Logan Sork Film Reviews
Justice League
The state of the DCEU has been polarizing to say the least. While I personally have liked what the creative team was doing with this universe, it was clear that general audiences did not. With only Wonder Woman being a hit critically and financially, the studio saw fit to make some changes to Justice League to make it more appealing to a wider audience. After director Zack Snyder departed the project after the tragic loss of his daughter, Avengers director Joss Whedon was brought on to overhaul the project. Despite the troubled nature of the production and events leading up to the release, Justice League is still tons of fun, with great characters, fun action sequences and plenty of memorable moments that overshadow the rushed nature of the project.
Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder (with some additional work from Joss Whedon) and is the fifth film in the DC Extended Universe and is a direct sequel to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the aftermath of the events of the previous film, Batman (Ben Affleck) learns of an impending threat that is coming to earth and works to assemble a team of meta-humans with the help of his newfound ally- Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). The threat comes in the form of Steppenwolf (Cirian Hinds), an alien warlord who returns to earth to retrieve his planet destroying mother boxes, which he lost in a failed invasion launched thousands of years prior. Batman and Wonder Woman must work to convince Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) to help them stop this threat before the entire world is destroyed.
What the film really has going for it is the incredible cast and characters. Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot are still fantastic as Batman and Wonder Woman respectively, as are all of the other actors reprising their roles from previous DC films. The newcomers are also excellent, with each one bringing their own personality to the team. Jason Momoa may not be a conventional Aquaman, but his tough exterior and attitude brings the role some much needed coolness after the character had been a running joke for so many years. Ezra Miller is also excellent as the Flash, bringing his own quirky comedy to the role, while also bringing some of the feelings a relatively new hero would have to this larger than life threat. The one who surprised me the most however was Ray Fisher as Cyborg, who’s performance is a surprisingly emotional element of the film. All of these cast members have great chemistry together, allowing for some great dramatic moments between the team, as well as a couple of great comedic moments.
As with all of the other DC films, the film is technically excellent. The cinematography, costumes and set pieces are simply wonderful to look at, bringing the epic scale seen in previous dc films. The music is different from the previous entries as it has Danny Elfman composing. For me, this was a welcome change of pace, and he has a lot of fun with his score, paying tribute to such classic themes as the Batman ’89 theme as well as John Williams’ Superman theme, while also adding some new themes of his own. The action sequences are also fun to watch, with each team member bringing their own powerset to the fights and allowing for a wide range of striking visuals. The only thing that isn’t as refined as the rest of the films are the visual effects, which are wildly uneven. Sometimes they look real, while other times they look like they need some further work. Despite the varying quality, the effects are none-the less still interesting to look at.
The only major problem that I have with the film, is that it does feel a little too rushed. With a run time of just two hours, it feels like there could’ve been a lot more time spent on developing the characters and story. For me the problem lies in the reshoots, which feel like they are cliff notes versions of hat we could’ve gotten. The effects also suffer as a result of these re-shoots, as you are easily able to tell which scenes are from the original production, and which were added at the last minute. These changes don’t feel necessary and feel more like a move to appeal to a wider audience by having a shorter running time rather than telling a deeper story. It’s not that these changes make the movie terrible, but make you wish that you could see what the original scenes would’ve looked liked.
Despite the rushed nature of the project, Justice League is still a lot of fun to watch. This is due to a great cast of characters, exhilarating action sequences, and great technical elements. And while I do hope the that the studio will eventually release the original version of the film, I cannot deny the enjoyment I get while watching this version.
7/10