Justice league the review [IMO] and Why DC is failing to catch up with marvel
I just watched Justice league last night.Now that DC had their team up of superheroes for the first time on big screen, I felt the need to write this blog expressing my opinion on why DC is still struggling find the right tone that audience need and what the audience want from their movies.Honestly, I liked the movie despite all the critics tearing this movie into pieces and dragging it into the mud with rotten tomatoes score at 37%. Its not that bad and it satisfied me unlike what BvS did. I just felt that it was missing some scenes [which is so obvious since the movie was supposed to be 2 hours and 57 mins long]. WB demanded that the movie should be 120 mins which I understand why they made that decision. But a film with 6 superheroes in which 3 of them were introduced in this film for the first time [not considering the brief cameos in BvS] has to be a longer one.
I am not sure about others but I can sit for 3 hours for a film as long as it delivers a good story and utilizes that 180 mins time without wasting it with scenes that has nothing to do with the film. But I'm glad that they finally managed to deliver a film which has a coherent story where scenes are connecting pretty well with each other. Nowhere I felt the scenes were disconnected and placed in jumbled way. That was my biggest concern with BvS. Not only the scenes were disconnected in that film but also some of that scenes felt pointless or at least should have been saved for a post credit scene. That was addressed in Justice league.
Now I wanted to talk about something for which I had a mixed reaction-The Humor. I'm totally ok with lightening up the film with jokes since the DCEU seriously needed one. But the humor was little forced in some scenes and in some scenes it was actually pretty well done. The thing I hated about Suicide Squad is that it tried to be DC's Guardians of Galaxy and it failed spectacularly. Most of jokes [or all of them] are so unconvincing and awful that I almost forgot that movie existed. When I think about DCEU, I always think of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman:Dawn of justice and Wonder Woman. To be honest, I enjoyed Batman v Superman a lot more than Suicide Squad.
Lets talk about the characters. First, one of the main character of the team and the one who assembles them-Batman. Ben Affleck's Batman in this film is surprisingly a little light-hearted than in BvS where he was brooding all the time. That's a good and a bad thing. I really liked the portrayal batman in BvS [yes, the brooding and brutal one] and I still remember that warehouse scene where we got to see an impressively choreographed fight scene of batman straight out of the batman Arkham game series. Here he seems so weak and sometimes sidelined which is so ironic since he is the one who brought the team together and his detective skills from comics is completely got rid off in this version. He is just a person in a suit with cool gadgets. Atleast he had some fighting skills in BvS and that too was shown so poorly in this movie. So a humble request to whoever is directing the next batman standalone movie, please find a balance between the brutal and scary version of batman in BvS and the smarter Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan.
Next character whose film saw a huge and much needed success for the DCEU to push forward-Wonder Woman. Gal Gadot as wonder woman is amazing.Her intro fight scene was one of the best parts of the film. She actually was portrayed as a much more important character than Batman and has some pretty awesome fight scenes. Her character is as good as in both Wonder Woman and BvS. I don't know much about her character from comics.All I know about her was through the movies so I cant say much about her.
One of the characters that I felt both disappointed and satisfied at the same time [I don't know how is that possible] is Flash. First off, I'm a huge fan of the Grant Gustin's portrayal of Flash in TV series and like wonder woman all I know about him was through the TV show. But I also did some extra digging about that character in internet and watched the Flashpoint paradox animated movie. He is a great character in this film and the best of the six members. Ezra Miller done a great job as the scarlet speedster. The only thing I didn't like about his character is that they made him too childish. He doesn't know how to fight, yet he has a pretty impressive suit and he knows pretty well about the Speed Force. In TV series, he is far more matured and little serious than this flash. But his jokes in the film hits every time and his portrayal works pretty well in the film. Still I prefer the Grant Gustin's flash over Ezra Millers [ its my personal opinion].
Jason Mamoa as Aquaman is great too. Has some good jokes and really nice fight scenes. He doesn't care about what others think and he jumps straight into the fight without second thought. Cyborgs plays an important role in the film although he doesn't feel so important throughout the movie except in a few scenes. Its hard to appreciate his acting since his whole body is CGI except half of his face. But he does his part well. He is one of my least favorite of all.
Now coming to the point why DC is not as successful as marvel. It is simply because they are trying way too hard. They even hired Joss Whedon, director of Avengers, to direct some parts of this movie when Zack Snyder stepped out due to family issues .
They tried too hard to insert jokes in Suicide Squad because they thought that by following Marvel's formula they could succeed. They cant't. DC universe is meant to be serious and has some pretty gruesome stuff in comics. Just because BvS failed in critical point of view [I know its a success in commercial way], doesn't mean you have to change the tone and be like marvel. One thing that separates DC and Marvel is the tone. They just need to work on the screenplay and pacing, make stories coherent and consistent.
Overall, Justice league feels right and corrects the mistakes of BvS and Suicide Squad and found the right balance between them.But still doesn't give you the satisfaction that marvel movies does.Honestly it feels like a cheaper version of The Avengers. I think its a step in the right direction for DC. I would give this film a solid 8/10.
