'Justice League' Film Review

Justice League is a good movie. There, I said it and BEFORE you gather your proverbial torches and pitchforks understand this: I am not a movie critic.

Everyone has an opinion.

Why is that an important factor in my opinion on the film? Well because I’m not approaching this from a standpoint of being a film critic. I am approaching it as a comic book fan, and that’s the same way I approach every live action adaptation of my favorite characters, whether it be on the big screen or on television. I am not trying to compare the film to Disney/Marvel’s juggernaut of franchise material. I’m comparing it to how well it takes the characters from the comic books and translate them to the film, and whether or not I thought it told a good story with good characters.

Is it Black Panther level good? Well…here’s the thing…

Black Panther was hugely successful because it brought accomplishment and positivity to a demographic that historically hasn’t been treated well, and by historically, I of course mean pretty much anytime in American history starting about a month ago and going backwards. I can’t speak for the most recent month, I don’t know the demographics.

Immediately from the get-go comparing it to Black Panther becomes unfair because they are telling two different stories with entirely different goals in the storytelling process.

Being that this is DC’s first big team up hero movie, the natural inclination is to compare it to Avengers, which again I don’t think is a fair comparison. Marvel had several movies to build its world and Justice League is essentially picking up right where Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice left off with Suicide Squad sliding right in the middle there. The DCEU timeline isn’t actually that complicated.

Shots Fired

What does confuse me is the critic response to the film. At first there was this large backlash against Zack Snyder, most professional critics having passed judgment before principle photography even started. Basically they thought that Man of Steel was too dark, Batman v Superman was too silly in some parts, too Watchmen in others, and too Batman overall. Then Zack Snyder removed himself from the film, with the official reason being due to a major tragedy in his family and you folks who want to dig up some more corporate reason to add to it and thus belittling his real family tragedy kind of suck. You know who you are.

This brought in Joss Whedon onto the film with him taking over the entire project and from what I can tell this did not shift the opinion of how the film was going to turn out. Critics were still down on the film, this time complaining that there would be tonal shifts within the movie. Snyder and Whedon are very different directors after all. Mind you the movie hadn’t even been released yet at this point.

The Final Product

I’m going to try to avoid spoiler territory here but if you know comic book-based movies, you pretty much can call the story, and don’t lie to yourself, as brilliant as even Black Panther was, it was still pretty damn predictable plot-wise.

So rather than recap the entire plot for you, because I really want you to see the film, lets cover some character moments and how they fit with the established DCEU;

Throughout the first two thirds of the film, everyone hits basically their notes. You have Batman and Wonder Woman who are the established heroes, they know who they are in their role in the world and have actually seen combat, the seasoned vets. Batman is investigating this growing problem of flying monsters and these symbols of three boxes he keeps finding all over the place. He’s been researching Lex Luthor’s notes which, again, talk about an invasion and these boxes and whatnot. This feeds into Batman v Superman by offering suggestions about why Luthor was kind of crazy back in that movie. Bruce Wayne had dreams or visions of a nightmare scenario where Superman had conquered Earth, and these dreams included these same flying monsters, and he’s seeing the same imagery in Luthor’s notes and realizing that this may have been a warning or a message. Lex and Bruce approached the possible future with two very different tactics. Lex wanted Superman dead either thinking he would be responsible for the invasion or would curry favor with Earth’s new masters if he killed the Kryptonian, while Bruce wants to stop the invasion.

Ben Affleck’s characterization of Batman in the first act of the film feels really solid. He’s doing the “detective” part of the “Dark Knight Detective” moniker, looking for answers on his own and working out possible solutions, including researching meta-humans that he can conscript into a team. While he’s eager to pull these heroes out of hiding, he’s also cautious because he understands that he will be wrecking their lives by doing so.

Please understand that I know this information is actually covered in deleted scenes from Batman v Superman, but since those are deleted I am working strictly with the theatrically released films.

Moving forward, the big bad for the film, Steppenwolf, crashes the Amazonian stronghold that contains a large metal box. Steppenwolf is actually a pretty good villain. He’s got a good introduction that really showcases him as a major threat as he takes on the Amazons and reclaims the box that he calls “mother,” causing some damage and a lot of casualties in the process. This drags Diana, a.k.a Wonder Woman, into the narrative.

Wonder Woman has a really exciting sequence at the start of the film featuring her thwarting a group of terrorists which doesn’t add to the plot of the film but gives the audience a fun action sequence that serves to remind you who Wonder Woman is, in case you forgot from Batman V Superman or the standalone Wonder Woman film. Essentially she’s badass. She seeks out Batman and gives the exposition dump on what is going on.

This brings us to the less than well-known heroes, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg. I’m telling some of this out of order so bear with me. Bruce meets with Aquaman, tries to convince him to join and Aquaman tells him he’s crazy and to get lost. That’s the sum total of their meeting early in the film. Not a huge plot point there. What it does tell us though is a load about Aquaman. He’s essentially where Superman was at the start of Man of Steel, kind of a loner who helps people when no one else can or will.

Flash was established as a costumed hero during the background exposition of Captain Boomerang in Suicide Squad, but is also established as not being hugely active. He steps in when needed, but doesn’t appear to be looking for trouble. Bruce recruits him right away and we see a character who is eager but very inexperienced and their interaction feels very natural, with Batman taking on this mentor role to Flash, and it’s full of Bruce being very understanding of Barry’s lack of practical experience. There is a conversation that happens before the League’s first real battle where Flash is obviously nervous and Batman calms him down and gives him direction and as a fan, I recalled the wrecked Robin costume in Batman v Superman and can’t help but think “Batman’s had this conversation before…” and how much Flash must remind him of a young Robin.

Then there is Cyborg and yes, here is where I ran into a problem with the film and its connection to the timeline established by Batman v Superman. Let me get this out of my system. Cyborg says when discussing the mother box with the League that his father used it on him when he was in an accident that cost him like…a lot of his body. He says that after Superman died the mother box came to life. But, in Batman v Superman we see a video of Cyborg’s father using the mother box on him…and Superman died at the END of that movie. Now it could be that Dr. Stone somehow jumpstarted the box like they do later in this movie, or it could be a simple continuity error. Either way it stuck out to me.

Cyborg also provides an interesting attitude in the film. Given his situation he spends most of the movie in a very somber, dead serious mindset, even withholding information that he could die while separating the boxes. He knows there will be blowback, he warns the team to get clear before that happens, but says he can probably take it. It’s a very grown up moment for a kid just out of high school. In the climax he lets down this guard around Superman, expressing not just through dialogue but through the tremble in his voice and his facial expression that he has no idea how bad the blowback could actually be and is actually afraid he’s going to die. But he pushes on anyway. I think this is a very important character moment because it’s subtle development. This brings me to “character development.”

With Batman, for better or for worse, we see him through other people’s eyes, and that’s kind of a rare thing. In most…like 90 percent of Batman movies, others treat him as either an unappreciated genius to this mythological being, even by Robin and Batgirl. With the League, however, he’s called out for his attitude. He’s a jerk most of the time. He’s single-minded, hyper-focused, and the first one to make the tough calls, even willing to drag Superman back from the dead, kicking and screaming if necessary, to stop the threat to Earth. This look at Batman starts to become uncomfortable. He’s recruiting untested warriors to battle Steppenwolf knowing they could die in the process. This is a less heroic face of the classic character. It’s one thing when he’s throwing himself against danger; it’s another thing when he’s co-opting strangers to do the same thing. I’ve got quite a bit to say on this topic so I’ll save the rest of this for another article.

Wonder Woman has remained relatively closed off from humanity, apparently being appropriately pleasant with her co-workers in her civilian identity, while also dressing like a supermodel despite doing some work that gets pretty dirty (statue restoration is not neat and tidy). Her character arch is much straighter forward with the second act seeing Batman challenging her personal isolation to the third act acceptance of Wonder Woman’s role in the world. Diana’s story is less pulled from her standalone film, only referring to Steve Trevor and the team she ran with in WWI, but heavily references the final act of Batman v Superman.

The Final Product

Again, this was honestly a good film. It was predictable, yes, but you aren’t going into a superhero film expecting epic twists. You can get pumped for the action sequences, enjoy the banter, feel for the lighter moments and the dramatic tones, and you get a wider scope of the DCEU’s internal universe. There are a few nitpicks. I pointed out the continuity error earlier, so from just a visual standpoint I have to say, and this is a criticism I have of Watchmen and Batman v Superman, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, so I can’t hang this solely on Snyder or Whedon, since they both do this…it’s a very blue movie. Watching it I was very aware of the blue tint to the film, which made the moments when they focused on reddish orange stand out, but I would have preferred them backing off this blue hue and let the colors pop a little more. The whole thing felt like a comic book, which I greatly appreciated, but it felt like a comic book I was reading on public transit at night.

My kids loved the movie and that aspect of it was greatly refreshing, as with films like Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman I was uncomfortable letting my younger children watch. These are characters they want action figures and Halloween costumes of so at the end of the day I’d like to let them watch the actual movie these toys are promoting. When we got it on DVD, I waited until after I watched it with my 13-year-old before deciding to let my five, four, and two year olds watch it because the previous movies were pretty dark. Criminals should be nervous about Batman, not five year olds.

The criticism the film received I can understand, not agreeing with it, but I can understand it. They automatically compare it to a Marvel film and that comes with market saturation. There are so many superhero films out there and the “hero’s journey” plot has been done so often everything starts to blend together and it can get frustrating. When you pack in a bunch of characters into a single film, especially when the actors themselves turn out strong performances, it can be daunting to watch. Avengers had the benefit of having featured the entire cast in other movies so you didn’t need to get to know who they were. In Justice League, you are meeting half the principle cast for the first time but the film balances this very well by having familiar side characters like Martha Kent, Lois Lane, and Alfred ease the transition.

It’s like walking into a party being hosted by the three people you got to know the best. You look over and see these folks that you don’t know at all, but then you see your other friends who aren’t carrying the weight of the party and they are hanging out so you feel more comfortable making these new friends.

In that analogy, Cyborg, Flash, and Aquaman came across as the more personable characters in the film. Like you could be in a meeting with Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, and be cool, but you’d go to lunch or have a beer with the other three…except Cyborg since I’m 90 percent he’s under the legal drinking age.

My Verdict

Check it out, especially if you want a good action movie that’s going to appeal to the whole family. I don’t think anyone in my household came back disappointed from the film. I liked it a lot and I hope that the rumors are false and that they will eventually go ahead with a Justice League 2. I know the initial concept for Justice League was to make it a two-parter, but I don’t think that this story would have supported it. They dropped seeds for possible villains in the sequel that could be the Legion of Doom or even Darkseid, and I’d be hesitant for the latter because I think it would hit too many of the same beats this one already adequately covered.

As far as the debate of, “We should get a Zack Snyder cut of the film…” no. Just stop on that line of thinking because even Snyder said he cut ties with the film after he left. What we have is what we have.

Thanks for reading.

Justice League and related films to the DCEU are owned by DC/Warner Bros.

'Avengers' and related films to the MCU are owned by Disney/Marvel.