Justice League Review – The heroes finally get justice
All that stands in stark contrast to the Justice League itself, which is in better condition than I could’ve hoped for, without exception. Every member of the team both stands on their own as a likeable, interesting character, and works as part of the team. There are a few missing pieces, but they’re details instead of major meat.
The League’s new members – Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg – are all a blast to watch, with the first two being the absolute, bar none, best parts of the film.
As a newbie kid, the Flash (the Barry Allen incarnation, with touches of Wally West) is inexperienced in this movie. He’s frightened, overwhelmed, and doing the two things the Flash does best: run fast and cope with wisecracks. Even as a fan of the CW show, I’m finding myself impressed with Ezra Miller’s take on the character. He has almost all the movie’s best lines, and is constantly spouting gold. It’s hard to make a character as green as the Flash is in this movie without also making him a drag on the story, but the movie manages just that.
Similarly, a loner character like Aquaman can hold a movie back. Part of what makes him work is how thrilled actor Jason Momoa is to be there. Even when he looks pissed, it seems like the actor is having the time of his life. It’s infectious. I couldn’t help but smile whenever Momoa was on screen. But there’s also a sense to the character that he’s not a loner by choice. He’s resistant to join the team because he’s not part of *any* team. He’s not a true Atlantean, he’s not a true human. Even the village where he hides from the world and does good deeds semi-anonymously doesn’t seem all that thrilled with him. But he integrates himself with the team, and finds a smoothness and confidence there he didn’t find anywhere else before.
Even Cyborg, a character that could’ve been a boring placeholder, managed to have his own arc. I do feel like the movie could’ve done more with him, but I don’t want to get into spoiler territory here. The source of his powers is a domino the movie sets up, then nudges and moves around, but never actually knocks over.
Even Batman and Superman have improved this time around,waking up from their dark dreams. It seems that the Superman that died in Batman v Superman really did die, because this guy actually likes being Superman. The writers went full cornball with his dialogue later in the movie, but the net effect is the most authentic Superman we’ve seen on the big screen in years. His superpowers act as a calling instead of a burden. That it’s the same actor in the same cinematic continuity playing this character seems almost incomprehensible.
Batman, too, has seen some improvement. I actually enjoy Ben Affleck as Batman and Bruce Wayne. I feel like he embodies both pretty well. I know that’s a contentious opinion. And Batman is one place where I feel like Zack Snyder’s Comic-Book-Meets-Ayn-Rand sensibility works in favor of the character. Despite being the only true human in the mix, he manages to stand alongside the other characters and not look out of place. When he’s on the battlefield, he moves like a superhero. Off, you can tell that meeting Superman changed him. Superman is a source of hope, and even the lone vigilante can see that. He feels like a man who spent a lot of time isolated and is now trying to come to terms with being part of the world. It’s a neat shift for the character, and Affleck does a great job portraying it. While The Dark Knight will likely always be my favorite Batman film, I think Affleck’s portrayal of the character in Justice League might be my favorite live-action Batman.
If anyone gets the short shrift, it’s Wonder Woman. It might just be her higher profile in light of her movie making it seem like that, as she’s in most of the movie, but it seems like she doesn’t have quite as much to do as her fellow heroes. She isn’t reduced to a love interest or made to look weak, it just felt like she wasn’t the powerhouse that she was in her own movie.
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