A review of the new super-hero film “Justice League”
This is a movie which has divided the professional critics and the general public with the former being hard on the work but the latter generally enjoying it. I confess that my feelings fall somewhere between the two. It seems that DC Comics just cannot replicate the success of Marvel Universe’s Avengers.
Superman is dead but the Earth is under great threat and so Batman and Wonder Woman put together a league of superheroes, adding Aquaman, Cyborg, and the Flash to the team facing somebody called Steppenwolf. The movie has considerable visual appeal with a whole variety of locations and worlds and lots of crashing action, but the plot is weak – yet again a small number of objects of great power which must not be brought together – and the characters (too many of them) are of variable impact.
Ben Affleck is dull as Batman, never achieving Christian Bale’s convincing portrayal of the role, and it is Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman – fresh from her success in her stand-alone appearance – who is the most appealing character, not least because we know so little of the back story of the other three league members. As for the huge and ugly villain Steppenwolf, he is just like so many other sci-fi bad guys and his entourage of flying warriors looks too much like the monkeys in “The Wizard Of Oz”.
The film had a troubled production with original director Zack Snyder – who helmed “Man Of Steel” and “Batman vs Superman” – having to step aside and leaving the final shooting to Joss Wheldon. This mixed heritage is combined with a confusion of tone with the work unsure whether it wants to be as serious as the previous two films or more comedic in the vein of “Guardians Of The Galaxy”. There are extra scenes at the very beginning and the very end of the credits.