Part of my DCEU Rewatch. First Watch? No.
So I feel a bit of schizophrenia about this movie. Because the bottom line is, I sort of like these iterations of the characters (at least Superman and Batman) better than I do the ones that came in the solo movies before them … but I also really dislike that they are so out of character from what came before … even though they are out of character-that-I-didn’t-like.
Okay, let’s take a step back.
I have to say I’m surprised on this rewatch. I haven’t watched this film since it was running in theaters, and my reaction then was kind of disappointed. And I understand where I was with that. The characterization here is part trope, part banter, always with that Joss Whedon quipping that worked so well on the first Avengers, struggled a bit in Avengers 2, and here …
… well, here, it’s hard to judge. Because this is a grim universe. And these are grim characters. And hearing them doing the Avengers-style quipping is jarring. Bats is no longer a bundle of violent rage. Supes comes across like Christopher Reeves with next to zero PTSD (after coming to his senses) from having been dead, tossing off patronizing banter and apparently more powerful than everyone else here combined. Diana processes her century-old trauma over losing Steve Trevor right before our disbelieving eyes. And Victor and Barry get their “Here Is My Tough Story” moments that effortlessly pivot into “Hey We Are Part of a Bunch of Super-Friends.”
It jars. It’s irritating. It’s also kind of fun. As I said, I sort of like these JL folk better than I have in previous films, in part because I love the first Avengers movie. But it’s such a set of differences from previous DCEU that everything is dragged down by cognitive dissonance. I really have to wonder what I’d think about it if I hadn’t just watched the Trinity movies before this one .
This is the film, of course, that got handed to Joss Whedon in post-production, after tragedy in Zack Snyder’s family pulled him away from the production. Whedon rewrote a bunch and re-filmed a bunch, both by his own doing and with reported insistence from WB execs who weren’t happy with BvSDoJ‘s numbers.
The result is a weird hybrid, and not one with vigor. I can clearly see the churning Snyderian bitterness and anger and darkness and cynicism brewing beneath the surface (Cyborg’s alienation, Flash’s desperation, Diana’s isolation, Aquaman’s also-isolation, Superman’s post-resurrection trauma, any sense of character Batman had in the last film), but all of it is thickly spackled over by Whedon’s glib humor and desperate need to make the film shorter than it was already sitting at. Add the tarnish of what was reported about Whedon’s behavior by some of the cast (here and in other productions), and it’s no wonder it all sort of turned out a mess.
And yet … it does kind of stand on its own half-way decently (and, almost sadly, teeing up a future DCEU that will never actually exist). And, honestly, I’m happy to see a film that gives us a Flash vs Superman race (or two).
On the other hand, the whole Fourth Act BBEG Fight is … way too much, and too repetitive, punching and counter-punching and counter-counter punching, lather, rinse, repeat. And all that takes place in the middle of very vague stakes. There’s glowy CG stuff creating more glowy CG stuff that is going to destroy the world in some glowy CG way, or so we’re told. And there are local human lives in the balance, though we really only see a family of four. But even with that hand-waving threat, the JL holds their own pretty well within the parameters of such a fight — and that’s before Smug Superman shows up (who so unbalances the fight that the movie has to send him off repeatedly to go save faceless civilians). Bah.
Outside of that battle, though, and some other somewhat choppy pieced-together plotting, I’ll give a solid middle-of-the-road score, with disappointment for a franchise flagship should have been bigger and badder and less stereotypical (“Heroes come together! Heroes clash and fight and bicker! Heroes come through when the chips are down and learn they have a new level of trust in their mutual family!”). The actors here do decently enough with what they’re given, some of the quipping is actually funny, some of the set pieces are interesting in and of themselves. It just eventually doesn’t rise above a third-rate Avengers remake. Which, if that’s what you’re expecting, isn’t bad.
In short, I’m not sorry I rewatched it. Indeed, I might conceivable rewatch it again, sometime in the distant future. Because for my money, the murky, smoggy morning of Justice definitely beats the Dawn of Justice, hands down.
Do you want to know more?
- An earlier version of this review was posted to LetterBoxd.
- My thoughts when I first watched the film.
- Justice League (2017) – IMDb
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League_(film)