Joss Whedon can’t rescue ‘Justice League’ as DC Comics’ heroes don’t mesh yet
With the exit of director Zack Snyder, fans were curious if the 15-20% of Joss Whedon (Firefly, Avengers) could rescue a film and franchise delivering big screen versions of the DC Comics icons. Justice League, sadly, fails is almost every way, offering up super-powered chess pieces, a disposable villain and inane dialogue.
Following the sacrifice of Superman (Henry Cavill) at the end of Batman v Superman, the world has fallen in a dark, sullen, hopeless world. This is crammed down the throats of the audience with a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” before Batman (Ben Affleck) works to build a team to thwart the coming invasion of an intergalactic God-like being named Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds). He leads an army of insect-like demons and plans to reclaim three powerful “Mother Boxes” which have been hidden away on Earth.
Wonder Woman/Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) heads out with Bruce Wayne to form an alliance with the “metahumans” introduced in BvS: Flash/Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), the Cyborg/Victor Stone (Ray Fisher) and Aquaman/Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa).
That’s pretty much it…the bad guy is coming and a good guy needs more good guys to keep the Earth safe.
There’s no time or effort put towards character building as small nuggets of information define the Flash as a socially awkward kid who can run fast, Cyborg as a stoic and bitter Terminator who has little to no control over his powers and Aquaman as the powerful and raw Atlantian.
Fans get doses of action, a ton of CGI and explosions, but not much else. Gadot’s Wonder Woman is still the star of the franchise and Cavill’s Superman is still a mystery to the creators. Instead of being a reluctant hero, he’s resurrected (the worse plot point of the film) for a grander purpose.
Warner Bros cleans up some messes from earlier films only to make more for future films. Removing Snyder from the creative process is and will be the best thing to happen to the DCCU. Continue reading on the next few pages to read my thoughts on “What worked and what didn’t” – SPOILER WARNING.
Justice League will be entertaining for kids, casual fans and lovers of popcorn movies, just don’t expect much.
The film earns a paltry 2 stars out of 5 stars.