Justice League English Movie
Batman, Wonder Woman and their superhero colleagues coming together to sucker punch villains for two hour or so sure sounds like a fantastic prospect. By turning that into a dull and deformed ensemble movie, the DC entertainment universe takes quite a few steps backward after this year's Wonder Woman, its only critical and box office smash in four previous attempts.
Justice League is not just a sequel to Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice(2016), it is a sequel to its flaws also. It picks up from where Batman vs Superman left with scathing responses and does not bother fixing anything that was fundamentally wrong about the universe in the first place, but exasperates the distanced storytelling and tonality to a new level. Helmed by two different directors at two different stages of production, this should not come as a surprise. The blame should not be on the directors- Zac Snyder and Jos Whedon- themselves, but the studio for misbelieving that their disparate sensibilities could be balanced in such a premium movie. The movie is only fun when it is a simple exercise at figuring the jarring mismatch of their respective visions.
Batman(Ben Affleck) seems to biggest loser in the film, when it comes to fan service. He cuts a sorry figure within the line-up of larger-than-life heroes, which is unusual for an epic character like the caped crusader. Wonder Woman(Gal Gadot) and new addition Flash(Ezra Miller), the latter being perfectly cast as the lightning-fast teen. But, other major entrants Aquaman(Jason Momoa) and Cyborg(Ray Fisher) are so underdeveloped, their roles and motivations confuse and mislead you for the wrong reasons. The confluence of these heroes do not really sell, since the character introductions, team-building and change of tone are not given enough importance in a movie that has sights only on multi-star action sequences. Even the vast world is casually expanded(especially the portion on Atlanta), not realizing how unjust it is to subject your viewers to so much detail in so little time.
The biggest joke, though, is none other than the antagonist himself, Steppenwolf(Ciaran Hinds), whose character merely apes the likes of Ultron and Thanos from the Marvel Universe, in speech and manner. Granted, he is enormous, power-crazy and swings a giant axe at his foes, but cannot hold a candle to the Justice League's biggest enemy- impatience. The characters, storyline and setting are in such a rush to wrap things up, only Flash will feel at home watching it all. For the rest of us, it is a poorly edited montage of sorts, that has no point to make in spite of its excesses.
Justice League has one or two moments of magic worth revisiting. What it also has is a list of ridiculously penned dialogues and scenes. Its episodic objectives are short-sighted and unremarkable, becoming yet another tale of 'could have beens' from WB and DC that belongs in the lowest rung of superhero movies.