category. It's very rare that a film gives off the kind of ambivalence that Justice League (2017) does. It's not the worst film of the last decade and it's probably an improvement on Batman v Superman just simply because of the shorter run time but it's so utterly forgettable. It's not the worst movie you'll see from the last few years but it might be the most soulless. When credits rolled, there wasn't a sense of relief or anger, but a sigh at how utterly plain and bland it is.
2/5
I'll be following this review with a reveiw of The Snyder Cut (2021) somewhere down the line. My biggest reservation is that I can't fathom the idea that a superhero film should be 4 hours long.
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