Review of Justice League (2017) by Kyle M — 02 Apr 2018

What are the expectations being laid upon a non-Marvel's equivalent team-up ensemble? The Justice League's main contemporary entertainment has been animation, now it's finally coming to life for "Batman v Superman"'s subtitle's completion. But since that film's grim disappointment that managed to be entertaining by how it was done, expectations for the incoming semi-culmination were vague - even if it wasn't helped by the bar-raising "Wonder Woman". So as a result, "Justice League" is decently entertaining while at the same time can't shake off the inferior vibe.

After Superman's noble, humanizing sacrifice, Batman, with the help of Wonder Woman, is set on recruiting metahumans to defend their world from an incoming otherworldly threat. They recruited Cyborg, Aquaman and the Flash, and the team of five becomes the Justice League, learning their differences and obstacles along the way - and a definite key to stop the threat.

"Justice League" is entertaining but not exciting as it hoped to be from a waited anticipation towards a team-up ensemble. It actually doesn't live up to the notable animated universe that built its name - and familiarity for the characterization's expectations, which is due to the flawed slate being rushed (similar to each animated films' flow). Marvel (couldn't help with the old Marvel vs. DC bout) went beyond by how "The Avengers" was built up across numerous solo films for most of the members' arcs. This film however didn't went in that very route with only the Infinite Trinity being given much well-known spotlights for them to already be seen working together in "Batman v Superman", while the other members were only built up through cameo appearances and narratively have their arcs clashed. Although the characterization is satisfying from selection to respective depth of each arcs. In a way, it's a narrative advantage to how the film expressed the team-up culmination by how well-connected it was to most of the previous films while attempting to establish future arcs, amid the unoriginal plot under the DC brand.

The obvious clash that can be felt, if acknowledged, is the directorial creativity. The initial director that did most of the work is Zack Snyder in his third round of the franchise he started, and his craftsmanship isn't much impressive as the other two stem films he directed. He still delivered something entertaining with his signature tone of darkness being improved in a more lighted manner. However, "The Avengers" director Joss Whedon came into the picture to look after the rest of the film during Snyder's absence, which assumingly resulted into a different cut of the overall tone with minimal damages for inserted humor purposes (accompanied by an okay re-scoring by Danny Elfman) that were unneeded. From that, the debatable preference leaned more towards Snyder's whole vision of the film that's marked through more than half of the picture, which led to the controversial debate of his cut to be release. The direction may be conflicted, mainly Whedon's experienced input and Snyder's being the lesser of his Superman trilogy, it mostly still delivers for a maintained entertainment value.

It was something kinetic for the action sequences by the visual effects usage, even though it's gotten overused from the blown unoriginality including the troublesome antagonist to the bothersome facial structure for Henry Cavill from effective reshoots. The pacing of the visual effects' resulted kinetic energy can be considered a pro advantage for the film's noticeable elemental rush under a small runtime for such scale, declaring the particular visual effects usage for the action sequences being well done.

Next to the action and the rushed pace, another faithful aspect from the animated filmic universe is some or mostly the performances of the cast - with some experienced being rather mixed. Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot returns as Batman and Wonder Woman with further dynamic but the commitment seems energetically downsized when comparing their performances here to their peak from before with more effected towards the former than the latter. The newly-casted Ezra Miller, Jason Mamoa and Ray Fisher all performed at the right level for their characters towards the right tone with their own added energetic input. For Cavill, as it's worth mentioning without spoiling the exact, his performance for his scenes more-or-less improved towards better justice that's more recognizable.

The live-action "Justice League" is anything what you would expect from viewing multiple other animated films regarding the team from the (kinetic) pacing to the characters, but the energy to actually bring it to life may probably erase your worries over the flaws to be become something acceptable. So the film didn't do justice at the level it wanted to land on amid the conflicted vibe in front and behind the camera, resulting to be ranked above "Suicide Squad" before Snyder's two other works in the shared franchise with enough strength to reach up to a 4-star rating. (B+).