Bosco685 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Film Review: ‘Justice League’ Stumbles Along the Way But Ultimately Wins the Fight Quote If your expectations for any film are in the toilet, then the final delivery can always ultimately surprise you. With reshoots, multiple writers, new stand in director, and just having the aura of the DC Universe on itself, Zack Snyder‘s “Justice League” proves itself to be a serviceable effort in the DCEU, showing that there could be light at the end of its dark tunnel. Superseding the travesty of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” but not holding a candle to its earlier year efforts on “Wonder Woman,” the action-packed superhero film fits firmly in the middle of it all. While the film is wildly uneven, it’s entertainment value can’t be ignored, featuring some very cool moments for the fanboys to enjoy. There’s going to be your traditional annoyances that have plagued not just the DECU, but most superhero movies in general. The villain is as empty and as cartoony as they come. Steppenwolf has little to no motivation besides our generic “I want to rule the world” subplot that has been available to us since the dawn of movie creation. The opening frames of the film are some of the worst seen this year. Talk about trying to make a bruting, super-seriously toned superhero movie, with an emo-like music track that becomes almost cringe-worthy. “Justice League” is practical in the DECU and is a step in the right direction for the studio. With some more guidance and the absence of certain players behind the scenes that keep bogging it all down, perhaps this can grow into an enjoyable and well-regarded franchise. Let’s see where they go from here. 2.5/4.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Review: Justice League Quote Plenty of action and an abundance of passable CGI effects make this a fast-paced matinee epic. The DC lineup is well-represented here, along with a few surprises to please the fans. The dark-edged style of director Zack Snyder ("Man of Steel") is certainly present, but he left this project after a death in the family. Co-writer Joss Whedon ("The Avengers") finished the film, adding a lighter touch with his signature brand of humor. The combined effort works well - too many cooks don't spoil the broth this time around. Ezra Miller's The Flash provides the funnier moments as he energetically tries to fit in with a series of one-liners. Jason Momoa's Aquaman has a hilarious moment of truth thanks to a certain Lasso. Most of the movie is serious and the star-studded cast, led by Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, is up to the task. Ciarán Hinds' Steppenwolf is a nasty villain who was born to be wild. Amy Adams returns as Lois Lane and Diane Lane is back as Martha Kent, who must deal with the loss of her son and the family farm's foreclosure. The terrific ensemble also includes, among others, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth and Billy Crudup as The Flash's father Henry Allen. Danny Elfman delivers another brilliant score that features shades of his "Batman" music. With the success of this year's "Wonder Woman" and now this fantasy treat, DC is giving Marvel some worthy competition at the box office - complete with twists, cameos and scenes through the end of the credits. "Justice League" is super-charged fun! (4 CAMS) 4.0/5.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Review: Justice League 3.0/5.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Review: Justice League Quote Which means that "Justice League" is yet another big, noisy, expensive, busy superhero conclave where a lot of people get thrown into walls, no one gets really hurt and a crazy bad guy is thwarted from taking over everything and ruining everyone's fun. A better movie would have had him giving Twitter a try but in this one, the bad guy is named Steppenwolf and he's played unrecognizably (good move) by fine Irish actor Ciaran Hinds. I'd love someone to explain to me why DC Comics had to pluck a villain's name from a novel by Herman Hesse but I suppose it's because if you divorce it entirely from Hesse (which John Kay's rock group never did), "steppenwolf" is just a cool sounding word. What goes on in this movie while it goes nowhere special is: Batman gets the group together but all but talks Wonder Woman into leading it because he's too tired and hurt; and the other major newbie, The Flash (Ezra Miller), shows what you can do as a skinny, timid Jewish kid who happens to go fast because he was struck by lightning. Any one of those plots, if developed at all, might have been very cool. Unfortunately, none of them are which affirms the whole movie as a kind of "Injustice League" of screenwriting notions, just so that Steppenwolf can be stopped from uniting three pointless magic boxes and subverting the universe. Batman's English butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons, looking more wan than usual), as always, is the voice of experience: "I miss the days when our biggest concern was exploding, wind-up penguins." You know what? Aquaman and the Flash, notwithstanding, me too. 2.5/4.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Definitely not a perfect movie. And that's a shame. But not a bomb where people are talking today how Snyder, Affleck and possibly a cabal running Rotten Tomatoes led to a total train wreck. But it is a shame WB didn't take the time to excel with this one after multiple (and a massively successful one) productions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsilverjanet Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) I’m still going to see it. I’m sure just like some will continue to post the amount of dislike and not see it Edited November 17, 2017 by jsilverjanet thedude 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsilverjanet Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 I’m just amazed at how critical people are about just having fun in a theatre i can only imagine how you approach the more fun things in life but hey I forget im in a comic book forum Andahaion 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Cataldo Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 3 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said: I’m just amazed at how critical people are about just having fun in a theatre i can only imagine how you approach the more fun things in life but hey I forget im in a comic book forum I read something on another board today that said, "The people that hate Star Wars so much are Star Wars fans." Same deal here. MDR123 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Tomorrow night 7 PM. I'll be there! jsilverjanet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatsby77 Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, drotto said: I think you hit on what