Skip to main content

Movie Review: Justice League (2017) *Spoiler Free*

I'll say, right out of the gate, I enjoyed Justice League. Sure it has a fairly straight forward, let's get the team together and battle a world destroying common enemy, plot but, after the complexity of Batman v Superman, it was nice just to see my favorite heroes come together and fight as a team.

I've seen a few reviews that claim you don't get enough backstory for the newer team members, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg, but honestly, knowing more about their history isn't essential.



You get a glimpse into each one's world to give you a hint of who they are, and that's really all you need. If the movie went any deeper you'd be expecting their story arcs to play out during this film.

Director, Zack Snyder, later replaced by Joss Wheden, due to a family tragedy, always said JL would be a lighter, more hopeful film than BvS. That's what JL is. Whether that can be attributed to Zack or Joss - who cares?

What matters is what ended up on screen.

Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) is a lot less angry but still very effective alongside his more powerful allies. He still doesn't really get to be the world's greatest detective in any obvious way, but he does anticipate what's coming and is the driving force behind finding forming the team. Plus you get to see one or two new toys.

Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Godot) is consistent with what we saw in BvS and her solo movie. Here she gets to be the seasoned veteran hero, who is no longer bemused by the world outside her home island. As such she gets to continue the great working relationship she has with Bruce/Batman that was a highlight for me in BvS. I just hope future movies never turn it into a romance without good reason.

Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) seemed a lot angrier and more threatening in the early trailers but lightened up a bit in later ones, does the job he was hired to do - make Aquaman cool again. I wouldn't say he got me as excited for his upcoming solo movie as Gal did for Wonder Woman's solo movie however, I will be more interested in seeing it when it comes around.

Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller) is a younger, more awkward version of the character that may be a little jarring if you're a fan of the CW's Flash TV series. Personally I find Ezra's version of the character more interesting to watch (and I have seen the entire first season of the CW series - which I bought). Ezra kind of plays it similar to Tom Holland's Peter Parker/Spiderman in Spiderman Homecoming, with the wide eyed awe of someone geeking out over meeting his heroes.

Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher) for me, is the character I was least familiar with, only ever having heard of him in relation to this film - and I think the character is included in the Teen Titans, children's animated series that I've caught the occasional episode of. Other than, he seemed to be very confident using his powers for someone discovering new powers every day, he held his own as a very watchable team member.

Clarke Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill). It's not really a spoiler talking about Superman. Since the end of BvS you knew he was coming back from the dead - if he was even dead? The highlight of this movie is finally getting to see Henry play a version of Superman that isn't an emo, why do I even bother, whining mess of a character. He finally gets to be Superman proper, and even have a little fun with it.

The big bad guy is Steppen Wolf, some kind of alien god-like creature. His plan is to unite the mother boxes (that we got hints of in BvS) and destroy/take over the Earth. Some critics have bashed this movie for such a simplistic villain but he's pretty much on par with... almost every big bad Marvel villain in the MCU. Not a single one of them want to take over the Earth for any reason other than more power.

Kind of makes you miss the days when Lex Luthor was hatching real-estate schemes don't it?

My point is, a cookie cutter bad guy is not a reason to stay home on this movie. He's not the reason you go to or stay away from a JL movie.

You go to see some of your favorite heroes be your favorite heroes. Although the arc of this movie is fairly straight forward, along the way you get to see some great individual fight scenes with Batman and Wonder Woman, along with various character pairings and earlier partial team fights before the climactic battle.

My only disappointment with the film is all the secondary characters are pretty much reduced to cameos. J. K. Simmons, for example, as Commissioner Gordon. Only Bruce's Butler, Alfred (Jeremy Irons) and Lois Lane (Amy Adams) get any significant screen time outside of the heroes.

The biggest problem JL has is overcoming the seemingly irreparable mixed reactions to BvS, and to a lesser extent, similar reactions to Suicide Squad.

