Fortunately for me I managed to get out there and see Justice League, which I think was really beneficial, since Justice League wasn't doing too well at the box office on its opening weekend. And like the majority of DC universe films now, this one has a Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, well, you know what I've always said, fuck review aggregators, Critics have their opinions, me and you have ours, so what is my opinion of Justice League? let's go, a week late, but oh well.
Justice League wastes little time in getting to the threat; the parademons are introduced very early, and the film's villain, Steppenwolf doesn't take long to show up, probably as a result of the considerably shortened runtime. The action scene with Batman taking on parademon is brief but entertaining, and a surprising opening sequence sets the tone for a world mourning Superman very nicely. A concern I, like probably many people, had for Justice League was its characters; since it has to juggle Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Aqua Man, Cyborg and Flash, half of which have never had solo films, in that way, Justice League handles its characters remarkably well. Batman and Wonder Woman carry on as they were left in Batman V Superman and Wonder Woman respectively, but the new comers are done really well, Aqua Man in this film shapes up to be a sort of Wonder Woman 2.0, being the king of a underwater kingdom of metahumans, the glimpse we get of Atlantis in this film is cool enough, though it is just a glimpse, and that's a smart move, since after Batman V Superman, the last thing this film needs is to be bogged down. Cyborg, the Justice League member I know the least about, surprisingly became the most intriguing of the team, with the film portraying a very damaged individual who doesn't really know what he is yet, being part human and part whatever the hell the rest of him's made of. He, unlike the rest of the team, is still figuring out what he is capable of, and starts the film hiding away from the world, it's a sympathetic character introduction that serves Cyborg as a character incredibly well. Then there's Flash, who is awesome, and easily my favourite of the Justice League so far, not only are his powers the most visually interesting, but he's just funny; his very childish and excited reactions to a lot of the shit he sees is sickeningly endearing, he spends the entire film acting like a child who got to hang out with their favourite superheroes, and far from being annoying, it's hysterical. I honestly can't stress enough how much I liked Flash, there's one bit where he saves Wonder Woman from falling rubble, I won't spoil the details but it's absolutely priceless, as is when they reach the Batcave, and he becomes Robin from the Lego Batman Movie briefly. You may already know this, I'd be surprised if you didn't, but Superman is in the movie, and what I liked is A how they bring him back into the story after, you know, dying, and B his reaction to no longer being dead; it's one of the coolest scenes in the film, even with Henry Cavil's CGI upper lip. But Justice League, just like Man of Steel, Wonder Woman and Batman V Superman, has the problem of an interesting setup for it's story and characters; I actually liked Steppenwolf as the film's villain, and I was really enjoying the characters, but then it inevitably becomes a big dumb really CGI battle that serves as both the film's final act and climax. With this comes all the problems those other films have, after seeing and enjoying these characters kicking arse and setting up for the climax for the entire film, we are treated to a big CGI mess that thinks that more is more. It still delivers entertainment in the same way a Roland Emmerich movie would, but this switch off your brain action comes at the expense of the any depth the film had, a problem that particularly affected Wonder Woman earlier this year. And like Wonder Woman, this film has a really mushy ending; obviously I can't spoil anything, but while I like seeing the members of the Justice League hanging out, it's more how the battle with Steppenwolf is resolved where the weird mushiness comes from. And, something to know, the film has a post credits scene, obviously, that introduces a new villain that I can't wait to see in future movies, if they ever get made.
Anyone who's familiar with this film's production will know that it was a very troubled one, with Zack Snyder dropping out in post production for personal reasons and Joss Whedon coming in and doing extensive reshoots, not to mention that the film's production went ahead on schedule despite the disastrous release of Batman V Superman, and it's surprising just how little you can tell in the finished film, but you definitely can tell in some key areas. This is a much more light hearted film than Batman V Superman, which is a very welcome change, because watching people brood isn't very entertaining, and the more comedic additions actually work, surprisingly, the film isn't the tonal mess that it could have been, having effectively been directed by two different people with very different visions. But easily the most obvious problem the film suffers from is the effects; the film still hit its November release date despite the post production problems, but with that comes visual effects that probably aren't as ironed out as they could have been, they're alright, at no point was the film completely broken by its effects, but one look at Superman's face in this film perfectly illustrates the problem that the rest of the film's effects have. They look rushed, and most likely were, when Steppenwolf is wiping out Amazonians in the film's first act, similar to a flashback depicting the war against Steppenwolf, the CG is very CG, and while it isn't bad enough to be distracting, it's bad enough to be noticeably fake. I can forgive this, after all, I like the 1999 The Mummy, but when you have the same gripe as the rest of the franchise of big ridiculous crazy action sequences when people are flying through the air and levelling areas of ground as big a football pitches, and you have the rushed CG, then you have a problem. I still think that this franchise should start adopting a less is more approach, less CGI people throwing each other around and more stuff like the Warehouse scene in Batman V Superman and the village scene in Wonder Woman, small, contained skirmishes that demonstrate the power of these heroes. Because just look at Wonder Woman; watching her take out a squad of Germans in a small room while she's armed with a sword and shield and they all have guns demonstrates her fighting ability, it's badass, it's exciting, while seeing her fighting Ares in a ludicrously over the top and very heavy CGI action scene does not, in fact when she goes full god mode it starts to undermine the humanity of the character that the rest of the film was establishing previously, less is more. And just like Batman V Superman and Wonder Woman, Justice League shows that it can do this, with a cool action scene under Gotham Harbour, I know I've been dwelling on this for a while, but, as crazy as it sounds, if the DC Universe made their superheroes a bit less super, the films would benefit from it. Just something positive to end this on, after dwelling on the CG for so long, the film sounds great, it's got some excellent music, with very complimentary soundtrack from Danny Elfman, it's far from the most effective soundtrack I've heard, it's not even the most effective soundtrack I've heard this year, coming behind IT and Dunkirk, but it gets the job done perfectly well, and when it isn't a big CGI mess, the film is nicely directed, by whoever was behind the camera at any given time, and for my lady readers who like them some shirtless dudes, don't worry, Justice League has you covered, unlike Jason Momoa and Henry Cavil.
Justice League does a lot of things that I like; it's got great characters, an interesting enough story with some surprisingly well done humour, and somehow manages to do both of those things without being a complete mess. But the film struggles in the presentation department, a problem that I don't think is entirely the film's fault, but more the fault of it's messy production. One issue that is the film's fault is the more is more mentality that is still present, and that still gives us big CGI finales that aren't as entertaining as they should be. But Justice League isn't bad, something that's apparently hard to say, I liked Justice League, and thought it was far better than it was at risk of being, but at the end of the day it's not as good as Wonder Woman, and right now in the theatres is another Superhero film that, honestly, is better. Justice League is an alright film, and it's worth watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment