Justice League (Review)

Video essays have become a mainstay in the day in the life of any cinephile on the internet. While most do reside on the internet, some filmmakers do manage to make it to the big screen. French director, Jean-Luc Godard, is the most notable one. So when I went to see DC and Warner Brother’s ‘Justice League’, a video essay was the last thing I expected to see.

You’re now probably thinking that I am crazy, especially when Man of Steel was below par and Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad were flat out terrible. I am in no regard sticking my neck out for this film. A thesis is comprised of a question and Justice League certainly raises plenty of them. The stand out one being ‘Why does this movie exist’? Justice League, for those that don’t know, is a team of superheroes that team up to save the world. Seem familiar? Well, it’s the same story as 2012s The Avengers. A film with what I would consider the most thoroughly constructed in the ongoing superhero craze. The Avengers was directed by the well regarded Joss Whedon, whereas Justice League was directed by the not so well regarded Zack Snyder. Why tell you who directed The Avengers? Well, Joss Whedon completed post-production for Justice League after Zack Snyder had to deal with some personal issues. This managed to work both in favour of the film and against it. On one hand, the scenes that were directed in the pickups by Whedon are the strongest in the film. It’s often the scenes with banter between characters as the plot is moved forward as well as character development too. The Flash is the one that benefits from it the most as he seems to be the only character in the film given a weakness to overcome. On the other hand, these scenes feel out of place with the rest of the film. The scenes that move forward in odd ways (if at all) and are typically all exposition.

If you’re watching this film and The Avengers comes mind at some point during this film I can’t blame you. The structure of both films would be uncanny if both films were made at the same time. That isn’t what happened, however, it’s apparent that Warner Brothers and DC saw The Avengers more than just a template but rather as something to rip off.

Here are some examples...

• Someone has a plan to assemble a team in both films.

• Some people have doubts about the team.

• Then they join the team.

• The villain uses a cube to try and conquer the planet.

• The heroes have a confrontation with the antagonist and they don’t end out on top.

• A member of the team is ‘evil’ for a short period.

• Civilians need rescuing during the climax of the film.

• The comedy.

With the additions of the Joss Whedon scenes, it raises two questions for me. ‘Should I watch Wonder Woman’? and ‘why doesn’t The Flash have his own movie yet’? These are the two stand out characters in the film I think these questions are certainly warranted. In that case, we also need to look at the other members of the Justice League. Batman has his fair share of screen time and why not? He is played by the most bankable actor (Ben Affleck) in the film. This doesn’t excuse his lack of development, however. The only insight we are given is that he use to mainly stick to the notorious Gotham City and that he has fought The Penguin before.

Aquaman and Cyborg are two of the other team members to feature in this film and both are making their first appearances. Cyborg does have a moment of humanity towards the beginning of the film where he vocalises his discomfort with his robotic enhancements. However, after that, he becomes a figure of plot and exposition. Aquaman too is only given a moment of humanity but this time it’s another character voicing their concerns about him. Luckily after that, he doesn’t become a figure of plot and exposition. He becomes the tokenistic black guy and despite not being black he certainly manages to act like one nonetheless. The biggest crime in the film is not the villain but rather how terribly they handle Superman’s revival. Death carries a huge weight in the human psyche and the additions of Lois Lane and Superman’s adoptive mother coping with his death feels forced. Maybe because Superman isn’t human (and a superhero), death doesn’t mean the same thing.

Steppenwolf is the main villain in the film. Who? I’m asking myself the same thing now. I think he had horns and part of his plans involved cubes (hey wait a sec wasn’t there a cube in The Avengers too) and it took place in Eastern Europe (wasn’t the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron in Europe too?).

Have you ever wondered if clown school was for you? Well, maybe this movie should. It needs to learn to juggle its multiple story threads. ‘Therefore’, ‘but’ and ‘meanwhile back at the ranch’ are great ways to tell a story but in this film, it seems to be going “oh fuck I forgot about that part, can we go there now?”

Editing is a skill that is based on emotion and instinct, even when a film is edited on a computer. I think executives must’ve misheard someone and hear “edited by a computer”. Most scenes don’s let emotion play out to its fullest. The main piece of evidence that would be used against this film in a court of law (or whatever the movie equivalent is) is the scene when Superman goes back to his childhood home. Coming back from the dead and confronting loved ones would be a moment with plenty of emotional weight. For every scene, a director will write in their notes an aim for each character for the scene. The note for this scene would’ve been ‘make the studio happy with plenty of camera setups showing off the location’.

Danny Elfman adds yet another comic book film to his career (Batman, Batman Returns, Dick Tracy, Men in Black 1/2/3, Spider-Man 1/2/3, Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy II, and Avengers: Age of Ultron). With all these films under his belt, you would expect him to bring something special to the film and he does yet he doesn’t at the same time. More than a few moments felt complete when his score took hold of the film but after seeing the film I couldn’t for the life of me hum the music for you. This, unfortunately, doesn’t help the film elevate above other superhero films in cinemas today.

Justice League was a movie that had a rushed post-production after Joss Whedon took over and it suffers from it. What point did this ‘video essay’ or ‘thesis’ try to make/answer? Well, there is an interesting movie here to study. This film’s greatest flaws are not to be forgotten as they should guide people to not make the same mistakes when it comes to fundamentals. Some of which I haven't covered (E.G. dialogue, and CGI)

Overall score: 3/10

What did you think of this film if you have seen it?

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Director: Zack Snyder (Joss Whedon, uncredited)

Writers: Zack Snyder (story), Chris Terrio (story & script), Joss Whedon (script)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds and Henry Cavill

Cinematography: Fabian Wagner

Music/Score: Danny Elfman

Editing: David Brenner, Richard Pearson, and Martin Walsh