A league below – Justice League– No spoilers Review!
Rating below.
I watched English movies, when others in my small city thought of them to be porn. Ah, 90s, the weird time of ignorance. Luckily, the time has changed a bit now and people are much more accepting to English Cinema. No wonder the Hollywood movies make more money than Indian Cinema, many a times in India itself. Although the trend is still bias towards the highly commercial pieces. On top of them all, are superhero films.
source: google
For me, like for many others, things started with the craze of Superman. I remember when I was about 8-9 years old, I used to sleep on a superman bed-sheet, although none in my family really new about what that character was. Then later it was Batman and many other characters from DC Universe. The only character, that many were familiar with from Marvels, was Spider-man. No one really knew who Tony stark was, Thor and Hulk were a long shot. DC Universe had always had a kind of monopoly in India, in character resonance, in product placements and toy sales. Everything changed when Iron Man dropped in 2008 as it altered the face of Superhero Cinema. Suddenly, the Superhero land wasn’t fake anymore. It was a representation of modern times and it worked for the Millennials.
DC, at the same time, was taking a different approach. It wasn’t making relatable commercial grenades like Iron man, but rather Christopher Nolan’s thought invoking Batman reboot series was creating a dark Universe of its own. The Christopher Nolan’s films were enticing, engrossing and strangely enigmatic. DC was creating a Niche for themselves, and whenever they would try to put out something light like The Green Lantern, it would simply tank at the box office, as it would simply be not able to replicate the style that Marvel was creating.
The style I talked about, had beguiled the audiences with wide ensemble movies like the Avengers, and has peaked out in the latest version of Thor, and if I’m thinking correctly, It’s going to only get better as the new movies like the Black Panther come along. People like that, the film sells and studios make Billions with a capital B. DC has not been liking that, so they had to do something with the changing viewership trends. So, here comes the Justice League.
source: google
Till the last big budget, Batman vs Superman, their directors have been trying hard to introduce themselves to the humorous action genre, which Marvels created, but had been failing so. Then comes Wonder Woman, that brings in a sigh of relief to the studios. It also created a hype for the upcoming money makers.
Coming to Justice League, watching all the childhood heroes together, in one row, is something that any 80’s or 90’s kid would desperately shell their money on to. But that honestly has not been the case, at least in India. A couple of weeks ago, the cinemas were over crowded with Thor, but the first Saturday of Justice League had less than quarter the audience at prime-time. Marketing has not been issue with the film, but most certainly the word of mouth is.
The Justice League
source: google
I would want to start from the visual appeal of the film. The film has honored all the required bells and whistles that make a modern commercial mega film. I had a problem the moment Steppenwolf walks in. The character looks like an animation of 2010-11 God of war character that I used play on Xbox. It looks like a forced animation and unrealistic. Maybe the animated character has been well made, maybe it’s the disconnect of the character in story writing itself. The back story narration of Steppenwolf, was just plainly terrible.
The story itself feels generic. I knew in the first scene itself that the major dead character was coming back. Although I was completely displeased how he was introduced back, after all the unnecessary dialogue moping. And when the character does get to come back, he’s portrayed to be predictably having an offline moral compass. Even the first introductions between the characters could have been better.
Characters- I thought that the Cyborg’s character was dull and robotic (see what I did there). Diana has lost her charm in just one film, Batman can’t stop crying about his old age, Aquaman is living in the house of Big Lebowski, my man, and honestly Alfred should be 80 plus but looks younger than Bruce Wayne. The only character that is a bit refreshing is Flash, which is unexpectedly better than television’s Barry Allen.
The guitar super theme of the last two movies, which I kind of enjoyed dues to its energy, was missing mostly. Overall the score was dull.
Overall, with the film left me unimpressed, and I waiting for it to get over. DC cannot replicate Marvel in Cinema, which is unfortunate for loyalists like me. It left a sour taste and rather showed me a Marvel like mid credit scene, full of cheesiness, while leaving the theater.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
