Justice League Review

"No Protectors here. No Lanterns. No Kryptonian. This world will fall, like all the others!"


Justice League was directed by Zack Snyder, but was eventually co directed by Joss Whedon, due to a family tragedy for the Snyder family, resulting from Zack Snyder leaving the project, allowing Whedon to finish the remainder of the film. The film stars the likes of Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill (spoilers!!), Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, J.K Simmons, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane and Ciaran Hinds. Justice league is the culmination of the DCEU so far and brings all the main heroes together to form the Justice League to protect the world from Steppenwolf, who of course wants to bring destruction and chaos to the world as we know it (can't the Earth have a break for just one second!)

The DCEU has been a franchise that has certainly had its ups and downs in recent years with films like Batman VS Superman disappointing critics, but also on the flip side having films Like Wonder Woman being a success with critics and fans alike and a box office hit. So the important question is does Justice League continue the trend that Wonder Woman set out, or is it a slump back to the previous films?.... well it is definitely a step backwards and I was extremely disappointed with the film.

Whilst I was disappointed with the film and had lots of issues with it (I really had hoped it would have been good!), there are some moments that do save the film from being a complete disaster. Whilst it was good to finally see the Justice League on the big screen together, not many of the characters really had the chance to shine, it was nice to have some more development with Batman and Wonder Woman, expanding on previous character set up from the previous films, but it was the newer characters that really had the pressure put on them. Justice League introduces us to the DCEUs version of The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, and only Cyborg really was allowed to have the screen time to allow for some complexity to the character, as Cyborg was struggling to come to terms with his situation and his abilities. The Flash gets an interesting character arc allowing the audience to see how he struggles with coming to terms with dealing with an enemy that could destroy the world and not some street level crime, but overall needs more screen time to truly show what he can do (hopefully this will be expanded on in the Flash's own solo film!). The heroes of the Justice League do have a good chemistry together when on screen together and those moments really stand out in the film (they really do!), but overall the film needed a longer run time to allow the audience to truly care enough about these characters to truly feel for them when they are trying to save the world.

My overall problems for this film lay in its run time and the style and tonal clashes from both directors. The films confirmed run time was 2 hours, whilst this is a perfect run time for most films, it just seems way too short for the Justice League, considering the film is introducing three heroes to the Justice League, it just seemed way too rushed, and with reports of the film being cut down considerably, it overall results in rushed editing in scenes, wasted moments to allow the film to slow down for character development purposes and a plot that on occasions makes no sense at all. Having two directors on the film with two clear different styles doesn't help matters either, even though Whedon uses Snyder's style for the scenes that he shot or re shot in some cases, you can clearly see a clash of style and tone when watching the film, going from darker more mature dialogue/situations to throwing a joke in the scene for no apparent reason than to try and make the film much lighter than previous entries into the franchise. I enjoy the use of comedy in films when it is done right but in this film it is just too distracting. If the film had spent more time focusing on the plot and character development then it did on its jokes, then we might have got a decent Justice League movie. The villain Steppenwolf is also a let down and is reduced to a two dimensional character with poor CGI and is neither threatening nor intimidating enough to truly leave the right mark on the DCEU.

Overall Justice League is disappointing. If you are a fan of DC comics and the DCEU then this is obviously going to be a must see film but please don't go into the film with high expectations as you will be seriously disappointed. Here's hoping that the solo films of Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg are able to bring the DCEU back to the heights it hit with the release of Wonder Woman.

Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars