Justice League is in theaters now.
By Kevin Levine
*SPOILERS FOLLOW*
Listen, my friends, I’m not a DC hater or a Marvel fanboy; I’m simply a fan of good cinema of all kinds.
Justice League is not good cinema.
The movie is a massive step down from Wonder Woman, but I will say I was still interested enough that I’d love to see an extended/uncut edition of this film to see what it truly was supposed to be. It sucks that I could clearly tell two different directors worked on this film. Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s styles are too different here. Snyder gave us his typical CGI-heavy fight scenes that he’s known for, while Whedon gave us some dialogue-heavy scenes that Snyder probably would’ve ruined.
Justice League has some really fun fight scenes, especially when Superman is first resurrected, but those sequences don’t save this film from its insufferable villain and horrendous CGI. I legitimately heard a casual fan complain about Henry Cavill’s lower face looking weird and, of course, I had to explain the CGI removal of his mustache due to needing the mustache for the upcoming Mission: Impossible film.
The mo-cap in the film was fine, but the CGI and VFX were so blatantly obvious – especially in regards to Cyborg’s body. His head and body, if you pay really close attention, move at different times and it really irked me. I was also distracted by some extremely noticeable green screens/backdrops, especially in the scenes when Bruce Wayne was first meeting Arthur Curry/Aquaman (as seen below).
As far as acting goes everyone is fine, but I think Jason Momoa was underused and we didn’t get enough Henry Cavill or Amy Adams. Honestly, Amy Adams is too good to be playing a part that only gets 10-15 minutes of screen time. Gal Gadot is, once again, the true star of the film and steals all of her scenes, especially when in battle. Ezra Miller has some cute, dorky moments as well, but they don’t steal the show in my opinion.
The villain, Steppenwolf, is another one-dimensional big baddie who’s just looking to take over/destroy the world. He’s really no different than comic book movie villains such as Ares, Doomsday, Abomination, Ultron, or Malekith. Plus, instead of actually being defeated solely by the Justice League, his henchmen put the final nail in his coffin. It’s entirely too unsatisfying for me to see a villain put to rest by their own henchmen, especially when the villain is weak enough to have been defeated by any one member of the Justice League.
All in all, there is some fun to be had here thanks to entertaining action and some witty banter between characters, but the film falters in so many technical aspects that it does not justify a rewatch unless the Blu-ray has an extended/uncut edition. The film clocks in at two hours, but only because Warner Brothers apparently told the filmmakers that it needed to be two hours or less. So I’ll give the film a slight benefit of the doubt because I’m sure the full, uncut version of this film is exponentially better than what they released in theaters.
Oh, I can’t forget the credits scenes. Do we really need to have a you-know-what measuring contest between Flash and Superman in regards to who’s faster? And why is Lex Luthor starting the Injustice League with Deathstroke when Deathstroke is neither a founder or official core member of the Injustice League in the comics?
I give Justice League a C-.
TV and City 