Justice League (2017) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
Tagline: Unite
In the wake of Superman's death, Batman and Wonder Woman recruit superpowered individuals to defend humanity from an otherworldly threat called Steppenwolf. Together with their new allies -- Cyborg, Aquaman, and the Flash -- they form the superhero team
known as the Justice League.
Storyline: Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work
quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes-Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash-it may already be too late to save the
planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Michael Reuben, March 12, 2018 Have you ever experienced a form of cinematic déjà vu in which you're watching a brand new movie but you're certain you've already seen it? That's what I felt watching
Justice League, the latest effort by Warner Brothers to revitalize their DC Comics franchise on the big screen. (With TV series, they're doing just fine, thank you.) After months of relentless promotion and numerous trailers showcasing many of the
film's biggest moments and quippiest exchanges, I sat waiting for something new and surprising—and the wait continues. When a superhero extravaganza's biggest claim to novelty is a musical shout-out to a thirty-year-old predecessor—I'm referring, of
course, to Danny Elfman's sampling of his score for Tim Burton's 1989 Batman—the project is in trouble, especially given its reported production cost of $300 million. As of the most recent account, JL has to yet to recoup its investment,
despite a worldwide box office of $658 million.
By now, most fans know that JL was reshaped from director and co-writer Zack Snyder's original conception, with two months of reshoots overseen by Avengers director Joss Whedon. One can only guess what the film would have been if Snyder
hadn't left the project after principal photography because of a family tragedy. Whedon, who receives a writing credit on JL, clearly made major changes, not the least of which was bringing in Elfman to replace Batman v. Superman's Junkie
XL. The film's cinematographer, Fabian Wagner, has confirmed that substantial scenes he shot with Snyder were left on the cutting room floor, including one prominently featured in a widely seen trailer where Batman's loyal butler, Alfred, greets an
off-screen presence who can only be—spoiler alert!—a revivified Superman. (Seriously: Is there anyone who doesn't know that Superman is reborn in JL?) The scene was clearly designed as a grand entrance for the Man of Steel, but if you're one of the
millions who saw it in the trailer, don't watch JL waiting for it. The annunciation promised in the trailer, with its crescendo of vibrations and a look of wondrous relief on Alfred's face, has been replaced by something quick and jokey. The new
version works just fine, but it's only one of the many obvious examples of two storytelling styles fighting for dominance throughout JL, as the trademark grandiosity that Snyder brought to the DC franchise with Man of Steel and Batman v.
Superman is repeatedly tamped down by a kind of disciplined narrative craftsmanship that Snyder has never cared about. It's an odd mix, resulting in a generic blandness that all the CG wizardry in the world can't spice up.
(Some of the continuity problems created by the reshoots have been catalogued by my colleague Josh Katz, to whose weekly column I refer the curious reader.)
The best description of JL I know came from a friend of mine, a genuine movie fan, who, after watching the film's trailers, decided not to see it. When I asked him why, his answer came down to one word: predictability. He then proceeded to offer a
succinct and remarkably accurate plot summary:
Some incident will bring all of the members together, they'll be apprehensive about working with one another, some of them will dislike one another, they'll have a big baddy that they'll initially
fail against, they'll be discouraged, they'll learn how to fight as a team, they'll win, and everyone lives happily ever after.
That's it in a nutshell, as Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Superman (Henry Cavill), the Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) unite to defeat a world-destroying alien known as Steppenwolf (a CG creation voiced
by Ciarán Hinds), whose abbreviated back story is hurriedly supplied by Wonder Woman in voiceover. Buildings collapse, tunnels flood, videogame-style tendrils of destruction bore through the earth, and a horde of flying Steppenwolf minions known as
"Parademons" are squashed, shot, pummeled and otherwise vanquished.
But all of this is just a pretext to JL's main mission in the DC Universe, which is to bring Superman back to life after he was supposedly killed off in Batman v. Superman. In that sense, JL is little more than an extended coda to
Snyder's previous movie, in the same way that Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was necessitated by the apparent loss of an essential character in The Wrath of Khan (and anyone who knows their Star Trek films knows that III
isn't one of the good ones). The fact that the alien power source used to accomplish Superman's rebirth just happens to be the same one that has drawn Steppenwolf to Earth and is now threatening the planet with destruction is yet one more indication of
JL's real focus. And the fights that break out after the resurrection between an angry and confused Superman and his future teammates are probably the best conflicts in the film, because they feel like something real is at stake. (Steppenwolf, by
contrast, is just another in a line of increasingly generic villains in fantasy franchises from DC to Transformers .)
JL does have some memorable moments, most of them courtesy of Ezra Miller's Barry Allen/Flash, who periodically breaks through the formulaic proceedings with an interesting combination of squirrelly hypertension and "gee whillikers!" enthusiasm. By
contrast, Jason Momoa's Aquaman is a generic jock and Ray Fisher's Cyborg is a one-note symphony of anger buried under CG cybernetics. Maybe they'll do better in standalone movies, but Miller's performance is the most encouraging sign in JL that
Warner and DC may be able to repeat the artistic and financial success of Wonder Woman with their upcoming Flashpoint movie. In JL, however, everyone is ultimately overwhelmed by the sheer number of subplots, origin stories and
narrative resolutions that have to be crammed into two hours (less, actually, because the end credits run nearly ten minutes). Minor characters from each hero's background are rapidly shuttled onto the screen, then off again: Commissioner Gordon (J.K.
Simmons) and Alfred (Jeremy Irons) for Batman, the Atlantean queen Mera (Amber Heard) for Aquaman, problematic dads for Flash and Cyborg (Billy Crudup and Joe Morton, respectively), the Amazon Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) for Wonder Woman, and, of
course Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) for Superman. Some of these characters have been interesting in prior films, and some may be worth seeing in future ones, but in JL they're doing little more than answering a roll call.
In one of his many rueful pronouncements, Alfred says to Bruce Wayne that "one misses the days when one's biggest concerns were exploding wind-up penguins". The line is a reference to Tim Burton's 1992 Batman Returns, and I happen to agree with
Alfred, though for far different reasons. Burton's Batman films created a Dark Knight who was both threatening and fun and a Gotham that felt both dangerous and perversely inviting. Warner and DC have been trying to recapture some of that magic ever
since, but they keep cutting back on the fun while accentuating the bleakest elements of the DCU's mythology. Christopher Nolan managed to make something memorable out of this turn to the dark side, but Zack Snyder's trilogy has reduced darkness to empty
posturing. Justice League, thanks to its extensive post-production tweaking, at least has the virtue of being intelligibly plotted and efficiently paced, which makes it the best of Snyder's trilogy—but that isn't saying much. It's time for
something new. As a film, JL is disposable, but the Blu-ray is recommended on its technical merits.
[CSW] -3.1- I agree with this reviewer: Sorry to say, but it just doesn't do it for me, not intelligent or thoughtful enough. And the parts that were supposedly "deep" just weren't- the story (such that it is) didn't carry well. Aquaman was a
mess- seemed to be more of a pointless side-kick. Wonder Woman was "too" unrealistically powerful in this portrayal, Batman was OK, Flash was probably the most interesting, but there was no background on Cyberguy. I was not impressed by CG Steppenwolf.
The plot and characters are flat, predictable, and a bit boring. I thought this would be as good as Wonder Woman, it wasn't.
[V4.0-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box did enhance this movie.
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