Clearly they still haven't learned from their mistakes, because the recut and retooled Justice League finally sees those sins come back to haunt them. What should have been an event the scale of The Avengers or The Force Awakens, instead feels like any other blockbuster out there, opening to a comparatively pathetic $93 million opening weekend. And... it really isn't that bad.
Since the DCEU's creation with Man of Steel, Warner Brothers has always struggled at nailing down a consistent tone, often mistaking cynicism and pretension for grittiness and complexity, in a failed attempt at recapturing the spirit of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. So ever since then, their resolve has been to right their wrongs in the most hyperbolic fashion possible. Man of Steel turns Metropolis into a crater, Batman v Superman's climax has an entire city uninhabited. BVS was too dour, the originally grim Suicide Squad decides to ape Guardians of the Galaxy. Both films didn't feel fun, Justice League brings in Joss Whedon for reshoots, with joke after joke thrown in to salvage what was clearly going to be a disaster. It seems more and more like Wonder Woman was a fluke, and god forbid if they'd have squandered an easy win that was handed to them on a silver platter.
What I'm basically getting at is that DC has so far not had a good sense of direction, and even what direction it initially had didn't capture the spirit of its source material. And while Justice League does show good steps taken to address this, and get the series closer to what it should have always been, the rickety cutting job it takes to accomplish this is all too obvious. What vision Snyder may have had to begin with, and what vision he tried to keep together before tragedy understandably and justifiably led him to back out, we're left with a film that tries to stay true to the intensity that Snyder wanted in his vision, but also feels heavily burdened by the attempts to lighten the film's mood up. Each of his films in the series have been such different beasts from the others, with this feeling the most distinctly Snyder-less. And though while watching this, part of me really did think this wasn't such a bad thing, because it's not getting bogged down by constant brooding, it's still such a clutter.
And this certainly isn't helped by the sheer number of characters, tones of the various heroes, and worlds that they inhabit having to be addressed over a short 2 hour running time. (what crazy world is it when 2 hours is short?) This is less nagging since the likes of Batman and Wonder Woman are already immediately familiar to us, but not so great given that this is the first time we're getting to know The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman. And they're not the only ones, because characters peripheral to their world - and Batman's - also make grand appearances, and the way the film inserts them is very awkward. One minute we'll have Billy Crudup as Barry Allen's father, then we'll meet Mera played by Amber Heard, and J.K. Simmons as Commisioner Gordon. Hey, Steppenwolf even name drops Darkseid at one point, and I wouldn't be surprised if non-comic fans have no idea what he's talking about.
And speaking of which, for all the characters that this movie tosses at us, I struggle to think of a villain in any superhero movie more forgettable, more painfully generic, more bewilderingly lazy than Steppenwolf. The main story that the film thrusts on us, of his quest to recover three Motherboxes to unleash an apocalypse, feels like the Infinity War if each film in the MCU didn't even bother to set up the Infinity Stones before, giving no real weight or stakes to the final conflict. But above all, what should have made for a formidable foe and threat, is instead a glorified henchman pushed to the front. Imagine if The Avengers, instead of using an established and charismatic villain like Loki, had The Other as the main threat. That is how little impact Steppenwolf has, both in content and in appearance, brought to life by some truly disgusting effects artistry, so much so that even Ciaran Hinds' voiceover doesn't lend him any dignity.
Given all this, one may assume that I outright hated the film. It bears all the classic ingredients that one would imagine equates to a disaster, worthy of being one of the all time worst. But surprisingly, I don't hate it.
Why? Was it dirt low expectations? Was I so bummed out by DC's prior missteps that anything not that bad was easy for me to forgive? Perhaps, but I do think that's a somewhat unfair assessment, because despite it all, there's still quite a number of things to really enjoy about this movie. For one thing, though you can argue the individual strengths of the Justice League, the film does well at having them play off of the others in fun and engaging ways, that even help to offset the faults of the less notable ones.
