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Film Review: Justice League

08:56 November 27, 2017
By: David Vicari

I have good news and bad news regarding Justice League, the DC Comics answer to Marvel's The Avengers. The good news is that Justice League is somewhat watchable and better than its predecessor – the festering cinematic feces knows as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The bad news, however, is that Justice League is thoroughly unremarkable.

Ben Affleck's sleepy Batman is putting together a team of heroes to battle unearthly super villain Steppenwolf (A digital creation voiced by Ciarán Hinds which looks like Alastair Sim as a Shogun Warrior toy). This dastardly villain wants possession of three magic boxes that, when brought together, will bring on the end of days or something like that. So, Batman/Bruce Wayne's wish list of superhero partners consist of the Amazonian Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), a neurotic but fast as lightning teen known as The Flash (Ezra Miller), the part man/part hard drive Cyborg (Ray Fisher), the hard-drinking Atlantean Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and maybe even Superman (Henry Cavill) despite the fact that he is dead, or, as Miracle Max would say, “only mostly dead.”

Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) directed Justice League, but Joss Whedon (The Avengers, TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was later brought in to punch up the humor in the film. However, Snyder left the project due to a family tragedy, so Whedon was given control of re-shoots and post-production. The result is a movie with character inconsistencies, rushed back stories and occasional ill-timed moments of comedy. Miller's The Flash teeters between being funny and obnoxious. Momoa comes off best, as the cool, sarcastic Aquaman, even though the character here looks like Bigfoot from the old Six Million Dollar Man TV series. The dull romance between Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is the stuff of bathroom breaks and popcorn runs. And a drinking game will probably develop based on every time the camera creepily ogles Gal Gadot.

At least Justice League only has a running time of two-hours, which is mercifully short for these epic comic book movies. 


** out of four

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