Justice League has been a problem for Warner Bros. and DC for almost two years now, and in all likelihood, they're happy just to be done with the whole thing. I don't need to recall all of the woes of the DC Extended Universe, but it's fair to say that Justice League came at a particularly bad time for the studio. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was launching into theaters, and by this point, critics and audiences had already rebelled against director Zack Snyder's dark and muddled take on the material. It seemed only logical for DC to replace Snyder for Justice League, but there was just one big problem- the film was about to jump into production. It was too late for the studio to do anything, so they established a major tonal course correction and hoped that Snyder would be able to pull it off. But earlier this year, Snyder left the project after a family tragedy, leaving Avengers director Joss Whedon to complete the film.
With reshoots, rewrites, and the infamous tale of Superman's digitally erased mustache, Justice League began to look more and more like a catastrophe. By the time that the critically acclaimed Wonder Woman arrived in theaters in June, everyone knew that the DCEU would soon be heading in a completely different direction, one more devoted to standalone adventures than explicit connections between installments. But Justice League was waiting in the wings, looming as a threat to the studio's future plans. Here is a blockbuster that many fans had been waiting to see for decades, the movie that would finally bring together the best and brightest of DC in a classic fight between good and evil. And yet, Justice League felt like more of an obligation than anything else. What should have been the culmination of a brilliant, strategically executed plan ended up looking like a misshapen mess.
It gives me no pleasure to report that Justice League is one of the worst films of the year. The film is receiving slightly better reviews than both Dawn of Justice and the much-maligned Suicide Squad, and for the life of me, I cannot understand why. This is an ugly, disjointed mess of a film, a visual catastrophe of unparalleled proportions and a storytelling fiasco so misguided that it just makes you wonder what they were thinking. Yes, it's more "fun" than Batman v Superman- Warner Bros. was sure to put a mandate on jokes this time around. But just because the guys in capes are trying to make you laugh doesn't immediately rectify every other problem that the DCEU has encountered, namely the lackluster attempts at narrative cohesion and complex characterization. You can feel that this movie was stitched together in the editing room, and it's obviously the product of two competing visions that resulted in a stalemate. It felt like I was watching this film on fast forward- there's barely a calming moment in the entire thing. Even with all of its deliberate changes, Justice League is about as bad as modern superhero cinema can get.
Superman is dead. After saving the world from Doomsday at the end of Dawn of Justice, Clark Kent met his brutal end and was promptly buried as a hero. The world is slowly crumbling, and everyone has to adjust to the fact that Superman is gone. This includes Batman (Ben Affleck), who is also dealing with his own guilt in Man of Steel's death. One night, Batman ends up fighting a parademon on a rooftop, which causes him to realize that the apocalypse he once feared from his nightmare is coming true. The end of everything is coming- the Justice League must form. There's an evil growing, and his name is Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds), an ancient villain who takes orders only from Darkseid. Steppenwolf is gathering the three Motherboxes (under the control of the Amazonians, Atlantians, and humans) in order to destroy the planet as we know it.
Of course, Batman can't let that happen. With a little help from Alfred (Jeremy Irons), the Caped Crusader teams up with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to assemble the group of heroes that world needs right now. Using Lex Luthor's flashdrive files, Bruce and Diana track down Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), hoping to enlist them in the newfound Justice League. It's a struggle at first, but as the threat from Steppenwolf grows more fierce, the heroes known as Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg indeed join the crew. Together, the Justice League will have to band together to face the greatest threat that humanity has ever seen. With Superman in the ground, these flawed heroes will have to save the day and find themselves in the process.
This is a generous synopsis. If I'm being honest, not a whole lot happens in Justice League. There's a villain, they form the League, there's stuff with Superman that the marketing has been foolishly hiding (c'mon, we all knew he was coming back, let's not kid ourselves), and then the movie ends. The plot in this movie is paper thin, so devoid of dramatic momentum that it never really feels like anything is happening. But I have to be fair here- the plot in The Avengers isn't exactly Shakespeare either. The difference is that, in the confines of its simple setup, Justice League does absolutely nothing with its villain or characters. There's never that moment where you want to cheer because the League has assembled to stop evil. Even though this is another apocalyptic scenario, it never feels like the stakes are high. I know that Snyder and company got pushback for the sheer carnage at the climax of Man of Steel, but setting the climax in Chernobyl, a town with a population of zero, removes any and all humanity from the film. Having the Flash save a Russian family just isn't enough.
