Movie: Justice League
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| 👏🏼 FRONT 👏🏼 AND 👏🏼 CENTER 👏🏼 |
Justice League was a lot of fun, it had a lot of great moments, and it was generally able to achieve its main goals: feature the team, and make the audience root for it. In terms of specifics, however, the movie left a lot to be desired in terms of pacing, storytelling, general plot, and character development. I wouldn't say it's all pomp and bluster without the meat, because there was a lot of heart in this movie, but it had its misgivings in both areas.
In hindsight, I thought it seemed to contradict other films in the DCEU, almost like it's trying to retcon itself. It kinda works (since I'm not too ~entrenched in the universe anyway), but I don't know how hardcore fans will respond to what seems to be deliberate and blatant canon revisionism.
But as it is: did I have fun? Absolutely! Would I watch Justice League again? Sure! Do I want to see more movies from DC? Eh, I'd watch them, but I wouldn't particularly watch out for them.
What worked
- Team dynamic
They really worked hard to sell this point, and it mostly worked. Though Alfred keeps mentioning how good being in a team is for Bruce (which, in my book, only strengthens the Tony-JARVIS parallel) and Aquaman literally waxes poetic about how happy he is to be the Justice League, the movie did a good job of also showing that the team wants to be together.
There weren't many combo moves that I could remember, which is sad, but they helped each other out during fights by saving each other so that was nice. I was a little sad they didn't play up the recruitment more (I LOVE RECRUITMENTS IN SUPERHERO MOVIES I don't think I can stress that enough), but I can forgive them for it. There were some Joss Whedon-esque quips and banter, but I thought it wasn't too obvious that two people directed the movie. - Wonder Woman ♥
As if there wasn't enough great things that came from the gift that was Wonder Woman, now it has come in the form of Gal Gadot being featured front and center in the majority of team shots. That's right. Y'all best bow down and recognize. I am legitimately hyped that they were able to achieve that without being too offensively male-gaze-y (though, I mean, there were still some ~moments).
Also, I appreciate that they took the time to build Diana's human character -- that she became reclusive, couldn't deal with her loss, and had to make the conscious decision to fight again. That's good! I mean, I wish we were afforded actual scenes of this happening instead of just hearing them talking about it (or in Bruce's case, being an absolute asshole about it, but they call him out so it's fine), but there was an actual effort to humanize her. So yay. - Finally, a happy, hopeful Superman
This came a little bit too late after literally everything, but you know what, we can just pretend Man of Steel didn't happen and Batman v Superman didn't happen. IT'S FINE. Everything's fine. They did a smart thing too, which was to open with that reintroduction of Superman so that you forget what a bleak version of the character this universe has. I only have vague recollections of the past DC movies (I remember thinking, "Is this what casual Marvel movie-goers feel like??"), but I'm pretty sure BvS was all about how everyone was divided about Superman, so the intense mourning going on doesn't REALLY make sense. I'm seeing it a bit like a retcon of Superman in this verse, but you know what? This is the Superman I am here for, so I'm gonna go ahead and mark this as a win. - Great moments full of heart
There were a lot of moments that made feel like how I felt in that Hulk scene in The Avengers. I've mentioned it before -- the adrenaline rush of him beating up Chitauri in mid-air and then gripping a building gets me insanely pumped. I felt that way about a lot of scenes in Justice League -- the scene where the Amazons pass the Mother Box (should that be capitalized?) to each other, the scene where they team up against Steppenwolf in the sewers, the scene where Superman goes Pet Cemetery on them. Good stuff. - Miscellaneous
Here's a list of things I liked which bear no explanation:
- The race between Superman and Flash (the post-credits one)
- Batman looking at Superman like "SEMPAI IS NOTICING ME 😍" when he comes to save them from Steppenwolf
- Similarly, Superman saying, "You didn't bring me back because you liked me," and Bruce saying, "Well, I don't... not..." /weeps shipping tears
- Aquaman's rough, if underdeveloped, character with the mushy warm feels inside
- Barry saying they'll cover for Diana if she kills Bruce lol
- Zero people exclaiming "Martha!"
What didn't work
- Flimsy plot, structure, and motivation
There wasn't really any deeper plot to this than some dude (whose name sounds like a dance move) coming to earth because his mom is calling him...? And so he assembles these boxes so that he can... create... his birth planet? What? Why?
