JUSTICE LEAGUE ■ Justice isn’t served
Marvel changed the way that Hollywood approaches franchises when it dared to dream big with a saga of B-grade comic characters that started with IRON MAN and led up to the shared world of THE AVENGERS. After Christopher Nolan finished his Batman trilogy with THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, DC was clearly in the mood to follow in the same vein as Marvel, albeit with a slight change.
It started as a standalone outing with MAN OF STEEL, then shifted to crossover territory in the divisive BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, before jumping back to another fantastic solo affair with WONDER WOMAN. Instead of fully copying the Marvel approach and introducing unfamiliar characters to audiences in dedicated movies before reaching a team-up conclusion, DC has been mixing and matching solo movies with team-ups. The problem is that while DC has three of the biggest household names in comics—Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman—it also has some of the biggest nobodies.
The Flash will likely be known to some, but after that things start to get murkier. Aquaman? Maybe. Cyborg? Not really. It’s even worse when it comes to the villains. With JUSTICE LEAGUE, it’s clear that the Warner Bros. mandate of a tighter run time was the be all and end all. At two hours, JUSTICE LEAGUE certainly moves at a quick pace, but that comes at the expense of getting to know the main players: that’s six superheroes. Then there’s an undercooked villain (Steppenwolf) and a host of supporting characters, at least one per superhero, who are relegated to little more than cameos.
Some of the action is okay, but nothing really rises to the level of iconic. The humour is much improved, but there’s also the reality that director Zack Snyder’s darker version and replacement director Joss Whedon’s lighter tone don’t always gel. Ezra Miller’s Flash is a fantastic addition to the DC Universe whose comedic timing is a breath of fresh air, but Jason Mamoa (Aquaman) and Ray Fisher (Cyborg) are more serious characters, which makes them easier to forget.
There might come a point where an audience’s familiarity with the superhero newcomers is enhanced by their respective standalone films to the point where it might be worth revisiting JUSTICE LEAGUE. But, as it stands right now, JUSTICE LEAGUE is a mostly forgettable superhero movie that brings very little to the table in terms of justifying its own existence.