Justice League never stops to let you breathe. It never gives the audience a minute to get to know the characters or the emotional stakes of the story. It's a constant sprint from one scene to the next- the film moves so quickly that I'm not even sure the Flash could keep up. Major plot decisions are made in a matter of seconds. Characters undergo entire emotional arcs over the course of a scene. Recent reports have indicated that Justice League was under a 2 hour requirement from Warner Bros., a studio hoping to pack in more showtimes each day after the relative disappointment of the 151 minute-long Dawn of Justice. But for a film that has so much to accomplish, this runtime just isn't sufficient. The result is a film that feels rushed, cobbled together under the weight of contrasting visions and unrealistic studio demands. I enjoyed Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, but do we get to know his character? Not really. Batman is my favorite superhero of all time, and he's criminally underused in a movie where he should play the Iron Man role. With so many new heroes and returning supporting characters (somebody please save Amy Adams from these movies), the absurdly short film ends up having the attention span of a small child.
DC has gotten a lot of flack for its lackluster villains, which is a universal problem in superhero movies. Even in a great movie like Wonder Woman, Ares felt like the weakest part. But nothing can prepare you for the villain in this film. Why anyone decided that Steppenwolf was the right pick for the very first Justice League film is beyond me. He is literally a cartoon character- I don't play many video games, but he looks like he stepped out of God of War. His movements never seem convincing, he has no clear motivation, and there are no personal stakes involved for our heroes. I was always doubtful of having Steppenwolf be the villain, but never in a million years did I expect it to turn into such a disaster. Although I will say, it is pretty hilarious that he says "Mother" over and over throughout the movie. But besides that, this is barely a character.
It's often very easy to tell when a film has been tinkered with in post-production, especially in today's reshoot-ridden culture. For example, it was obvious that Rogue One and Suicide Squad and even Guy Ritchie's King Arthur had been completely overhauled at one point or another, leaving films that felt choppy and jarring. I think Justice League may be one of the worst editing jobs in modern cinematic history. It's certainly one of the worst I've ever seen. The film was edited by David Brenner, Richard Pearson, and Martin Walsh, and if I'm being honest, I don't know if it's fair to put all of the blame on them. They were essentially forced to stitch two separate movies together, and that's far from an easy task. But not only does the film lack connective tissue between scenes, it often feels like individual sequences were cobbled together from different takes on the same material. The average shot length of this thing has to be less than 2 seconds. It is constantly jumping from one moment to the next without any sense of pacing or flow. There's a genuinely disorienting lack of fluidity to the action, making it a nightmare to watch.
And then, there's the matter of the visual effects. I know that Warner Bros. basically had to shoot this thing twice. I know they were trying to make a movie that would please more critics and general audiences. I know that Snyder left due to unforeseen circumstances during production, leaving another director to finish this mess. But the special effects in this film are absolutely inexcusable. Sometimes when you watch a trailer for a film, it's clear that the VFX work hasn't been finished yet. But I don't think I've ever seen a full-length feature film where it's so abundantly clear that the special effects just weren't completed. Almost every scene in Justice League takes place in front of a green screen- it's so obvious that even the Star Wars prequels pale in comparison. While everybody will be talking about Superman's mustache by the time that all is said and done, I don't think we can understate just how bad the final battle looks- I've seen video games with better effects than this.
So what does this movie get right? Is there anything of worth in here at all? Well, not really. They land a couple jokes. This movie is funnier and lighter on its feet than Dawn of Justice, but in a superhero landscape where every movie is overflowing with jokes, that really isn't special anymore. Some have remarked that this movie serves well as a teaser for future DC movies, but I think that's a stretch. After seeing Justice League, I would watch a Flash movie, and the second post-credits scene is a fun little teaser. But I have no interest in the Aquaman solo movie at this point- I just can't stand Jason Momoa's take on this character.
Now that the dust has settled, it's a question of who to blame and where to go from here. Frankly, this thing was doomed from the beginning. There's no question in my mind that the blame starts with the Warner Bros. executives- they developed this universe too quickly, with little regard for how audiences and critics would respond. They thought that Marvel had a formula that could be replicated easily, and they quickly learned that it was borderline impossible. The story of the DC Universe will be one of course corrections and epic mismanagement, a bizarre mix of auteurism and filmmaking by committee. If you look at the worst that DC has had to offer so far (this movie and Suicide Squad), they're both reactionary pictures, movies that are responding to specific criticisms and demands. Say what you will about Batman v Superman and Man of Steel (and I sure do hate Zack Snyder's version of Superman), but at least they feel like movies made by a human being and not a computer.
