To put it simply, Justice League is a mixed bag, an uneasy balance of light over darkness – which is probably what the general public wants right now for its super-hero movie diet.
Director Zack Snyder has been pilloried (unfairly, in our view) for his establishing DCEU films (Man of Steel & Batman V Superman : The Dawn of Justice) and Justice League is probably the appropriate send-off for Snyder, even if his vision is somewhat ‘compromised’ by Joss Whedon (of Avengers fame) – who replaced Snyder for re-shoots and post-production due to a family tragedy.
The best parts of the film come with the interaction amongst our heroes viz. Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), the Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) as they try to gel as a team to save the world.
The worst parts? Apart from the truly forgettable villain (Steppenwolf) – a genuinely huge disappointment, the CGI from Weta was surprisingly poor. Most of the scenes involving Steppenwolf – especially early on, are quite hard to take, to be honest, reminiscent of Malekith in Thor: The Dark World.
But what does work for Justice League are the characters and that is critical. It is not difficult to imagine each one of these characters starring in their own films – which is of course, the grand plan.
Justice League is, at its core, a return to classic Silver Age super-heroics, and may be seen as a Return of the Jedi to the dark turn in BvS (The Empire Strikes Back in our analogy).
In the final analysis, it was enjoyable to watch Justice League being brought to life, despite the nagging flaws.
The last post-credit scene provides a highly intriguing set-up for the future of the DCEU and it certainly looks exciting indeed.
… still there’s more …