I think we can all firmly agree that Gal Gadot is the best thing to happen to these movies, and even since her crowbarred appearance in BVS, her Wonder Woman is the one quality the filmmakers have always gotten right. Clearly influenced by the rewards of her solo outing, the filmmakers give her particular prominence and a hefty chunk of the film's standout moments, the film finding an early highlight in rescuing hostages in a terrorist attack, that feels like it could have easily been the start of her sequel. Diana essentially comes to serve as the glue and heart of the entire team, almost becoming its unofficial mascot in many ways, and while the material she's handed isn't as compelling as that film, Gadot still shines through with tremendous confidence and nobility, further cementing this as the role she was born to play.
But while we're at it, Ben Affleck still makes for a terrific Batman and Bruce Wayne. For as brooding a movie as BVS was, his turn in the cowl never felt misjudged, and he's easily been one of the standout qualities in this series, lending a vulnerability and intense moral conflict (even for something as stupid as "Martha") to make both sides of his coin a great counterbalance to the other, and feels like a natural leader despite his lack of meta-human powers making him the most grounded of the fantastical team. Also seeing a return is Alfred, with Jeremy Irons given a lot more to do after being forced to the sidelines so often the last time, continually showing the rewards of his spot-on casting.
Of the newly introduced characters, Barry Allen (aka. The Flash) is clearly intended to be the breakout. He's the main source of comedy in this movie, he's given a lot of the standout bits, and in this regard, he does succeed. While he would have benefited from his own movie to give him a better lead-in, Ezra Miller is thoroughly enjoyable to watch, filling the screen with genuine enthusiasm and infectious delight. Despite having his own movie coming out in less than a year, Jason Momoa's Aquaman can't help but feel like just the "tough guy" of the team, and I actually found I enjoyed him less as a character when the film was trying to force his coolness on us, and more when the film finally stopped putting pressure on that and let him cut loose, even getting the single best joke in the film before the climax. Ray Fisher's Cyborg unfortunately gets saddled as the brooding member of the gang (understandable, given his background), defined as the logical center of the group and mainly existing because of his use with the Motherboxes, but paired up with the other team members, he does show some solid and natural interplay to lighten him up.
And I don't think I'm spoiling anything when I mention Superman shows up. Sure, it's a spoiler, but I don't think *anyone* thought he wouldn't show up at some point. He's still not the most compelling as a character, and I still think it's hilarious that they keep trying to push him as a beacon of hope (when he turned cities into craters), but for once, it feels as if they've finally done a decent job of characterizing him, with Henry Cavill finally dropping the moping for genuine warmth, and one post-credits clip doing Superman more justice than the entirety of MOS or BVS.
Clearly it's a Frankenmovie, but it's not one without its pleasures. For as much as my gut instincts tell me I shouldn't care for it, several big action sequences in the film were too much for my giddy fanboy to ignore. Even the most superficial things held some pleasant delights, including infusing color back to the usually drab and grey camera work, and enlisting Danny Elfman for a more conventional score, that even features some grin-inducing reprises of his Batman theme, and John Williams' Superman march. The music itself is altogether not that great, but bland is certainly better than a migraine from Tom Holkenberg.
I really don't know what to make of this movie. As much as I freely admit to thinking it's a cluttered and blatantly messy film, I still thought it was perfectly fun and harmless. It certainly opens up an interesting argument, whether it's worse to be an enjoyable but ultimately voiceless studio vehicle, or an ambitious but aggressively unpleasant exercise in dirge-like vision. All I know is that regardless, even if the film is thoroughly OK, that may be the worst part of it all. Justice League should have been an event, a colossal powerhouse finally paying off decades of waiting for them to be brought to the screen, and instead just became another entry in a long line of disappointments for DC. We should have been elated to see the League rather than to pity their end result. They deserved more than mediocrity.
**1/2 / *****
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