"Justice League"*** (out of ****)
All for one and one for all. Justice will be served in the DC comic book movie, "Justice League" (2017).
"Justice League", a kind of sequel, to "Batman v Superman" (2016) - an unfairly maligned comic showdown - is director Zack Snyder's continuation of themes presenting super-heroes in our modern world.
Reviewing "Batman v Superman" I wrote the movie asks, how our world would react to such beings. There was much talk of morality and what role our government should play in containing super-heroes. In "Justice League" we see a world without its great hero, Superman (Henry Cavill), and the downward spiral society falls into, over a montage played over Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows", with lyrics "everybody knows the war is over / everybody knows the good guys lost". And so it is no longer a question of where do super-heroes fit in our society but what will we do without them? Who will be the great defenders of justice and liberty? In her introductory scene, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) stands atop a statue of Lady Justice. How's that for (not-so-subtle) symbolism?
In "Batman v Superman", Superman dies at the hands of Doomsday. Since that time Bruce Wayne / Batman (Ben Affleck) has blamed himself. If you recall, in that movie Batman also wanted to stop Superman. Batman now wants to find other extraordinary beings brought to his attention by Woman Woman. They include a young man, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), who possesses great speed. He can run in a Flash! Another young man, Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), whose father brought back to life. He is now half-man, half-machine. A kind of Cyborg. And finally, a man who sleeps with the fishes, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa). A real Aquaman!
These five heroes must band to together to restore hope to our world. They will be put to the test as a super-villain, Steppenwolf, sets out for the usual world domination (yada, yada, yada) by collecting three items known at Mother Boxes, which are some sort of energy sources, that when combined will destroy Earth as we know it. These Mother Boxes are real McGuffins, if I ever saw one (there's a word for you to look up). The Mother Boxes have been separated, as a precautionary measure. One is guarded by the Amazons, another by the Atlanteans and the third by mere humans. Will the Justice League be able to work together and be strong enough to stop Steppenwolf?
The tag-line to the movie, "You Can't Save The World Alone", using symbols from each character for different letters, is suppose to be a cute way of suggesting a group has been created. Each of the heroes will need each other. But, could the tag-line also serve as a warning to humans? Humans alone can't save the world. Humans need super-heroes. We need to have faith in super-heroes and trust they will do what is best to protect us. Their intentions are good. Just as was the case in "Batman v Superman", there is a religious undertone to this message. Superman was repeatedly referred to as a God in that movie. Losing these heroes means losing hope. Being released in 2017, after this country mistakenly believed in Donald Trump, we could use all the hope we could muster to help us believe things will get better.
It is the philosophical questions that are most interesting in "Justice League" instead of the mechanics of the plot. Other super-hero movies have attempted to broach these issues, most recently "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) and "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019), but, as unpopular an opinion as it may be, neither did it as good as "Justice League". In fact, I had more fun watching "Justice League" than any of the Avenger movies I have seen, which is all of them except "Infinity War" (2018). Of course, I'm not part of the flock of sheep (movie critics) paid off by Disney to say nice things about Marvel movies.
That is kind of an ironic statement since Joss Whedon is credited as one of the screenwriters (along with Chris Terrio) for "Justice League". He wrote and directed "Avengers" (2012) and "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015). Whedon also took over directing responsibilities from Snyder (uncredited) after a tragic family situation. There are definite Whedon touches. I assume this is where much of the movie's humor comes from. It is a contrast in tone from the opening moments, which I assume Snyder was responsible for. There is a Snyder cut of "Justice League" but it is uncertain if the public will ever see it.
Putting aside the "inside baseball"; reported issues Terrio had with re-writes. Changes in Warner Brothers executives. Demands to keep the movie at two hours. Adapting "Justice League" to appease the negative response sheep (movie critics) had for "Batman v Superman", the movie still has moments that work. Without being able to compare and contrast this version with Snyder's, I can only judge what we have before us.
One thing "Justice League", "Batman v Superman" and all the Marvel movies are missing is that Tim Burton touch. There are little, if any, truly arresting visuals in any of these movies. Everything is CGI. Looking back on it, Burton really created something unique in "Batman" (1989), making Gotham City a character. Visualizing Gotham as an outward extension of the disturbed mind-view of its characters. Nothing in today's comic book adaptations do that. They are all essentially making video games.
To the extent most sheep were able to praise "Justice League", a lot if it went towards Gadot and Miller's performances. And, they are good. Miller is heavily used as comic relief. Outside of the jokes however, there isn't much of a character there. If viewers have not seen "Wonder Woman" (2017) before seeing this, the movie hints at a background story of her past. It indicts there is something much deeper about this character to be explored. Gadot probably comes out best among all the performances. On the opposite spectrum, Jason Momoa comes out the worst. There is no sense of who this character is. There would be a stand alone movie made the following year, "Aquaman" (2018), which hopefully explained his origins (I haven't seen it).
Wasted this time around are Jeremy Irons as Alfred, in an interpretation of the character far different from what we are accustom to. He is not a butler but an active partner working alongside Batman. There is very little for Alfred to do however. Was an actor of the stature of Jeremy Irons needed for the role? Amy Adams has even less to do as Lois Lane and poor Diane Lane, as Martha Kent, is reduced to a couple of scenes. Laurence Fishburne was completely eliminated.
Once again I remain unimpressed with Henry Cavill in the role of Superman. He didn't make much of an impression on me in "Batman v Superman" and thankfully his character is absent the first hour of this movie. Both times I have seen Cavill in the role, I feel he doesn't flesh out the character. It is always characters reacting to the idea of Superman and the character doing very little. Ben Affleck settles into the role of Batman nicely. The movie explores his limitations of being the only individual without a super-power. He and the Flash are the only humans in the group. How much longer will Batman be part of the Justice League?
Although slightly uneven in tone, thanks to the change in the directors and pressure from the studio, though the two hour running time is welcomed (Did "Endgame" really need to be three hours?), "Justice League" has more moments that work than don't. Despite efforts to turn this into an imitation of the Avengers (Joss Whedon), I found "Justice League" far more entertaining. It attempts to ask questions in a more adult-ish way than the Marvel movies. I also just simply like Batman and Wonder Woman as characters. I look forward to an eventual sequel.
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