The Movie: Justice League
The Director: Zack Snyder
The Cast: Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds, Amber Heard, Joe Morton
The Story: DC Comics super heroes band together to save the planet from certain destruction.
The Review:
First let's recap the DC cinematic universe so far.
Man of Steel - I didn't like it.
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice - I thought it was terrible.
Wonder Woman - Fantastic.
Now Zack Snyder and the DC creative team brings the big three heroes together with Aquaman, Cyborg, and the Flash (not my cat) for a CGI filled adventure intended to revive a franchise that had been flailing towards disaster until Wonder Woman came in to save the day. If you don't know, Zack Snyder had to leave the production well before the film was complete due to a family tragedy and Joss Whedon was brought in to do some re-shoots and add the finishing touches to a streamlined, focused, and action oriented movie.
I have to admit I really enjoyed watching this movie even with all of its faults, and there are plenty but I was prepared for it and adjusted my expectations accordingly. Most of the movie, and some of the characters, look more on the level of video game quality than a major effects blockbuster and, thanks to all the re-shoots and re-edits, the whole thing feels disjointed and incomplete. Between everything that Snyder did and the changes/additions that Whedon was asked to make, I feel like there's a really good movie in there, it just wasn't executed properly
There's also the issue of Henry Cavill's now infamous disappearing mustache. If you didn't know, he was sporting some pretty impressive facial hair during Whedon's re-shoots which had to be removed digitally in post production. Seriously, his upper lip is computer generated in about half the scenes he is in over the course of the movie and it just looks weird. Why didn't he just shave it off for the re-shoots? Well, his character in the upcoming Mission Impossible movie has a mustache and they were right in the middle of shooting that movie when he was called to do the re-shoots. Is it weird I've spent a whole paragraph talking about this?
Outside of the mustache fiasco, Cavill is actually really good at being Superman this time around. Gone are the days of emo Clark which was quite refreshing. As for the rest of the League, Gal Gadot of course was impressive as Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck was basically Ben Affleck pretending to be Batman, Jason Momoa was very macho as Aquaman, Ray Fisher was solid as Cyborg, and Ezra Miller was the embodiment of comic relief in just about every scene. It was weird, Barry Allen never has a moment on screen that wasn't a one liner, punch line, or physical gag and for me, that took something away from a character who deserved a bit more than that.
The Verdict:
Justice League is a fun movie if you allow it to be, it's all about expectations. Movie critics are tearing it apart because there is a lot wrong with it while fans are enjoying it because of what it does well. Either way, it's definitely worth watching and is much better than most of what the DCU has shown us so far.
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