Even though it's hard to remember how good Wonder Woman was (and still is) after watching this debacle of a movie, it's clear that Warner Bros. has found their new path forward. They're entrusting great directors like Patty Jenkins, James Wan, Matt Reeves, and more with individual projects, allowing for a greater deal of creative freedom and a diversity of takes on these characters. And that's a good thing. The path forward is bright for DC. But I don't think anyone will forget just how bad these last few years have been, a calamity that culminated this weekend with the unmitigated critical and financial failure of Justice League. After years of crafting a master plan and then slowly abandoning hope, DC delivered a movie that is almost painfully generic, devoid of anything that would make it memorable or exciting. It's a film full of cringe-worthy moments and painful choices, a movie that was utterly destroyed in the editing room. It is, to put it bluntly, an absolute trainwreck.
But not in a fun way. It's not enjoyable to watch beloved characters suffer through such an egregiously bad adventure. As much as I'm happy that Justice League is failing now that I've seen just how terrible it is, there was nothing enjoyable about this experience. After discussing everything that made the film such a baffling disaster, the lingering feeling is one of sadness. Years of promises and hype ended with a film so thoroughly butchered that almost everyone is rejecting it. There's just nothing here- Justice League is barely even a movie. It is a disposable product that deserves to be thrown in the garbage heap alongside every other dreadful corporate misfire. The characters, the actors, and the passionate fans all deserved better than this.
THE FINAL GRADE: D (4.2/10)
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
With reshoots, rewrites, and the infamous tale of Superman's digitally erased mustache, Justice League began to look more and more like a catastrophe. By the time that the critically acclaimed Wonder Woman arrived in theaters in June, everyone knew that the DCEU would soon be heading in a completely different direction, one more devoted to standalone adventures than explicit connections between installments. But Justice League was waiting in the wings, looming as a threat to the studio's future plans. Here is a blockbuster that many fans had been waiting to see for decades, the movie that would finally bring together the best and brightest of DC in a classic fight between good and evil. And yet, Justice League felt like more of an obligation than anything else. What should have been the culmination of a brilliant, strategically executed plan ended up looking like a misshapen mess.
It gives me no pleasure to report that Justice League is one of the worst films of the year. The film is receiving slightly better reviews than both Dawn of Justice and the much-maligned Suicide Squad, and for the life of me, I cannot understand why. This is an ugly, disjointed mess of a film, a visual catastrophe of unparalleled proportions and a storytelling fiasco so misguided that it just makes you wonder what they were thinking. Yes, it's more "fun" than Batman v Superman- Warner Bros. was sure to put a mandate on jokes this time around. But just because the guys in capes are trying to make you laugh doesn't immediately rectify every other problem that the DCEU has encountered, namely the lackluster attempts at narrative cohesion and complex characterization. You can feel that this movie was stitched together in the editing room, and it's obviously the product of two competing visions that resulted in a stalemate. It felt like I was watching this film on fast forward- there's barely a calming moment in the entire thing. Even with all of its deliberate changes, Justice League is about as bad as modern superhero cinema can get.
Superman is dead. After saving the world from Doomsday at the end of Dawn of Justice, Clark Kent met his brutal end and was promptly buried as a hero. The world is slowly crumbling, and everyone has to adjust to the fact that Superman is gone. This includes Batman (Ben Affleck), who is also dealing with his own guilt in Man of Steel's death. One night, Batman ends up fighting a parademon on a rooftop, which causes him to realize that the apocalypse he once feared from his nightmare is coming true. The end of everything is coming- the Justice League must form. There's an evil growing, and his name is Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds), an ancient villain who takes orders only from Darkseid. Steppenwolf is gathering the three Motherboxes (under the control of the Amazonians, Atlantians, and humans) in order to destroy the planet as we know it.
Of course, Batman can't let that happen. With a little help from Alfred (Jeremy Irons), the Caped Crusader teams up with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to assemble the group of heroes that world needs right now. Using Lex Luthor's flashdrive files, Bruce and Diana track down Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), hoping to enlist them in the newfound Justice League. It's a struggle at first, but as the threat from Steppenwolf grows more fierce, the heroes known as Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg indeed join the crew. Together, the Justice League will have to band together to face the greatest threat that humanity has ever seen. With Superman in the ground, these flawed heroes will have to save the day and find themselves in the process.
Justice League never stops to let you breathe. It never gives the audience a minute to get to know the characters or the emotional stakes of the story. It's a constant sprint from one scene to the next- the film moves so quickly that I'm not even sure the Flash could keep up. Major plot decisions are made in a matter of seconds. Characters undergo entire emotional arcs over the course of a scene. Recent reports have indicated that Justice League was under a 2 hour requirement from Warner Bros., a studio hoping to pack in more showtimes each day after the relative disappointment of the 151 minute-long Dawn of Justice. But for a film that has so much to accomplish, this runtime just isn't sufficient. The result is a film that feels rushed, cobbled together under the weight of contrasting visions and unrealistic studio demands. I enjoyed Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, but do we get to know his character? Not really. Batman is my favorite superhero of all time, and he's criminally underused in a movie where he should play the Iron Man role. With so many new heroes and returning supporting characters (somebody please save Amy Adams from these movies), the absurdly short film ends up having the attention span of a small child.