the critics and to an extent the public is looking for now. You can no longer just do a superhero movie. Avengers did that, they beat everyone else to the punch and they did it extremely well. That movie was your typical bad guy wants to take over the world plot with your teseract mcguffin. But five years ago how the characters were brought together and interacted over the course of several movies was unique, and the action placed on the screen was pure comic brought to life like never before. That is not good enough now, you can't just be a bad guy want to take over the world comic plot anymore, its been done. I would wager that if Avengers was not first it would a as highly regarded. Amen to all of what you wrote. But to this point especially -- comic book films are now so ubiquitous that I think to really succeed, they need to advance the ball -- bring something fresh to the table. The genre-mashing you cited does that. More to the point, I found Age of Ultron to be slightly disappointing because it was the second time around. Even with the additions of Vision, Scarlett Witch, and Quicksilver, the whole third act city-ending alien fight scene already seemed stale. If it came out today, a full two years later, I'm sure I'd find it even worse. Sooner or later, the ride will end -- a few high-profile comic book films will bomb and studios will scrap their plans in favor of the next big trend. To stave that dark day off as long as possible, to keep the public interested,comic book films to experiment and evolve. Edited November 17, 2017 by Gatsby77 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drotto Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 24 minutes ago, Bosco685 said: Definitely not a perfect movie. And that's a shame. But not a bomb where people are talking today how Snyder, Affleck and possibly a cabal running Rotten Tomatoes led to a total train wreck. But it is a shame WB didn't take the time to excel with this one after multiple (and a massively successful one) productions. They did not leave themselves any time to course correct and excel. Remember how broadsided that WB seemed by the reviews and reception of BvS, and that JL stared filming 1 week after BvS was released. They were pushing so hard to catch Marvel they had no time to step back and retool. It is ashamed that they did not delay the start of filming right there. Taken 6 months to rethink, do rewrites, etc. But so much money had already been spent and pre production was 100% finished. Stopping the production would have coast millions and generated massive bad press. So they pushed forward. Then they were forced to alter things on the fly, and that is difficult to do (not impossible). But hindsight is 20/20. Then they were forced to make more massive changes after Snyders family tragedy, and shaky initial screenings. It was not impossible to still put out a great film, but it was a massive task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeddieMercede Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 This movie was everything Wonder Woman wasn’t. Shoulda been released as a Justice League video game on Xbox. Azkaban 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondCityComics Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 12 minutes ago, TeddieMercede said: This movie was everything Wonder Woman wasn’t. Shoulda been released as a Justice League video game on Xbox. So you went tonight and hated it?? Bosco685 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 Come next week, there will be plenty of forumite feed from screenings. It will be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StingerMcK Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) Just saw it and enjoyed the hell out of it. It does move at break neck speed. There is hardly any breathing room. But I feel like we spent a decent amount of time with the characters. I would be interested in an extended cut. The final battle did not go on and on like I was expecting. All spoilers ahead: Spoiler Superman was amazing. Superman is redeemed. He beat Steppenwolfs so hard When he showed back up in the costume, that got a big applause at my screening. People still love Superman. I dont care what anyone says. Elfmans score was very generic and very forgettable. I barely heard Williams Supes theme, and did not hear Batman. Oh well. Very cool seeing a Green Lantern in flashback. I am glad they addressed what Wonder Woman has been up to since WWI, and Batman called her out on it. Affleck is still a cool Batman. It's too bad he is looking to leave. Flash is the comic relief and it worked. When he is trying to sneak up on Superman, and Supes turns to look at him, was great. Aquaman was cool, his solo movie will be nice to flesh things out. Cyborg was an integral part, and I dont think he felt out of place. The end credit scenes both got a big reaction. People loved the race, and there were a few "oh mess, Deathstroke!" in the audience. But again, Superman was amazing. Edited November 17, 2017 by StingerMcK Bosco685 and Larryw7 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdoginohio Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Enjoyed it. Only negative for me was Spoiler an absence of Darkseid Other than that, very enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Cataldo Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Thanks for the reviews! First showing tomorrow for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDR123 Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Just got back from second viewing. Still fun. Still enjoyable. Still definitely not perfect but for the life of me cannot comprehend how folks are tearing this apart. There are a few story beats that are either left incomplete or feel rushed. Still a letdown for the first time all of these characters are on screen together. Solid B-/C though. Am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsilverjanet Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 LIARS! all of you are part of the WB/Rotten Tomatoe/SNYDER fanboys!!! greggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDR123 Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 1 minute ago, jsilverjanet said: LIARS! all of you are part of the WB/Rotten Tomatoe/SNYDER fanboys!!! I went with a professed Aquaman fan and a staunch Marvelite (though his wife was decked out in Nightwing gear). They enjoyed it. Saw faults as well. We all agreed on the grade. The rest of the audience, at multiple points throughout the movie they clapped and cheered (something I'm not a fan of because come on! they cant hear you! but I digress) the post credits were seemingly loved by everyone. I even heard someone walking out 2 rows ahead of me saying "Yeah, F that RT score, they are definitely wrong, this was super fun" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
