Justice League (2017) Review

"I hear you can talk to fish."
-Bruce Wayne



After the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), a alien being who failed to conquer Earth in the past, returns to try his luck again.  As he hunts down the three devices he needs to transform Earth into a magmatic world like his own, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) and Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) attempt to put together a team to stop Steppenwolf, but they quickly realize they can't do it without Superman and put a risky plan into effect to bring the Kryptonian back from the dead.


What Works:

The members of the Justice League are all pretty solid and enjoyable.  It helps that most of them have a sense of humor (unlike most of the other films in the DC Universe).  Ezra Miller is very funny as the Flash.  Batman and Aquaman (Jason Momoa) have some solid banter.  Even Superman, who isn't known for being funny, has a few great moments, mostly with the Flash.  The more light-hearted tone is a nice change of pace for this overly-gritty universe.

The action scenes in Justice League are actually watchable without getting a headache (I'm looking at you Man of Steel).  The fights are fun and don't drag on for too long.  The sewer fight is very entertaining and everyone has a part to play in the battle.  I also really enjoyed the final battle against Steppenwolf.  The 3rd act is a lot of fun and gives us some really fantastic moments.

To continue on about the 3rd act, I liked the look of the battle.  It looked a little cartoony, but it felt like a comic book movie to me.  Most of the superhero movies I've seen never really feel like I'm watching a comic book come to life, but I definitely felt that in the final battle of this movie.


What Sucks:

Straight up, Steppenwolf is an awful villain.  He's super generic, not interesting in the slightest, and I've never even heard of the guy before this movie.  He is unbelievable bland.  Even actor Ciarán Hinds was disappointed in what we ended up getting for this character.  Steppenwolf is by far the worst part of this film.

I also didn't care for the scene between Aquaman and Mera (Amber Heard).  This scene is a good reason why you need to have the origin story movie before the big team-up.  The discussion they have about Aquaman's mother feels very forced and it never comes up again.  In the big team-up movies, the superheroes need to be learning how to work as a team, not learning about their past.  

Finally, there are a few minor things.  Not all of the CGI looks great (Steppenwolf) and not all of the humor works.  A couple of Ezra Miller's jokes really fall flat.


Verdict:

I think Justice League gets a bad rap and it's totally unwarranted.  Sure, the villain sucks and we got this movie too early in the DC cinematic universe, but it's a really fun movie, with some excellent action scenes and solid chemistry between the cast.  It's no Wonder Woman, but it's miles better than the rest of the films in the series and it has definitely got it going on.

 7/10: Good   

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