And yeah, I have a few thoughts. (And yes, there will be a few spoilers, so beware.)
First off, it was better than Batman v. Superman. This movie is actually fun -- real, honest-to-goodness entertainment. BvS . . . well, the best you can say for it is that it introduced us to Diana Prince.
Joss Whedon helped write the screenplay, and if you're familiar with his work his creative touch will be obvious throughout the movie. My biggest question is how he managed to get his finger in the DC pie after having been up to his elbows in Marvel's. It sounds like most of his work was done in post-production (it seems that at some point in the process the powers that be realized that they needed help) and at this point, Whedon has earned a reputation as script doctor extraordinaire (apparently he also did some directing of scenes shot late in the process).
And this is Whedon's specialty (see: Firefly) -- bringing together a diverse cast of characters and making them seem like they belong together.
In the case of the Justice Leaguers, it sorta works, kinda.
Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince are already friends when the movie starts, and they're realizing that something bad is coming, and that they may need help fighting it. They have a list of prospective team members, and they get busy trying to convince each of these guys that they should join up, starting with a guy named Arthur, better known as the Aquaman.
And this is Whedon's specialty (see: Firefly) -- bringing together a diverse cast of characters and making them seem like they belong together.
In the case of the Justice Leaguers, it sorta works, kinda.
Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince are already friends when the movie starts, and they're realizing that something bad is coming, and that they may need help fighting it. They have a list of prospective team members, and they get busy trying to convince each of these guys that they should join up, starting with a guy named Arthur, better known as the Aquaman.
Aquaman is somehow incredibly cool in this incarnation, instead of being the team member with the lamest, most limiting powers. Apparently he's just as tough and fierce on land as underwater, and apparently a trident is actually a pretty effective weapon when wielded properly. Mark and I couldn't quite agree about Jason Momoa's acting; he thought it left something to be desired, and I found him perfectly adequate, with the exception of a few awkward moments (but these characters and this world lead inescapably to characters having to say some weird things). So Aquaman signs on eventually, after first rejecting Wayne's proposal.
Victor Stone (apparently his character is sometimes known as Cyborg, but that name is never spoken in the movie) is a quiet, tortured half-machine dude, and yet he still manages to be sympathetic. There isn't much time devoted to his backstory (nobody gets much) but the acting is strong enough to imply what the movie doesn't have much time to show: he's conflicted about his power and might be gradually losing his sense of self, but if his robotics can help save the world he's willing to contribute. Like Aqua-Arthur, he isn't initially sold on the idea, but he comes around.
Barry Allen is a standout character. He's young and energetic, and this movie needed some young blood. He's super-fast (getting struck by lightning has its perks!) and super-awkward, and also super-ready to have friends (there is a slight implication that he may be on the autism spectrum; others have suspected as much). He is ready to sign up for superhero-ing before Wayne's finished his pitch, and he maintains that level of enthusiasm throughout. It's entertaining to watch him gawk at the unbelievable super-humanness of Superman.
(Yes, Superman is alive. You couldn't have believed he'd stay dead.)
Superman returns! thanks to a life-restoring process that initially renders him a dark-sider destructo machine. Wayne brings in Lois Lane, the two spend some time at the old homestead, and Clark is back and ready to fight for truth and, of course, justice. I really want to believe that Henry Cavill's wooden acting was a calculated choice (otherwise you're slipping, Cavill), and that we'll later find this was a hint that all was not truly well, even after Lois calmed him down. What I'm hoping for is proof in later films that Superman was adversely affected (beyond the initial freak-out) by the resurrection process and really did leave some part of him behind -- and that he was merely hiding this from his teammates at the end of Justice League. Even with the scary evil-Superman moments (I LOVED hearing the Superman theme played briefly, recast with a dark edge), this guy recovered way too quickly. Bringing someone back should have much deeper consequences, and the DCEU could give us the depth this world needs by exploring those issues in the future.
It almost goes without saying that Gal Gadot is still fantastic as Diana, aka Wonder Woman. She is consistently sweet and feminine as well as powerful and badass, and she makes you believe that there is no dissonance in so being. The line that has her rolling her eyes at the childishness of her teammates is somewhat disappointing -- it relies so heavily on stereotypes of male/female relationships -- but it also serves as a reminder that compared to her, they are children -- everyone is. She's an ageless Amazonian, and the rest of the team will never be able to catch up to her years of experience. As Mark commented, she's definitely leveled up since we last saw her in her origin story, but it would be disappointing to find her otherwise.
And Batman -- well, he's there. He's still dressing like a bat and fighting crime, and he's the one who draws the team together and wields the power of the purse. He'll never be my favorite part of this world, but he works as well as he needs to.
However, even though each individual piece ranges from serviceable to memorably great, the movie as a whole isn't spectacular. That might be due to the one puzzle piece I haven't mentioned, the one thing every superhero movie absolutely needs: the villain.
This one is named Steppenwolf, and he's the CG-est baddie I've seen in a long time. (Supposedly he was created using motion capture, but he definitely feels entirely synthetic in every scene.) He's a very old-fashioned kind of villain, which in itself isn't a problem: he's unambiguously evil. His desires are at odds with those of anyone who's even remotely good, and there's no backstory given that makes us feel for him or that introduces any ambiguity about who's in the right. He wants bad things. The good guys can take him out without any haunting regrets.
And that could be okay . . . and yet. In a way he's Wonder Woman's villain -- her people have a history with him, so defeating him is (should be) a little more personal for her. Everyone else in the League cares because Steppenwolf wants to conquer the earth and, since he's a Bad Guy, that would Not Be Good. But even though he's allowed to be unambiguously evil, Steppenwolf should feel like a character to make this work, and he really doesn't. He's just a force of nature. We don't have a clear idea what motivates him or any proper explanation of who he is.
So the Justice League defeats him. And we're glad. But the fight is never about him -- it's about them coming together and learning to be a team. Despite the bumps along the way, group cohesion seems to be established with far too much ease. Too much time was spent on the bring-back-Superman plot thread, and having him save the day didn't feel like the triumph it should have (for me, at least, it was completely overshadowed by worries about what might be going on with him under the surface) and it distracted from the development of the new guys.
But Justice League was a step in the right direction. Maybe this will just be the necessary stepping-stone to the truly great stuff that is yet to come.
Getting to see the Amazons again on Themyscira was a highlight for me, even though the scenes there are largely ones of destruction and defeat. I still want to know more about that world. It's the first time I've seen a large gathering of women and really wanted to be one of them.
The use of CGI seemed gratuitous at times, but that's pretty par for the course these days. I don't like it, but I've come to accept that it's not going to change.
At one point in the film Diana had an excellent one-liner about technology and its dangers and merits. My memory isn't good enough to quote it here, but when I see the movie again at some point, I plan to write it down.
In the end, Justice League is quite watchable. It wasn't a waste of time. I had fun! This may not sound like high praise -- and may be slightly less than it deserves -- but it is leagues ahead of certain of its predecessors.
(Leagues ahead! Pun fully intended.)
So the Justice League defeats him. And we're glad. But the fight is never about him -- it's about them coming together and learning to be a team. Despite the bumps along the way, group cohesion seems to be established with far too much ease. Too much time was spent on the bring-back-Superman plot thread, and having him save the day didn't feel like the triumph it should have (for me, at least, it was completely overshadowed by worries about what might be going on with him under the surface) and it distracted from the development of the new guys.
But Justice League was a step in the right direction. Maybe this will just be the necessary stepping-stone to the truly great stuff that is yet to come.
Getting to see the Amazons again on Themyscira was a highlight for me, even though the scenes there are largely ones of destruction and defeat. I still want to know more about that world. It's the first time I've seen a large gathering of women and really wanted to be one of them.
The use of CGI seemed gratuitous at times, but that's pretty par for the course these days. I don't like it, but I've come to accept that it's not going to change.
At one point in the film Diana had an excellent one-liner about technology and its dangers and merits. My memory isn't good enough to quote it here, but when I see the movie again at some point, I plan to write it down.
In the end, Justice League is quite watchable. It wasn't a waste of time. I had fun! This may not sound like high praise -- and may be slightly less than it deserves -- but it is leagues ahead of certain of its predecessors.
(Leagues ahead! Pun fully intended.)
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