MOVIE JUSTICE LEAGUE

Justice League (2017) Warner Bros. Pictures MOVIE REVIEW

BY GLEN JED J. DESCUTIDO

Trailing behind the critically acclaimed 2017 film, Wonder Woman, Justice League— the culmination of a four-year buildup, is DC’s newest addition to their Cinematic Universe. With almost a year of accumulated fan hype and impressively good teasers, the most-awaited ensemble of superheroes hits the bullseye where Suicide Squad did not, but misses where Wonder Woman succeeded.

With the Man of Steel buried six feet under the ground— Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) together with the help of Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), attempt to unite other superhumans in an effort to stop the impending threat brought about by a prehistoric alien named Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) to the world.

The film was definitely better than its darker predecessors— presenting a smoother, lighter story transition, on-point humor, and a generous amount of testosterone-driven battle scenes. However, the problem is that the film remains as such, only better when pitted against the films from its own universe. Even with a lighter tone, Justice League felt confused— a mix of childhood joy and premature drama.

After the film’s original director, Zack Snyder, stepped out because of a family tragedy, The Avengers’ director, Joss Whedon, was brought in for reshoots and to finally finish the film. This is where the inconsistent stride seems to come in. Their combination doesn’t seem to work out. Whedon’s Avengers-esque humor sticking out of Snyder’s technical, bleak, and serious direction further increased its mortality.

Question! Is Steppenwolf after us? Obviously yes. But he’s actually in for something bigger, one of the three Mother Boxes—a living technology that when combined together, releases a massive power of terraformation. Together with him are a vast army of Parademons, a sentient species that feed on fears and looks like a scarier version of Suicide Squad’s Killer Croc donning a steampunk armor and moth-like wings.

The film’s script doesn’t seem to stray away from its inconsistencies either; it was a 50-50. Bruce Wayne answering Barry Allen “I’m rich,” after the latter asked him what his superpowers were, was the strongest and wittiest line it had. Meanwhile, the reiteration of the line “Do you bleed?” this time coming from Superman, comes in close. Some of the dialogues were plainly uninteresting. Even the Mother Boxes, which were supposed to intensify the audiences, were just plainly regarded by Diana as “powers”.

With all these happening at the wake of Superman’s death, humanity seems to be hopeless and fearful. Standing firm despite this is Batman who’s ironically inspired by how Superman was a beacon of hope, and at the same time hopeful he might save mankind from its imminent doom with a little help.

The ensemble cast was a mixed bag of nuts. Bruce Wayne takes the spotlight but unfortunately doesn’t own it. Ben Affleck’s Batman still just happens to be the brooding brawler who smashes his way through battles. Sure, he does fight more accurately like Batman, but it doesn’t outweigh the fact that his version lacks the reason as to why he fights so hard for justice— his parents.

Ezra Miller’s The Flash seemed to be the star of the show with his witty remarks and well-delivered lines that illuminated the dark tone of

the film. He is the heart and humor of the league; the actor even described his character as an “endearing and altruistic nerd”, a firm reason to watch the film. Despite his character being underdeveloped in the movie, he shows how superheroes can be frail, broken, but still full of hope. Tangential to his character was Wonder Woman who was just as wonderful as before, fighting with sheer precision and poise, embodying the true strength of an Amazonian woman. Contrarily, DC’s new heroes on the block, Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher), felt more of a sideshow, manifesting subpar performances and disestablished stories leaving the audience not caring much for the two.

Despite missing almost ¾ of the film’s runtime, Superman was a show-stopper. He was the Justice League. His comeback, although expected, still gave the most feels throughout the whole film. What emerged from the grave was a Superman done right, paired with scenes that exhibited his most famous abilities (yeah, you actually get to see his cold breath and his x-ray vision along with his super-speed). Ironically, the most worthy character to look out for is the one who wasn’t in the promotional posters.

Ares from Wonder Woman was a great villain; Steppenwolf, not much. He looked like a video game villain and fought like one. He even had slow-mo flares tailing his big axe as if he’s using Kratos’ Blades of Chaos from the video game series, God of War. The final battle was pretty neat if not for its overthe-top sepia tone.

DC still struggles to find the right tone despite having four films under its wing. With only Wonder Woman being the fresh one, the movie seems to suffer from some of the same consequences the previous films had: overused CGI, underdeveloped characters, and a generic villain. On the brighter side, the film’s saving grace was its overall pace, storytelling, references, and The Flash.

All in all, Justice League actually delivered. Just like any other superhero, Justice League can soar, it can fight, but it can only do so much and just like the world, some parts of it might need some saving. S