A step in the right direction:
I am not sure about others but I can sit for 3 hours for a film as long as it delivers a good story and utilizes that 180 mins time without wasting it with scenes that has nothing to do with the film. But I'm glad that they finally managed to deliver a film which has a coherent story where scenes are connecting pretty well with each other. Nowhere I felt the scenes were disconnected and placed in jumbled way. That was my biggest concern with BvS. Not only the scenes were disconnected in that film but also some of that scenes felt pointless or at least should have been saved for a post credit scene. That was addressed in Justice league.
Now I wanted to talk about something for which I had a mixed reaction-The Humor. I'm totally ok with lightening up the film with jokes since the DCEU seriously needed one. But the humor was little forced in some scenes and in some scenes it was actually pretty well done. The thing I hated about Suicide Squad is that it tried to be DC's Guardians of Galaxy and it failed spectacularly. Most of jokes [or all of them] are so unconvincing and awful that I almost forgot that movie existed. When I think about DCEU, I always think of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman:Dawn of justice and Wonder Woman. To be honest, I enjoyed Batman v Superman a lot more than Suicide Squad.
Characters:
Batman:
"We don't have to recognize this world. We just have to save it"Lets talk about the characters. First, one of the main character of the team and the one who assembles them-Batman. Ben Affleck's Batman in this film is surprisingly a little light-hearted than in BvS where he was brooding all the time. That's a good and a bad thing. I really liked the portrayal batman in BvS [yes, the brooding and brutal one] and I still remember that warehouse scene where we got to see an impressively choreographed fight scene of batman straight out of the batman Arkham game series. Here he seems so weak and sometimes sidelined which is so ironic since he is the one who brought the team together and his detective skills from comics is completely got rid off in this version. He is just a person in a suit with cool gadgets. Atleast he had some fighting skills in BvS and that too was shown so poorly in this movie. So a humble request to whoever is directing the next batman standalone movie, please find a balance between the brutal and scary version of batman in BvS and the smarter Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan.
Wonder Woman:
Next character whose film saw a huge and much needed success for the DCEU to push forward-Wonder Woman. Gal Gadot as wonder woman is amazing.Her intro fight scene was one of the best parts of the film. She actually was portrayed as a much more important character than Batman and has some pretty awesome fight scenes. Her character is as good as in both Wonder Woman and BvS. I don't know much about her character from comics.All I know about her was through the movies so I cant say much about her.
Flash:
One of the characters that I felt both disappointed and satisfied at the same time [I don't know how is that possible] is Flash. First off, I'm a huge fan of the Grant Gustin's portrayal of Flash in TV series and like wonder woman all I know about him was through the TV show. But I also did some extra digging about that character in internet and watched the Flashpoint paradox animated movie. He is a great character in this film and the best of the six members. Ezra Miller done a great job as the scarlet speedster. The only thing I didn't like about his character is that they made him too childish. He doesn't know how to fight, yet he has a pretty impressive suit and he knows pretty well about the Speed Force. In TV series, he is far more matured and little serious than this flash. But his jokes in the film hits every time and his portrayal works pretty well in the film. Still I prefer the Grant Gustin's flash over Ezra Millers [ its my personal opinion].
Aquaman and cyborg:
Jason Mamoa as Aquaman is great too. Has some good jokes and really nice fight scenes. He doesn't care about what others think and he jumps straight into the fight without second thought. Cyborgs plays an important role in the film although he doesn't feel so important throughout the movie except in a few scenes. Its hard to appreciate his acting since his whole body is CGI except half of his face. But he does his part well. He is one of my least favorite of all.
"No Lanterns, No Kryptonians":
Steppenwolf is pretty weak to be a main villain for a team of superheroes. He is just a CGI monster who likes to say cliched lines. He doesn't feel like a threat except during his encounter with Amazonians [which is a pretty tense moment].He had a lot of potential during the initial scenes and I actually thought he would be a great villain. But instead he felt like an attempt to setup the future big bad, Darkseid.
I don't want to talk too much about superman and how he comes back to life as I want to provide a spoiler-free review. All I can say is HE IS SIMPLY AMAZING. He is so overpowered. At one point he feels more of a threat than Steppenwolf. The way they resurrected him was disappointing for so many fans but I don't really mind that.
The Return of Hope:
I don't want to talk too much about superman and how he comes back to life as I want to provide a spoiler-free review. All I can say is HE IS SIMPLY AMAZING. He is so overpowered. At one point he feels more of a threat than Steppenwolf. The way they resurrected him was disappointing for so many fans but I don't really mind that.
Desperate times Desperate measures:
Now coming to the point why DC is not as successful as marvel. It is simply because they are trying way too hard. They even hired Joss Whedon, director of Avengers, to direct some parts of this movie when Zack Snyder stepped out due to family issues .
They tried too hard to insert jokes in Suicide Squad because they thought that by following Marvel's formula they could succeed. They cant't. DC universe is meant to be serious and has some pretty gruesome stuff in comics. Just because BvS failed in critical point of view [I know its a success in commercial way], doesn't mean you have to change the tone and be like marvel. One thing that separates DC and Marvel is the tone. They just need to work on the screenplay and pacing, make stories coherent and consistent.
Overall, Justice league feels right and corrects the mistakes of BvS and Suicide Squad and found the right balance between them.But still doesn't give you the satisfaction that marvel movies does.Honestly it feels like a cheaper version of The Avengers. I think its a step in the right direction for DC. I would give this film a solid 8/10.
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