I mean, as far as comic book plots go, I'm pretty that makes sense with enough suspension of disbelief. But the whole point of an expanded, shared universe is to have enough buildup and plot points connecting with each other so it makes your culminating movie feel like the apex of your cinematic universe. This villain came out of nowhere, has a motivation that seems to have also come out of nowhere, and suddenly we're being told there are all these stakes and an end-of-the-world scenario. But does anyone really buy into it?
There was almost zero meaningful exposition on the main conflict. About halfway through I was like, "Who's his mom anyway?? Why does he have so many issues?" only to be told that he (creepily) calls the Mother Boxes that way. But why? What does it have to do with the domestic terrorism plot in the beginning? Why did they assemble these particular people and how did they get that intel (this was already a Thing in BvS, but how?)? And why does Bruce want to assemble this team so badly and at the same time not want to assemble this team at all? Which one is it? - Resurrection arcs will make any narrative shoot itself in the foot
Here's the thing with resurrection arcs where the resurrection is successful: no one wins. The character development that could have stemmed from seeing characters cope with loss is nullified, their narrative struggles are cheapened, and the stakes are fully back to zero. I should clarify that by resurrection arc, I mean that the resurrection of a character is a plot point, that it was wanted, and that it was successful (i.e., they are the same as before they died). This is the kind of thing we should have learned from Fullmetal Alchemist, people.
When Superman comes back and was all "I'm gonna kill all of you" for a while, I had high hopes about the struggle the movie might have had. They would have had to balance the fight between Superman and Steppenwolf, and everything would have been crazy. I would've gotten tired about superheroes fighting each other AGAIN, but it would've been the only way the plot could go without making things worse for itself. He seemed to echo Buffy's "I live in Hell / 'Cause I've been expelled / From Heaven" mantra for a while there.
But nah. It was worse than that: he goes off for a while in his old, now-foreclosed house with Lois (in a series of scenes that remind me annoyingly of his snow-mountains scene with his dead father in BvS), and then goes back like nothing happened. He helps the team out apropos of nothing, is apparently WAY stronger than all of them combined, and kinda deus-ex-machinas his way to the end. So not only has he effectively stunted potential character growth by those mourning him, but he has also, like I said, removed all the stakes, and arguably, even the need for the team in the first place. Sigh. - Confusing moments
There were a number of moments where I imagine viewers really scratched their heads, especially if they're fully into the DCEU and can't forget/ignore all that has happened in previous movies. (I'm not, but I was still confused.)
Like I mentioned, the world somehow went from the BvS montage of people questioning Superman's morality to hanging giant tarps proclaiming their sadness over his passing. What?
At one point, Aquaman announces Bruce Wayne's name in front of a giant group of civilians. None of the civilians are shocked, and even Bruce doesn't seem to care. What gives?
There are other, smaller things that seem like throwaway details, which jarred me from the viewing experience (like Barry apparently being a K-Pop fan, etc.). - Miscellaneous
Here's a list of things I didn't really like which bear no explanation:
- Henry Cavill's badly removed mustache
- Bad green screen scenes sometimes. They did Themyscira dirty in this :/
- Bruce being a huge asshole to Diana (WHY YOU GOTTA BRING STEVE TREVOR INTO THIS) and the romantic angle the movie still seems bent on pursuing despite that ugh
- I have no strong thoughts, or really any thoughts, about Cyborg. He just kinda... passed by? He was important to the ~plot, sure, but he didn't really connect with anything as a character. I dunno.
- Pulitzer Prize Winner Lois Lane starting a piece with "Darkness." HAHA this was actually so bad that my feelings for the whole movie went from "that was actually okay!" to "oh, what the actual..." in 10 seconds
- Lex Luthor and his planned baseball team did not excite me at all
That's it! Overall, I think this movie could have gone places and prove The Haters wrong. They had a Team Scenes down, they had pretty good chemistry between the actors, they had the quips and banter, they had action movies, etc., but they didn't deliver the overall plot that could have tightened their whole universe together. Still, as someone who came in with no expectations and only a vague memory of what happened in past DCEU movies, I enjoyed it and thought it was very entertaining, if a little bit forgettable.
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