Review: Justice League (2017)

Justice League

Rating

Director

Zack Snyder

Screenplay

Chris Terrio, Joss Whedon, Zack Snyder

Length

Starring

Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, Ciaran Hinds, Joe Morton, Amber Heard

MPAA Rating

PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action

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Soundtrack

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Source Material

Review

The greatest enemy is the one within, not the one without. Can the Justice League battle its inner turmoil to project something brilliant on the exterior? Or will it simply drag itself into its own extended universe through sheer stubbornnes.

Built on popular, though flawed characters who have thrilled and excited comic readers for decades and which has been a productive part of popular coulture for decades, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) struggles wih its own baggage. When Zack Snyder began building the DCEU, he used as inspiration the darker, seedier elements of the comic series, ignoring the lighthearted elements that initially made them popular.

Like Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Snyder focused on the flaws of the characters rather than their heroism to establish this behemoth franchise. Although Man of Steel was tonally brighter, that tone deepend and intensified with the brooding archetypes of Batman v. Supreman and Suicide Squad. While things lightened measurably with the release of Wonder Woman, Snyder had other goals for the DCEU and Justice League returned to the dreary bleakness that defined his earlier films.

As Superman (Henry Cavill) lies buried, Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) begin assembling a team that will help fight the forces they expect to rise in the near future. As they put together their league of heroes, they create a self-fulfilling prophecy as a dire threat from Earth’s past returns hoping to establish a new wasteland, one which he had centuries earlier been thwarted in creating.

Wonder Woman’s people, the Amazons, had once teamed with the human kings and underwater Atlantians to drive back Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds), the destroyer of worlds. Each group took a piece of his world-rending device and hid them away in hopes that he would never again threaten the planet. As if on cue, Steppenwolf arrives with the intent of finishing what he started and the Justice League must step up to stop him.

Already having become familiar with Bruce Wayne/Batman, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, and Clark Kent/Superman, Snyder and company feel that it’s time to dump three new heroes on the public, giving them small introductory scenes that barely flesh them out as people.

Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Perks of Being a Walflower) takes on the role of Barry Allen, known as Flash. Miller has some of the awkward humor that often flavors this particular character, but he lacks the affability of the TV incarnation played by Grant Gustin. Jason Mamoa brings a different take on Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman) to the film, presenting him as an aggressive, dismissive soul who has a teddy bear-like personality when not posturing. Ray Fisher doesn’t have much to do as Victor Stone/Cyborg. His character has backstory, but being a cyborg limits his ability to empathize and emote, which makes him feel perfunctory, not integral.

Affleck and Gadot continue delivering the best performances in the franchise while Amy Adams, Diane Lane, J.K. Simmons, and Jeremy Irons are trotted out with minimal efficacy. This is a cast that projects a personality without truly inhabiting them. Snyder’s ability to flesh out and humanize his characters is minimal and could be easily seen in everything he made prior to starting on the DCEU.

After Snyder had to walk away from the film due to a major personal issue, co-writer Joss Whedon stepped in to finish the film, which creates a tonal vortex. Although much of the film had been completed, Whedon inserted his particular views of filmmaking into the framework and reworked an unnecessary amount of it. The two styles don’t mesh well, leaving a mixture of corny jokes and dark brooding landscapes to fight over a screenplay that feels forced and familiar.

The success of Wonder Woman gave audiences hope that Warner Bros. would try to breathe some freshness and life into the franchise and make it feel like a slightly darker, but equally humanistic slate. While the world is certainly at peril, the immediacy of the film feels truncated. After five films, three of which were helmed by Snyder, the inherent and deeply-rooted problems of these productions indicates that the issues are endemic. A director like Patty Jenkins can find light within the darkness and create a universe that feels fresh and crucial, but in the hands of someone who has never made a film that wasn’t built on the dark, depressing elements of humanity, finding a way out of the darkness becomes an almost insurmountable challenge.

Justice League has convinced the audience that the enemy is not the one on the screen, but the one at the heart of the franchise itself. Having Snyder step away from the series for a prolonged period and handing the reins over to the likes of Jenkins might help dig the series out of its doldrums. Audiences have found lighthearted fun with the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and humanistic creativity within the Marvel films that Fox produces, but they’ve yet to find enough within the DCEU to justify continued support of it. Until Warner Bros. can understand why these films haven’t been nearly as successful, they will continue to lose the support of their fans.

Thrills and excitement are fine. Great effects are expected. A sense of purpose and depth are anathema. Justice League has everything a comic reader could want except for the emotional response of cathartic escapism. Being trapped in the dark underpinnings of the current universe may put butts in the seats, but it won’t be the kind of enjoyable experience it should or needs to be.