It's for this reason I've stopped reading reviews before I see a film. Particularly with comic book movies. I find the better approach is to see the film, then you have all the knowledge you need to decide which reviews actually describe the film you saw with any degree of accuracy.

For example, much has been made of Henry Cavill's CGI erased mustache that he couldn't shave due to shooting another movie during JL reshoots. I knew about this, and never noticed anything distracting about Henry's upper lip - not once. Some reviewers write about it like it spoiled the whole film.

The CGI in this film is every bit as good as any CGI you've seen in a Marvel movie - I should know, I've seen all of them and own most of them, as well as most of the DC movies too.

That's not to say the CGI is seamless, but it never is in any CGI heavy film. Stop complaining about it. It's like going to see a theatre show and complaining you could tell the sets were made out of wood and the backdrop was a painting. CGI is constantly improving but so is the audience's knowledge of being able to spot CGI filled scenes.

As I said, I enjoyed Justice League. It's lighter tone, brighter color palette, humor, and a Superman I finally recognize made it easily worth the price of admission.

Also, for the first time in a DC film, there was an end of credit sequence well worth staying for (personally I've stopped staying for Marvel's end of credit sequences after the Cap joke at the end of Homecoming... if I'm going to sit through that many credits it has to be worth while).

Justice League is a perfectly fine superhero film. If you didn't like BvS you can pretty much jump in here and pretend much of that movie didn't happen the way you remember it.

Moving forward I really hope Ben returns for a solo Batman movie (or three). Definitely on board for the Wonder Woman sequel, Aquaman movie, and Flash movies.

Most of all, I'd really like Henry to get that Superman solo movie that got hijacked by BvS. His Superman is in a really good place at the end of Justice League. Plus I really want to see the entire Man of Steel supporting cast get another crack at a proper Superman story (complete with Jimmy Olsen Junior, son of a certain CIA agent following in his dad's photography footsteps).

Comments

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: Superman (2025) *No Spoilers*

T he one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters.  He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins. James Gunn's  Superman  is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film.  To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world. Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other s...

James Gunn's Social Media Monkeys Joke Was a Highlight of His Superman Movie For Me

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls.  The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...

Movie Review: A Complete Unknown (2024) *No Spoilers*

Y ou would think the Bob Dylan story would be 'wind-swept and interesting,' to quote Billy Connelly, however, despite  A Complete Unknown  being quite an engaging film, it feels like it missed the years that really shaped him as a song writer/performer. The film starts in 1961, with a then unknown, 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in New York City with his guitar.  From there he forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world. The problem being, according to this film, Dylan arrived in New York, for the most part, fully formed as a folk singer/song writer. In virtually no time he makes a very important connection that puts him on the trajectory of doing the work and becoming a name, before making his world changing performance. While there is some drama behind the scenes with his various relationships, none of it is particularly unique to any number of up and com...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood  Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

Unitree's R1 Humanoid Robot Brings the Cost of Advanced Robotics Hardware Down to Less Than USD$6000 (Robot Uprising Update)

Unitree's R1 Humanoid Robot. The first humaniod robot prices under USD$6000. C hinese robotics developer, Unitree, has launched the  Unitree R1 Robot , an advanced humanoid machine, for under USD$6000. Standing at 5'5", this very agile robot walks with a very natural 'human' gait, and can easily perform cartwheels or get up from a fall. It is controlled by AI and is capable of conversation but also comes with a remote control (so you can turn it off if it starts asking about someone named 'Sarah Connor'). Rather than me describe it, watch AI Revolution's video (below) to see it in action and hear their take on why this robot is a big deal. China’s New AI Robot Is So Good and Cheap It’s Scary: Unitree R1  -  AI Revolution You'll notice that the robot doesn't have proper, human like hands, but apparently this is an option you can purchase as an extra (dexterous hands are listed as 'optional' on educational versions of the robot on Unitree...