Movie Review: Justice League

Numbers speak louder than words and this opening weekend for the Justice League may have already spoken for itself. The $300 million budgeted film opened with an unenthusiastic $94 million in the box office. For someone who has walked into the theater with an open mind, I enjoyed it but I do have a couple of complaints. Now keep in mind I have no prior knowledge of the DC comics (besides what is generally I’ll admit that I lean more towards Marvel) so this review is given from a less passionate standpoint than most. Before reading further, there are spoilers so be warned.

The much anticipated DC’s Justice League has hit theaters November 17 and showcases some of our favorite superhero’s in the DC universe (some of which are introduced for the first time). We are already all too familiar with Superman (who is played by Henry Cavill), Batman (who is played by Ben Affleck), and my personal favorite Wonder Woman (who is played by Gal Gadot). Newer additions to the DC cinematic universe include Cyborg played by Ray Fisher, the Flash played by Ezra Miller, and Aqua man played by Jason Momoa who complete the ragtag team of superhero’s.

The film picks up months after the events following Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice when the world lost it’s most loved superhero. Batman recognizes the world is in danger and attempts to rally up a team of strangers with super abilities to save humanity from Steppenwolf. I was rather unimpressed with his reveal because he didn’t stand out to me. Steppenwolf (who is played by Ciaran Hinds), a member of Darkseid’s elite brought an army of bug-like aliens called Parademons to gather the mother boxes to unlock unity.

The mother boxes were not fully explained in the movie so I’ll elaborate here for those of you who were as lost as I was: They are essentially boxes  that harbor advanced technology far beyond normal human standards. They are a living computer created by a scientist named Himon that resides in Apokolips. When all three combined, possess a power that even the user does not understand. Each box was hidden in parts of the world where they were guarded by the people of Atlantis, the Amazons, and one hidden underground and guarded by humans. It was brought by Steppenwolf thousands of years ago to attempt to conquer Earth.

Rewind back to gathering the Justice League: Superman is dead. Everyone knows this and are still mourning his death but the team bring him back with the help of a Mother Box and the kryptonian ship that crashed on Earth. He is still very mad after he resurrected and has to come back to reality so he doesn’t join the league immediately. I have no complaints about the Man of Steel but he embarrassingly overpowers all his team mates. I don’t know if that is intentional but Batman is clearly the weakest and relies on his money and toys. Wonder Woman appears to almost be a match for him, but quickly gets overpowered by Superman. Aquaman seemed to match Wonder Woman’s strength (Is he part God?), Cyborg is in a league of his own with his advanced abilities sourced from the mother boxes, and Flash is just… fast. It was cringeworthy watching Batman in action but he was the glue that held everyone together. Flash was hilarious but he was definitely the token child of the group and always whined about something. The more I discussed this movie with someone, the more flaws I found with the movie. It was entertaining but there were many flaws with the film.

One of the biggest complaints I do have about this movie is the terrible CGI, especially in the scene where the Justice League fights Steppenwolf in the end. It was headache inducing and incredibly blurry. I understand that the villain is from another planet and fighting him and his minions need some kind of special effects but it does not seem well planned and sloppily thrown together. There is no excuse when there are movies like Jurassic Park with CGI dinosaurs that withstand time no matter when you watch it. Another noticeable quirk (if you can call it that) that does not avoid attention is when the camera’s pull focus on Wonder Woman’s backside. At first, I thought I was crazy because the shot lasted longer than a shot should on someone’s assets but upon further review, it was most definitely intentional. Maybe I’m crazy but that scene made me shift in my theater seat. There has been countless shirtless shots of the male counterparts in superhero films, so does that make this hypocritical to point this out? Who knows but all I know is that it’s there and very obvious thanks to Director Zack Snyder.

Overall, I wouldn’t pit it down to DC’s 2011 Green Lantern level (and that movie was BAD) but it was a tad better than Batman vs. Superman and I would owe that to the new additions to the DC family. I’ll say that my favorite aspect was finally seeing these characters on the big screen even if it was a flop. I think it’s still worth seeing but if you’re a die hard fan, I’d either avoid it or wait until you can watch it for cheaper. I’ll probably give it a 4 out of 10!

Photos Courtesy of DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.

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