Justice League review
Dec. 9th, 2017 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessOf the other choices that I went for before going to see Justice League, The Florida Project is excellent and one of my top three films of the year. Ingrid Goes West will depend on your sense of humour (I laughed more at the Batman referencing than the darker stuff), and both of them pass the Bechdel test with ease. Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool aims for the heartstrings, although I didn’t sniffle – partly because I fall between the generations represented in the romance and partly because I’m not a big crier – it looks gorgeous and Benning deserves award notice.
Upcoming: Pitch Perfect 3 (just find a new plot to hang the jokes and songs on); Molly’s Game (should make an interesting follow-up to Miss Sloane from Chastain); and The Greatest Show on Earth (please live up to the glimpses I’ve seen).
Justice League
Eh. Well, it’s less offensive than Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice was, and it gives us a little more Wonder Woman & Diana. It emphasises that Wonder Woman 2 will not be set in the past, though there could be flashbacks. It’s understandable, the film makes play of her staying in the shadows until this film’s threat to earth. She has a very cool action scene (in front of schoolgirls!) towards the beginning.
It’s got a lot of baggage – it’s DC’s attempt to do an Avengers, and it has three major heroes to introduce. Okay, there’s more room to do that because they take ages to resurrect Supes, which we’ve all known was happening since the end of BvS. Although I rolled my eyes at killing him off previously, the film makes the argument that it is ‘the Kryptonian’ dying that kickstarted the plot (such as it is). And with his powers, Superman is like the Top Trump card to beat them all. (I am sick, I snorted when Wonder Woman’s response to a newly resurrected and confused Kal-El headbutting her was to headbut him back.)
He can certainly beat Steppenwolf (who is a bit Thor: The Dark World only with henchmen that I thought of as flying monkeys.) There is a bit of fun with how his speed matches The Flash’s. Indeed, I assume Whedon added a lot of the quips, and Ezra Miller does his very best to milk laughs out of them, but this is in the midst of Snyder’s dour, almost fascisitic supermench imagery, so laughs weren’t forthcoming from me, though I welcomed the attempts to lighten things up.
I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Aquaman (although the underwater stuff did nothing for me), Flash and Cyborg, but Diana comes first. The film even made Bruce/Diana dancing around each other work, although she’s far too sane for him. The film admits he has problems, and his trying to form the league and bring Clark back is him trying to make amends. It also addresses his lack of superpowers around the others in a way that makes him more likeable than he was in the last two iterations. But aren’t they writing Batffleck out of the DCU? So, for all that Bruce pressed her buttons about Steve and Alfred was all ‘JUST ASK HER OUT, SON’, it’s not going to go anywhere much, and is anyone going to be devastated? No.
In a film that’s obsessed with parent-child relationships (yay! Mothers too! So many, they show a range of behaviours!), middle-aged Bruce and baby faced ancient Diana are the Pop and Mom of the team, certainly in terms of giving orders, and around Barry. Miller makes one wish they’d cracked live action movie Dick Greyson (but there’s always The Lego Batman Movie <3). Amy Adams emotes, Cavill…doesn’t, and I think they dropped a Lois dream scene that was in the trailer and, worse, haven’t nourished the Clark/Lois o MoS. it’s nice that they cast Joe Morton.
It takes a few steps in the right direction, but is no Avengers, and it really does beg the comparison, with the Amazonians and Atlanteans being a bit Asgard, with Arthur being a lot Thor, and Bruce and Diana having the type of argument Tony and Steve (Rogers) would have. Still, I am curious as to what the DCU will do with Harley Quinn and some other Gotham ladies, what Whedon will do with Batgirl and looking forward to Wonder Woman 2.
Upcoming: Pitch Perfect 3 (just find a new plot to hang the jokes and songs on); Molly’s Game (should make an interesting follow-up to Miss Sloane from Chastain); and The Greatest Show on Earth (please live up to the glimpses I’ve seen).
Justice League
Eh. Well, it’s less offensive than Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice was, and it gives us a little more Wonder Woman & Diana. It emphasises that Wonder Woman 2 will not be set in the past, though there could be flashbacks. It’s understandable, the film makes play of her staying in the shadows until this film’s threat to earth. She has a very cool action scene (in front of schoolgirls!) towards the beginning.
It’s got a lot of baggage – it’s DC’s attempt to do an Avengers, and it has three major heroes to introduce. Okay, there’s more room to do that because they take ages to resurrect Supes, which we’ve all known was happening since the end of BvS. Although I rolled my eyes at killing him off previously, the film makes the argument that it is ‘the Kryptonian’ dying that kickstarted the plot (such as it is). And with his powers, Superman is like the Top Trump card to beat them all. (I am sick, I snorted when Wonder Woman’s response to a newly resurrected and confused Kal-El headbutting her was to headbut him back.)
He can certainly beat Steppenwolf (who is a bit Thor: The Dark World only with henchmen that I thought of as flying monkeys.) There is a bit of fun with how his speed matches The Flash’s. Indeed, I assume Whedon added a lot of the quips, and Ezra Miller does his very best to milk laughs out of them, but this is in the midst of Snyder’s dour, almost fascisitic supermench imagery, so laughs weren’t forthcoming from me, though I welcomed the attempts to lighten things up.
I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Aquaman (although the underwater stuff did nothing for me), Flash and Cyborg, but Diana comes first. The film even made Bruce/Diana dancing around each other work, although she’s far too sane for him. The film admits he has problems, and his trying to form the league and bring Clark back is him trying to make amends. It also addresses his lack of superpowers around the others in a way that makes him more likeable than he was in the last two iterations. But aren’t they writing Batffleck out of the DCU? So, for all that Bruce pressed her buttons about Steve and Alfred was all ‘JUST ASK HER OUT, SON’, it’s not going to go anywhere much, and is anyone going to be devastated? No.
In a film that’s obsessed with parent-child relationships (yay! Mothers too! So many, they show a range of behaviours!), middle-aged Bruce and baby faced ancient Diana are the Pop and Mom of the team, certainly in terms of giving orders, and around Barry. Miller makes one wish they’d cracked live action movie Dick Greyson (but there’s always The Lego Batman Movie <3). Amy Adams emotes, Cavill…doesn’t, and I think they dropped a Lois dream scene that was in the trailer and, worse, haven’t nourished the Clark/Lois o MoS. it’s nice that they cast Joe Morton.
It takes a few steps in the right direction, but is no Avengers, and it really does beg the comparison, with the Amazonians and Atlanteans being a bit Asgard, with Arthur being a lot Thor, and Bruce and Diana having the type of argument Tony and Steve (Rogers) would have. Still, I am curious as to what the DCU will do with Harley Quinn and some other Gotham ladies, what Whedon will do with Batgirl and looking forward to Wonder Woman 2.
