Justice League: A Review

Watching the DC Cinematic Universe so far has been like watching someone stitch together a parachute after they've already jumped out of the plane. With the exception of Wonder Woman, each entry has been met with mixed (at best) receptions and felt like they've had to make up for the mistakes of their predecessors. This has led to behind the scenes chaos and left the entire enterprise in a state of flux as to what it's actually trying to be and do. Not helping is Marvel continuing to show them up when it comes to Superhero movies. The surprise success of Wonder Woman helped right the ship, but smooth sailing wasn't guaranteed. Justice League is kind of the last gasp for this franchise to keep the whole thing from crashing and burning. Thankfully, the movie does that and has put the DC Cinematic Universe on stable footing for the first time.

The League (L to R): Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg,
The Flash & Aquaman

It's impossible to talk about Justice League without discussing its predecessor Batman vs. Superman and the state of complete disaster that movie left the DCEU in. Someone at Warner Bros. apparently learned their lesson though and anytime Justice League alludes to that prior film, it's in the context of "man, that was all a giant mistake wasn't it?" This is most apparent in the tone the movie is going for which is quite clearly trying to take things from the dark and depressing mood of Batman vs. Superman into something much lighter and more fun. That was most immediately struck me, Justice League is the first DC movie besides Wonder Woman to feel like an actual superhero movie. The heroes are heroic instead of brooding, there are actual jokes, and there's a focus on saving people and thwarting bad guys. And most of all, there's no widespread destruction that recalls 9/11! I know a lot of people are going to attribute that to Joss Whedon coming in to finish the movie, but I think Zack Snyder deserves some credit. He is a good filmmaker, his last two movies not withstanding, and the reception to Batman vs. Superman may have helped reconcile his vision with audience expectations.

One of the key factors helping the new tone work is the actors. Good casting has always been an advantage of DC and they've finally made good use of it. The entire League have chemistry with one another and the supporting cast are effective as well. Ben Affleck's Batman shows some character evolution from the last film, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman is still the best in the franchise, and Henry Cavill finally pays off the promise of being a good Superman from the end of Man of Steel. Ray Fisher's Cyborg is a little too grim for the character at first and I found Ezra Miller's Flash somewhat annoying, but they both get better by the film's end. If anyone is shortchanged it's Jason Mamoa's Aquaman, who never really gets a chance to show off like the others but is still doing fine. Good thing his solo film is the next one up. Also props to Ciaran Hinds as the villain Steppenwolf. His look and evil plan may be somewhat generic, but Hinds gives him enough shades of character to keep him from being boring.

Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf, the threat that brings
the heroes together.

Justice League has its fair share of problems as well. It's juggling a few too many plot points and making what is actually a pretty simple story overly complex in places. The structure of the movie is strange as well, it kind of lacks the big impactful moment when all our heroes come together and the stakes never feel high enough to make it seem like our heroes might lose. It's almost inevitable that we're going to compare this with Avengers, which did both of those better. The movie is briskly paced enough that it doesn't really matter though. There's also not a great deal of depth to the proceedings, being a straightforward "beat the bad guy" story. But seeing how Batman vs. Superman thought it was really deep and insightful, and wasn't, I'm not sure if that's really a bad thing. Another strange thing is that except for Alfred and Lois Lane, the supporting characters only show up for a scene or two before disappearing for the rest of the movie.

I feel like I'm overselling Justice League a bit. It's nowhere near a masterpiece, but it's better than any of the other DC movies besides Wonder Woman so far. Objectively, it's at least on par with the average Marvel movie. I suppose it's just nice to see DC finally get its footing and move in a direction closer to what made the comics successful. Justice League is fun which is the best thing I can say about it. It's a fun superhero movie with some of the most iconic superheroes ever. It may not be great, but at least it's not terrible anymore and there's definitely room for improvement. Hopefully, this upward trend can continue.

Final Score: 3/5