I walked out of last year’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice so
dispirited, so depressed, so utterly disappointed to see so much potential
squandered, that I couldn’t even summon up the energy to write a review of it. I didn’t want to think about that movie any more than I had to. Not so with Justice League. It’s a flawed
film, to be sure, but it’s also entertaining and fun, and hopefully a sign of
things to come from the DC Comics Movie Universe (or whatever it’s officially called).
The film picks up on the death of
Superman (Henry Cavill), which of course happened in BvS, and shows how the passing of the Man of Steel has affected the
world as a whole. In a nutshell, Earth’s sorrow and fear over the loss of its
greatest defender enables an alien invasion of the planet to get under way, led
by an imposing warrior named Steppenwolf (a mostly CGI character voiced by Ciarán Hinds.)
Aware that the world is in jeopardy, and
with Superman gone, the Batman (Ben Affleck) works with Wonder Woman (Gal
Gadot) to put together a team of super-powered beings to stop Steppenwolf and
his seemingly endless horde of insectlike para-demons. They try to enlist
Arthur Curry, a denizen of Atlantis referred to as the Aquaman (Jason Momoa);
Barry Allen, a young scientific genius who, after having been struck by lightning, can move faster than the eye can see
(Ezra Miller); and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), a young former football player
transformed into a highly advanced cyborg by his scientist father, Silas (Joe
Morton), after a devastating accident.
But forming a league of super heroes
isn’t as easy as you might think. Much like in Marvel’s The Avengers, these unique
individuals don’t necessarily get along. Most of them aren’t sure they want to
be part of a team, even for this one occasion. Ultimately, the threat of
Steppenwolf is too great to ignore, so the heroes fall into line. That, however, might not be enough to save Earth and everyone on it from conquest and,
ultimately, destruction.
There are some moments and scenes in this
movie that I did not quite understand. One in particular is an exchange of
dialogue between Aquaman and Mera, a woman from Atlantis who singlehandedly tries
to defend the underwater city from Steppenwolf. I couldn’t get a sense of
whether these characters knew each other or were meeting for the first time, or
what exactly they were talking about. Maybe it will become clearer with a
second viewing, but this first time, I just didn’t get it. There’s also a
moment early in the film, where Batman is interacting with a criminal on a
rooftop, that left me a bit confused.
Another thing I didn’t understand: the
decision to use Steppenwolf as the villain. Even in the comics, he’s not
exactly one of the biggies. In the film, he comes off as a watered-down
combination of Ares, from Wonder Woman,
and Malekith, from Thor: The Dark World.
He’s just not that interesting or impressive. When all is said and done, Steppenwolf is a fairly one-dimensional
loudmouth out to cause mass destruction for a not-very-compelling reason. (Hopefully
Marvel will avoid letting this happen to Thanos in next year’s Avengers: Infinity War.) With this possibly
being the only Justice League movie we will ever get—Warner Brothers’ plans for its
line of DC super-hero movies seem to be constantly in flux—it’s fascinating
to me that the filmmakers chose not to come out swinging for the fences here with
a really major villain like Darkseid, the despotic ruler of the planet
Apokolips. (He’s mentioned in the movie, by Steppenwolf, but he’s never seen or
explained.)
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| Steppenwolf |
That said, there’s a lot to enjoy here. There are some very touching moments, particularly the ones involving Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane). As expected, Gal Gadot, who shined in Wonder Woman’s solo outing a few months
ago, and was the best thing about Batman
v. Superman, is absolutely terrific once again. Ben Affleck, who I thought was fairly
good in BvS, improves upon that performance
here. (I don’t know why some reviewers are saying he seems miserable and eager
to escape the role—I think they’re letting rumors and gossipy news
reports influence their observational skills.) It’s not a particularly demanding
part for Affleck, but he does fine with what he’s called upon to do.
With regard to the new characters, who
were each briefly glimpsed in BvS and are more fully fleshed out here, I enjoyed Miller’s Barry Allen the most. Some devotees
of Grant Gustin and the Flash TV
series may balk, as it’s a very different interpretation of the character, even
though much of the backstory is the same. But within the context of this movie
and this version of the DC Universe, Miller’s Flash works well. I will
say that there are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, most of them involving
the Flash, and Miller’s performance has a lot to do with their success.
Fisher’s Cyborg captures all the tragedy
of the character as created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, but isn’t
given much of a chance to show his lighter side. That’s understandable, given
that the film is only two hours long and has a lot of characters and ground to
cover. But the end result is that Cyborg comes off as a bit one-note.
Momoa’s Aquaman is very unusual,
certainly a major departure from his portrayal in the comics. That didn’t
really bother me. But he’s certainly the most underdeveloped of the characters—I
didn’t get a real sense of his background, his origin, his relationship to
Atlantis and its people, and why he talks like a surfer dude. It’s not that I
didn’t like the character, it’s just that he made the least impression on me.
And then there’s Cavill’s Superman. I can’t
say much about him without going into spoiler territory, but I will say that
this movie serves as a major course correction. Man of Steel was a somewhat shaky start for this incarnation of the
Last Son of Krypton, but Batman v.
Superman really damaged the character, portraying him as a brooding,
morose, thick-headed, even callous figure who isn’t fully sure humanity is
worthy of his protection. Justice League
pretty much ignores that portrayal, papering over it with a much sunnier, more
inspiring Superman—even his costume is brighter now—while still trying to maintain at least some sense of
continuity with the two aforementioned movies. (And keep in mind, the inter-movie
continuity can become somewhat loose at times. Without giving too much away,
Superman’s return from the dead was strongly implied at the end of BvS, but Justice League has its own, very different take on how that
resurrection might come about.)
At any rate, it’s nice to see Cavill finally
get a chance to play Superman. The real
Superman, I mean. I hope he gets the chance to do it again.
The musical score by Danny Elfman is
somewhat generic, though it does include traces of his Batman theme from 1989,
and even the John Williams theme for Superman. But these nods to the past—which
I welcome, incidentally, especially when it comes to Williams’s music—are so
randomly placed in the movie, and so subtle, that they don’t have the impact
that they should.
As was widely reported, Zack Snyder, the
credited director, had to leave the project in post production because of a
family tragedy, and Avengers director
Joss Whedon stepped in to do extensive reshoots and bring the film to
completion. Whedon’s influence over the final product is impossible to miss.
Snyder’s take on the DC Universe, based on his work on Man of Steel and BvS, was
dark, grim, violent, ultra-serious, and, overall, bleak. There’s very little of
that in Justice League. This movie is
mostly about hope, finding the light amidst the darkness, and working together
for the greater good. There’s no greater repudiation of Snyder’s vision than
when one character, who had previously shown a stunning disregard for innocent
bystanders, rushes off in the midst of battle to save civilians from certain
doom.
And in another sign that WB/DC is now taking
some of its cues from the Marvel movies, you need stay to the very end to see the
bonus scenes. There are two. One is a delight. The other is a hint of a
possible future plot line.
Without a doubt, Justice League is a significant improvement over Batman v. Superman, though it doesn’t
hit the high-water mark set by Wonder
Woman. But its heart is in the right place, and that’s a good start.
©
All text copyright Glenn Greenberg, 2017.
