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Box office comparisons - Review: Justice League (C)
Craig Younkin
Movie Review
Justice League
By Craig Younkin Published November 16, 2017
US Release: November 17, 2017
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Ben Affleck , Henry Cavill , Gal Gadot , Amy Adams
PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action
Running Time: 120 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $225,546,000
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Ben Affleck , Henry Cavill , Gal Gadot , Amy Adams
PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action
Running Time: 120 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $225,546,000
C
It just looks like a chaotic blend of smashing, flying, fighting and other effects just being thrown together.
Justice League is the new conspiracy film from the DCEU. Yes, Marvel has taken care of the pay-offs and Rotten Tomatoes is in on it and it’s a chain of corruption and deceit that reach the highest levels of power (Mickey Mouse). And yes, this movie’s fans will never shut the hell up about any of this for years to come. That won’t change the fact that this is still a remarkably safe, boring, and pretty hollow event picture. The only time it ever really comes alive is during its few laughs.
The movie spends most of its first half assembling the team, something that was helped in no way by Batman v. Superman’s e-mail of heroes. Ben Affleck is still gruff as ever but of the people who have gotten their own movie so far, Gal Gadot’s athletic and gorgeous Wonder Woman still comes off best. Of the new people, Ezra Miller is dorky and delightfully awkward as The Flash and Jason Momoa seems most likely to give The Flash a wedgie and have you laugh hysterically at it. The only one who’s really underserved is Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, a part human, part robot, part I-pad who…I’m not even sure how to explain his origins. Whether all these people come together in chemistry is debatable. There are a few laughs and some nice assists during the fights but yeah, definitely feels a little rushed.
This movie was supposed to be close to something like three hours at first but apparently Warner Brothers wanted it brought down to 2. That takes me to one of the things I’ve grown to hate the most about the DCEU is that theatrical cuts don’t really seem to matter anymore once the blu-ray directors cut comes out. Also what doesn’t seem to matter is plotting since what we’re getting here is the same evil villain needs a magic box to destroy the world plot device we’ve gotten many times before.
The villain is Steppenwolf, an evil conqueror of worlds. He’s a barely serviceable villain and every time he comes on screen I felt like there should be an X-Box controller next to me. Speaking of the effects, many of which are equally bad. We barely spend any time in Aquaman’s home of Atlantis, but when we do it looks like Momoa is trapped in one of those aquariums they use to trick penguins with the fake ice cap back-drop. You also end up wishing the action were better too. It just looks like a chaotic blend of smashing, flying, fighting and other effects just being thrown together.
So is it an all-out disaster? No. But it’s hard to imagine this is the movie everyone got so excited about. There are really few surprises, the filmmaking is pretty shoddy and hollow for characters, talent and budget of this magnitude, and really most of it just feels like they wanted to just get it done.
The movie spends most of its first half assembling the team, something that was helped in no way by Batman v. Superman’s e-mail of heroes. Ben Affleck is still gruff as ever but of the people who have gotten their own movie so far, Gal Gadot’s athletic and gorgeous Wonder Woman still comes off best. Of the new people, Ezra Miller is dorky and delightfully awkward as The Flash and Jason Momoa seems most likely to give The Flash a wedgie and have you laugh hysterically at it. The only one who’s really underserved is Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, a part human, part robot, part I-pad who…I’m not even sure how to explain his origins. Whether all these people come together in chemistry is debatable. There are a few laughs and some nice assists during the fights but yeah, definitely feels a little rushed.
This movie was supposed to be close to something like three hours at first but apparently Warner Brothers wanted it brought down to 2. That takes me to one of the things I’ve grown to hate the most about the DCEU is that theatrical cuts don’t really seem to matter anymore once the blu-ray directors cut comes out. Also what doesn’t seem to matter is plotting since what we’re getting here is the same evil villain needs a magic box to destroy the world plot device we’ve gotten many times before.
The villain is Steppenwolf, an evil conqueror of worlds. He’s a barely serviceable villain and every time he comes on screen I felt like there should be an X-Box controller next to me. Speaking of the effects, many of which are equally bad. We barely spend any time in Aquaman’s home of Atlantis, but when we do it looks like Momoa is trapped in one of those aquariums they use to trick penguins with the fake ice cap back-drop. You also end up wishing the action were better too. It just looks like a chaotic blend of smashing, flying, fighting and other effects just being thrown together.
So is it an all-out disaster? No. But it’s hard to imagine this is the movie everyone got so excited about. There are really few surprises, the filmmaking is pretty shoddy and hollow for characters, talent and budget of this magnitude, and really most of it just feels like they wanted to just get it done.
Craig's Grade: C
Craig's Overall Grading: 340 graded movies
| A | 10.9% | |
| B | 41.8% | |
| C | 31.8% | |
| D | 15.3% | |
| F | 0.3% |
