After the phenomenal success of Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman, there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon for the Warner Bros DC universe and a hope that Zack Synder’s Justice League could turn around its disastrous fortunes that Batman V Superman bestowed on the studio and more importantly the franchise. Whilst still trailing in the blazing footsteps of Marvel’s triumphant productions, Justice League has taken a step in the right direction, it’s nowhere near perfect, in fact, it has more flaws than positives but it has to be given kudos for injecting some fun into its tired life.
Whilst the world is still mourning the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), the streets are rampant with hate and disorder but Batman (Ben Affleck) has lifted himself out of his slump and has a newfound sense of hope and willingness to save the world from its newest threat, Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds). The new Alien force is too much to handle by himself so he turns to an old friend, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and some new ones, The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) in a bid to stop this new evil destroying the world.
Synder obviously ignored the memo on objectifying its female cast in this outing, It’s still very much a man-made film aimed at a heavily male audience. It would seem he took every chance he could get to focus certain shots on Gadot’s backside, whether it is from her just walking down the street in her tight leather trousers or focusing cleverly on that area when in full costume, directing the camera on her landing in her tiny skirt. Also, the question on most female lips is why would you change the Amazons costumes that covered up the woman to ones of a more skimpy nature? However, we can’t ignore that we bear witness to the well-defined torsos of both Cavill and Momoa in all their glory.
At only two hours long, one of the shortest comic book to movie adaptations, there does seem to be a lot going on and it does seem slightly rushed but it leaves no room for any boredom to set in aided with its attempt to add the much-needed light-hearted humour. The new edition of Miller’s The Flash, an eager newcomer to the Superhero game very much in the same vein as Tom Holland’s Spider-man, gives it that witty edge. The introduction of the three new superheroes is clunky and messy in its presentation but we aren’t here to get an origin story from each character they have a bigger threat to deal with which links them to one important purpose.
Visually, it’s big and it’s flashy and the CGI can be weak at times, case in point comes with the returned from the dead Superman. Cavill’s return came mid-shoot for the new Mission Impossible, in which he was under contract to support a moustache, as a clean cut, clean shaven Superman this had to be “fixed” and fixed badly it was. Talk about a stiff upper lip, the man looked like he suffered from a plastic surgery that went wrong.
Despite its many flaws there is still a lot of fun to come out of Justice League and they have shown a willingness to make up for past mistakes, it’s a work in progress, one that would possibly do well with an injection of a new director and writers that aren’t so stuck in the dated past. If you go in with low expectations, you won’t be too disappointed.
Justice League is out in cinemas November 17th.
