Justice League review

Where do I even begin with this review? Justice League has finally arrived and while it is fun it is also filled with many flaws. First of all let's start with the performances and Ben Affleck tries his absolute best as Bruce Wayne / Batman but honestly he looks a bit bored at times almost phoning in his performance in some scenes. It's such a shame really because of how incredibly brilliant he plays the role in Batman V Superman. This just feels phoned in during some scenes compared to his tour de force performance in Batman V Superman. That being said I really do love some of the shots of him looking over Gotham which really look like they are ripped from a comic book page. Gal Gadot is as good as ever as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman. She really is embracing this role and it clearly shows. A role model for young and older women all around the globe. Henry Cavill returns from the dead (literally) and he too is really embracing the role of Clark Kent / Superman. As he is resurrected he goes all evil on the league and pummels them all outside by the monument that was made for him in Batman V Superman. Having read about the cut scene's from this and the fact that we could have gotten a black suited Superman if Zack's vision had stayed this scene just seems extremely deflating looking back over it. Onto the new recruits and we have The Flash Cyborg and Aquaman. Ezra Miller shines as Barry Allen and steals multiple scenes that he is involved in. Ray Fisher is immense as Cyborg and really commands the screen whenever he appears. Jason Momoa is actually not as good as I thought he would be but nevertheless I'm excited for his solo movie as Aquaman next year after seeing this.

The tone of this movie is a heck of a lot differently than Batman V Superman's tone. Gone is the dreary and dark tone and in it's place is a light hopeful tone filled with some really really funny moments. Make sure you stick around for the scenes after the credits as there is one mid way through and another afterwards. Not going to spoil them but I will say that they are epic, especially the one at the very end.

The action scenes in this are in true Zack Synder style amazing. As I said before he really understands these characters and it shows. The giant battle between Parademons, Amazons and the Atlatians is spectacular and flows perfectly. There's no repeat of the infamous warehouse Batman fighting scene from Batman V Superman but that's okay as other scenes make up for it. The final fight is really well put together as Wonder Woman Superman and Aquaman fight Steppenwolf, Cyborg and Batman try to find a way to power down the mother boxes and Flash is on the outside trying to save as many civilians as he possibly can. The whole dynamic of the team is spot on also as Flash Aquaman and Cyborg have the quips while Batman Superman and Wonder are all in proper serious mode the majority of the time. Speaking of The Trinity there's an incredible shot of all 6 hero's standing together after they win the final battle and wow I lost it at that part. It really was the Justice League in all it's glory. There's a scene towards the very end where we see Bruce Alfred and Diana in what looks like a run down Wayne Manor and Bruce says he is going to rebuild and have a giant table in the middle of it for 6 people to which Diana responds and maybe more. Hopefully we get some new additions to the team as the years and movies roll by. The only complaint I have with this movie and it is just me nit-picking as per usual is that it is way too short. 2 hours just isn't enough. This should be an almost 3 hour epic. There's so much more that could have been expanded upon. I really hope the longer version gets released with the blu-ray much like when Batman V Superman arrived on the home release. Also some scenes in this just flat out annoyed me at times and shouldn't have been put in there. And in true style I wish some scenes were expanded upon and given more time to help develop the characters more. I can't believe I'm even saying this but this movie isn't as nearly epic as I'd expected. Maybe it's because Joss Whedon had one vision and Zack Synder had another but overall I prefer Snyder's vision for the DCEU it's dark and gritty but that's how I envision these characters and while some might see these characters in another way that's fine but I've been an avid DC comics reader for many years now and the overall tone has always been dark and gritty for the most part. Don't get me wrong there is some really lightly toned characters also but Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Aquaman are all for the most part dark and gritty and not all that fantastical while Superman and The Flash in particular are a bit lighter in their tone. I could talk about this movie all day long and the entire DEUC and it's problems and how I'd fix them but for now I'm just going to say one last thing. Release the Zack Synder cut WB!!

I've tried my best to review this as from a non fan point of view but the inner fan inside me just wants to blast this and say it's horrible and while it isn't great it definitely held so much more promise than what we got. Zack Synder had guts to present everyone with his vision of these characters and I believe he should have stayed to see that vision true at least until after this movie. This is the DCEU's 5th movie and in my opinion it should have been way down the pecking order. We should have gotten all solo movie's before hand much like how Marvel did it. Batman V Superman still tops as my favorite DCEU movie to date. A fair first outing for the Justice League but it could AND should have been so much better than it is.

★★