JUSTICE LEAGUE; A Professional Scotsman Review #15

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"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses on, would you? Huh?"

I did my animation degree dissertation on a superhero film. Yup, 12,000 words comparing Spider-Man [8] - oh God I need to clarify these days don't I? Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) - on how that movie shaped up to Raimi's first ever film, The Evil Dead [10] (1981), stylistically. The idea was to show how much of his dynamic, inventive and eye-catchingly unique style remained within his huge budget superhero film, a movie that started the second era of cinematic superhero films that culminated in the sensational Nolan Batman trilogy. On the surface I couldn't have compared two more different projects - one, a gross out, camp video nasty and that cost around $350K and the other a PG-13 fun for all the family effort that cost nearly $140 million. My conclusion? Raimi had cut the cloth of his approach quite correctly to fit the requirements of Spider-Man, yet beneath the shiny veneer of this big budget behemoth, tailored to a modern audience, the quirks of his original style were still very much present and contributed to its success. What would have been interesting at the time would have been to have examined Darkman [8] (his earlier, untrammelled effort in the superhero genre that flopped) and Spider-Man 2 [9] in which, after the confidence gained with the success of the first film, his maverick visual style and tone became even more apparent. Long story short: Raimi's distinctive approach was a big reason why those two films succeeded. And yes, before you start mentioning the train-wreck that is Spider-Man 3 [6] - I quite like bits of it. And anyway it made money so shut up.

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

Right I'll cut to the conclusion of my current hypothesis: apart from perhaps Josh Wheedon of The Avengers (8) and Avengers: Age Of Ultron fame (6), the only other director that is currently synonymous with the superhero genre is Zack Snyder, which, given the preponderance of superhero films in the current climate is absolutely astonishing. Say what you want about Snyder, that's quite impressive and given that it was really Ironman (8) that set the tone of the entire Marvel extended universe, it's Snyder who, for better or worse, is the person who still holds the future of both DC and tangentially Marvel movies in the palm of his hands. Now, interestingly, because of a family tragedy, Josh Wheedon himself stepped in to finish Justice League - with Wheedon clearly selected in order to bring some of the brightly coloured touch, tonally and visually, to the DC franchise which is often maligned critically for these very issues. Yet this is still very much a Zack Snyder film. We've got the muscular slo-mo, the ponderous weight of events - even when they don't always deserve it - and I clearly watched a film that has been hacked down to the bare bones. Snyder doesn't skimp on scale and ambition, what he lacked in his last attempt was balancing the explosions with moments of tenderness, laying both on a little thick so I'm sure we'll get a 3 hour version of Justice League on home release. Here, and perhaps it's Wheedon's influence for the better, we've got heart and passion aplenty and a much niftier running time of around 2 hours.

"I know who you are. Let me tell you about this guy I know, Jack. Mean kid. Bad seed. Hurt people."

"I like him already."

Gail Gadot as Wonder Woman is just a walking, talking wrecking ball of charisma. Aye, she's ridiculously beautiful, but she delivers all her dialogue with such gusto I find her a refreshing screen presence every time she does anything. Affleck as Batman is solid - I've seen other reviewers say it seems like he's checking out of the role already but I didn't get that. Say what you like about him - and many are just now - he can act. Even sleepwalking he knows what he's doing and he and Gadot are a lot of fun together. Miles Dyson... uh sorry, Joe Morton, and his son as Cyborg have a nice relationship arc with Joe Morton clearly reprising his role as Myles Dyson from Terminator 2: Judgement Day [10]. And I'm sorry to get bogged down with Joe Morton but he also plays the devil's apprentice in the magnificent Crossroads (NOT the Britney Spears film) with Ralph Maccio which no one has seen but is a solid 10 so dig it up. Even seeing Morton at all ekes most films he's in up by a point. Jeremy Irons is wearily quip-tastic as Alfred who's un-phased by almost everything. Jason Momoa is solid as the potentially disastrous Aqua Man. He has a great monologue which I won't spoil though his underwater scenes needed more style, they looked a little, uh, washed-out. Sorry. I'm just trying to get into the spirit of things. Oh, and the kid who plays The Flash is very funny with an incredible line about "the Pet Semetary" which is the best line in the film and brings us to nicely to a returning character...

"Haven't you ever heard of the healing power of laughter?"

...Which again I won't spoil but his return is brilliantly done. Reminded me of the best bit in... oh, God I promised I wouldn't spoil this... uh, the best bit from a... Ridhard Pryor film with a III in the title. There. I did it. Phew! I loved this segment and along with a superbly gallant escape attempt from the main villain, Steppenwolf, by the Amazonians they provide the movie's highpoints. Ah, the villain. The film's major weakness - not so much the threat posed by him which is fine (he's pretty hard) - but by his actualisation. His CGI is dreadful, his face canny really move properly and should have been live action. Ach, seen as I'm here let's think about what else I didn't like: ah, okay - the McGuffin has been done before and I think if our heroes had lost all three of these vital items in the same fashion as the Amazonian scene we'd be looking as a classic. It would have really built up the villain. Clearly there are inevitable difficulties in a film that has so many main and tertiary characters but all roles are acted well which at least partially compensates. But as the film will really be defined against the Marvel films, both critically and financially, it's there I shall head for my final analysis - my crew is with me, let's go!

"Never rub another man's rhubarb!"

FINAL ANALYSIS: I like the DC films. The Marvel films are so generic that I've stopped caring. I like them fine of course but all the directors who work within them create homogenised products every time. No risk at all. And certainly no sex. At least in DC movies there is an attempt at an adult tone - even if this often fails drastically - Suicide Squad [5] I'm lookin' you right in the eye. Justice League is a compromised effort - it's tonally similar to the Marvel films - and of course, the whole super team thing was initiated by Marvel. In the wake of this, playing catch up has certainly been a problem DC has struggled to overcome, mainly with the critics (Kermode absolutely hates this film). But here's the thing - I laughed quite a bit watching it (most of it intentional) and whilst the reshoots are glaring on occasion some of them work and when it has the courage of its convictions it's interesting and enjoyable. If DC films succumb to a cookie cutter formula they'll lose heavily to a genre already sown up by Marvel. In conclusion (and I hope I'm under 12,000 words or my tutor is gonna kill me) I predict this film will either plunge DC into that abyss or be the springboard to allow it to keep going - hopefully with more confidence in it's own idiom. At the moment Snyder still has my attention. But only Just... ice League.

SCORE: It's a 6. But when the team clicks it becomes more than the sum of its parts and it's a riot. Also did I mention there were refrains of Danny Elfman's 1989 Batman [10] score in the soundtrack? And good lord I almost forgot Joe Morton - sod it - it's a 7.

ALTERNATIVE TITLE: The Flash, Ahhhhhhhhh, He's Gonna Outrun Every One Of Us