The directorial switch of Justice League from Zack Snyder to Joss Whedon proves to be predictably incompatible.
Following the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), the world descends into darkness, leaving room for Steppenwolf to try to take over the earth. Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) work to put together a team to stop him.
While Justice League is significantly more enjoyable than Batman v Superman, it is still an incredibly weak film. The best thing about the movie is that the audience is only subjected to watching it for two hours, but even that feels like a disrespectful waste of time.
The announcement of Joss Whedon stepping into the project for Zack Snyder seemed initially like such a strange choice considering their styles are completely antithetical to each other. Snyder’s films, especially those in the DCEU, have a sense of oppressive inescapable darkness, heavily relying on style and never actually delving into the themes or characters. Meanwhile, Whedon tends to use humor to explore darkness and usually emphasizes the character development.
These two styles do seem like they could be compatible, as each fills in what the other misses, but instead this creates two movies constantly combating each other. The two styles never find a middle ground and create a jarring effect as they keep fighting for dominance throughout the film.
Neither style would have worked on its own for this film. ustice League would have fared much better if it existed in a more neutral tone, such as the one used in Wonder Woman, where it could easily flow between dark and comedic moments.
At least, for a large portion of the film, the actors feel more comfortable in their roles than they did in Batman v Superman. They are all allowed to have a larger range of emotions, which makes them feel a little bit closer to realistically developed individuals, and even creates a believable chemistry between the teammates.
However, none of these characters are given any depth, beyond the forced line to remind about their tragic backstories. These lines tend to come out of nowhere, and the affected characters react in ways far too over-the-top. This just overcompensates for the fact that the characters are relatively emotionless for the rest of the film, and only act to forward the plot rather than to develop character.
While Cavill’s Superman and Affleck’s Batman are significantly more tolerable than they have been in the past DCEU films, Gadot’s Wonder Woman is a huge step down from in her standalone film. She is still as effective of a fighter, but much of the dialogue directed at her is about her appearance, not her ability.
Any exploration of Wonder Woman’s character is only on the surface level. The time that could have been spent to develop the character is instead spent on the camera lingering on the fact that her skirt is noticeably shorter than it was in Wonder Woman. Also, it is disturbing that the most violence in the film is enacted upon the Amazonians.
The addition of Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, and especially Ezra Miller’s Flash shows the potential for a promising future in the DCEU, with their forthcoming standalone films. However, the comedic tonal extremes in the film fall onto Aquaman and far too heavily onto the Flash, making them feel out of place in the film.
Almost every single line of the Flash’s dialogue is incredibly funny and performed with perfect comedic timing by Miller. This energy rubs off onto the characters with whom he interacts, eventually giving all the Justice League members at least a few moments of humor.
This simultaneously makes the Flash the most entertaining element but also detracts from the rest of the movie. His energy is completely unable to mix with the extreme darkness of the film. These many scenes in which these tones interact feel too dissonant to make either tone enjoyable.
The discomfort this tone causes is exacerbated by the style of every single fight scene. Every battle is an attack on the senses, with an unnecessary number of explosions and bright and loud fights. The final battle especially is shot in such a chaotic way that it is hard to tell exactly what was going on.
The final battle is especially problematic mostly because Steppenwolf is a terrible villain. He is probably the worst villain in any modern superhero movie. There is nothing compelling about him at all. He just wants to take over the world and this makes the overall plot incredibly boring.
Even worse, it is painful to look at Steppenwolf because the CGI is so bad. The special effects throughout the film look like an old video game, and it is inexcusable that a movie this expensive can look so cheap. Even Henry Cavill’s face looks fake at times because they had to CGI out his Mission Impossible moustache.
DC fans should still be able to find some fulfillment in Justice League through being able to see all these classic characters interact. Otherwise, Justice League is just a loud and uninteresting mess.
Grade: D