DC has gotten a lot of flack for its lackluster villains, which is a universal problem in superhero movies. Even in a great movie like Wonder Woman, Ares felt like the weakest part. But nothing can prepare you for the villain in this film. Why anyone decided that Steppenwolf was the right pick for the very first Justice League film is beyond me. He is literally a cartoon character- I don't play many video games, but he looks like he stepped out of God of War. His movements never seem convincing, he has no clear motivation, and there are no personal stakes involved for our heroes. I was always doubtful of having Steppenwolf be the villain, but never in a million years did I expect it to turn into such a disaster. Although I will say, it is pretty hilarious that he says "Mother" over and over throughout the movie. But besides that, this is barely a character.
It's often very easy to tell when a film has been tinkered with in post-production, especially in today's reshoot-ridden culture. For example, it was obvious that Rogue One and Suicide Squad and even Guy Ritchie's King Arthur had been completely overhauled at one point or another, leaving films that felt choppy and jarring. I think Justice League may be one of the worst editing jobs in modern cinematic history. It's certainly one of the worst I've ever seen. The film was edited by David Brenner, Richard Pearson, and Martin Walsh, and if I'm being honest, I don't know if it's fair to put all of the blame on them. They were essentially forced to stitch two separate movies together, and that's far from an easy task. But not only does the film lack connective tissue between scenes, it often feels like individual sequences were cobbled together from different takes on the same material. The average shot length of this thing has to be less than 2 seconds. It is constantly jumping from one moment to the next without any sense of pacing or flow. There's a genuinely disorienting lack of fluidity to the action, making it a nightmare to watch.
And then, there's the matter of the visual effects. I know that Warner Bros. basically had to shoot this thing twice. I know they were trying to make a movie that would please more critics and general audiences. I know that Snyder left due to unforeseen circumstances during production, leaving another director to finish this mess. But the special effects in this film are absolutely inexcusable. Sometimes when you watch a trailer for a film, it's clear that the VFX work hasn't been finished yet. But I don't think I've ever seen a full-length feature film where it's so abundantly clear that the special effects just weren't completed. Almost every scene in Justice League takes place in front of a green screen- it's so obvious that even the Star Wars prequels pale in comparison. While everybody will be talking about Superman's mustache by the time that all is said and done, I don't think we can understate just how bad the final battle looks- I've seen video games with better effects than this.
So what does this movie get right? Is there anything of worth in here at all? Well, not really. They land a couple jokes. This movie is funnier and lighter on its feet than Dawn of Justice, but in a superhero landscape where every movie is overflowing with jokes, that really isn't special anymore. Some have remarked that this movie serves well as a teaser for future DC movies, but I think that's a stretch. After seeing Justice League, I would watch a Flash movie, and the second post-credits scene is a fun little teaser. But I have no interest in the Aquaman solo movie at this point- I just can't stand Jason Momoa's take on this character.
Even though it's hard to remember how good Wonder Woman was (and still is) after watching this debacle of a movie, it's clear that Warner Bros. has found their new path forward. They're entrusting great directors like Patty Jenkins, James Wan, Matt Reeves, and more with individual projects, allowing for a greater deal of creative freedom and a diversity of takes on these characters. And that's a good thing. The path forward is bright for DC. But I don't think anyone will forget just how bad these last few years have been, a calamity that culminated this weekend with the unmitigated critical and financial failure of Justice League. After years of crafting a master plan and then slowly abandoning hope, DC delivered a movie that is almost painfully generic, devoid of anything that would make it memorable or exciting. It's a film full of cringe-worthy moments and painful choices, a movie that was utterly destroyed in the editing room. It is, to put it bluntly, an absolute trainwreck.
But not in a fun way. It's not enjoyable to watch beloved characters suffer through such an egregiously bad adventure. As much as I'm happy that Justice League is failing now that I've seen just how terrible it is, there was nothing enjoyable about this experience. After discussing everything that made the film such a baffling disaster, the lingering feeling is one of sadness. Years of promises and hype ended with a film so thoroughly butchered that almost everyone is rejecting it. There's just nothing here- Justice League is barely even a movie. It is a disposable product that deserves to be thrown in the garbage heap alongside every other dreadful corporate misfire. The characters, the actors, and the passionate fans all deserved better than this.
THE FINAL GRADE: D (4.2/10)
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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