dex14

Orbi-Wan Techno

Although I submitted the original review for this post, now that the movie is out, I am ready to talk a bit more about my impressions.

I don’t hold movies to comic book “canon”, and I enjoyed the heck out of Justice League, the only thing I did not like was that horrible Steppenwolf character.

Other thoughts: Affleck downplayed Wayne’s character in JL because Wayne is truly repentant that his actions/attitudes may have contributed to Kal-El’s death, at least that’s the way I took it.

The movie version of Flash and his abilities benefited ALOT from several seasons of the TV Flash, so we did not need a lot of exposition about the Speed Force, how Barry builds up static electricity when he runs, how he and Supes could communicate while speeding/flying, etc. I appreciated that.

The violence level was very non-graphic and very comic-bookish, even more-so that Thor Ragnarok, and it’s evident that DC was trying to appeal to more of a family audience.

The scene where Flash is running around the team as they are trying to pin Kal-El down, and Kal-El turns his head and watches Flash in speed time got the biggest laugh of the movie from the audience I was watching it with, followed only by Bruce’s comment a few moments later that something was bleeding.

Aquaman's heartfelt "confession" had a brilliant payoff. Also, Wonder Woman's comment "I work with children" was terrific.

I am definitely seeing this one again.

cdollaz

Don't be so hard on yourself.

RoboDad

Great comments, Orbi-Wan. I agree with everything you said.

Some more thoughts...

When Supes says "You didn't bring me back because you like me", and Batman kind of stammers "Well, I don't NOT..." but then gets interrupted, that was awesome.

Also, when Flash zips around the Batcave, checking everything out, it was hilarious.

It was great to see the heroes actually getting along, and even smiling once in a while.

As I said earlier, I really don't understand all of the negative reviews. Even some of the Steppenwolf criticisms seem unwarranted. He wasn't a "perfect" villain, but the threat he posed was very clearly defined, and without the JL to stop him, the world would be lost.

Orbi-Wan Techno

The first thing that came to my mind during this scene was, "Hey, a callback to Robin in Lego Batman Movie!"

Why So Blu?

Also, for those that don't get the point of Steppenwolf, he was pretty much on a quest to reclaim his honor. I remember him mentioning Darkseid and Apokolips. I don't know where he teleported to, though. He did that a lot. I figure he was trying to get back on Darkseid's good graces in trying to terraform Earth.

They also removed his lines of dialogue from an earlier trailer.

"No protectors here...no Lanterns...no Kryptonian. This world will fall...like all the others."

I'm really hoping for an extended cut.

RoboDad

He was also nursing a pretty badly bruised ego, and he wanted revenge on the only people who had ever resisted his attack.

The Antipodean

Well, I liked it. Best superhero movie ever? No, but we're kind of in a glut of bad superhero movies. I liked it nearly as much as Wonder Woman, and it was far better than BvS. A much needed dose of lightness after the dreary, rain-soaked BvS.

The good:
Great to see Superman back, and the scene where he revives and "fights" the League might be my fave scene in the movie, especially the part where he sees Flash in the speed force.

Loved the "Sea Wolverine" take on Aquaman, which channels some of Peter David's bearded 1990s Aquaman and makes the character feel exciting again.

Flash was less annoying than I thought; clearly the comic relief, but wasn't as distracted by the 'recasting' of the TV show version as I thought I'd be.

I still like Affleck's weary Batman quite a lot, and WW was just as great as ever.

The meh:
Cyborg didn't do much for me. Would've loved to see GL or Martian Manhunter instead, but I can see the reasons they chose this character. I prefered the 'smooth' Cyborg look we got at the very end rather than the over-rended Michael Bay Transformer look he had most of the movie.

The bad:
Steppenwolf is... there. He was effective in some scenes, and the sheer size/scale of the character worked well for his menace, but he basically had no personality, the CGI was not great, and honestly, of the hundreds of DC comics villains out there, I can think of dozens better than Steppenwolf for a JL movie debut. I'm not sure why they picked him; I think that Darkseid wasn't chosen because the character is too similar to Thanos, but they've also clearly been leading the way toward having him at some point which is going to be pretty redundant feeling.

Deftones

I liked it, but I still enjoyed BvS more. Flash was great, and really did steal the movie with his quips. Cyborg didn't annoy me as much as I thought he would. WW is still the best part of this universe, even as much as I like Affleck as Batman. Steppenwolf was a generic of a villain as you could get, which is pretty much the problem with most of these movies. Seeing Supes fight the league after his resurrection was fantastic, specifically "seeing" Flash. I enjoyed the hell out of the stingers, though. Those were probably the best part of the movie.

robin2099

I really enjoyed it a lot. I think any Zack Snyder movie will inevitably be shit on by critics and the internet because a lot of people don't like his style, and also because people tend to be harder on what they deem a "knock off" movie. But this was a hell of a lot of fun:

Batman-I was disappointed with his initial reveal but I still enjoy him overall. Affleck works well for the movie but his Batman feels weaker than his Bruce Wayne. Really all the good character interactions happen with him out of costume. Despite what Mike86 says I don't think him leaving will screw all the movies as his portrayal is just one of many Batman portrayals. Loved his interactions with Kal also.

Wonder Woman- Gadot is still great as Diana and badass. Loved her reveal scene and pretty much every part she was in.

Superman: Was great. The scene where he was awesome, as was his first appearance in costume. I also liked his interactions with Lois and The Flash, and I want a Man of Steel 2. Superman is definitely redeemed.

The Flash: I enjoyed. He's basically comic relief but it fits as he is out of his element and there is a line about how he is thinking faster than everyone else. He also had some real cool scenes and I thought his portrayal was so different than Grant Gustin that it helped the character.

Aquaman: Was awesome. Loved the underwater scenes that took place in Atlantis and I loved Momoa's portrayal and how much he kicked ass. I'm looking forward to the Aquaman movie even more now. He also has probably the funniest scene in the movie.

Cyborg: I liked him more than I thought and I liked how important to the story he was. While I would have still preferred to see someone else, I still enjoyed seeing Cyborg on the screen.

I thought the plot moved quick but it never made me feel like it was moving too quick either. I thought the action scenes were all done well everything made sense as it was unfolding. Honestly I thought even the side characters felt important to the story and well used. I also don't feel like the movie needed to be longer but I would be curious about seeing a longer cut.

Not sure how people missed the Batman theme. They play it around six times. I think it's easy to miss the Superman theme though.

Steppenwolf was mainly there as a big threat and served his purpose of bringing the league all together. I thought he was an alright villain and better than a lot of the Marvel villains like "Angry Family Man who has omnipotent planning skills", Ultron and whoever the hell was in Dr. Strange.

Overall I liked this a lot. It's fun, enjoyable and it feels like these movies are on a good path now. Everything people complained about before (too dark visually, too dark overall, not funny enough" is fixed without turning it into an outright comedy like Thor: Ragnorok and Guardians 2 were. I give it a 4/5.

Also the mid credit and after credits scene are great.

TheMovieman

Short review, but I enjoyed, warts and all. Yeah, Steppenwolf was bad but the hyperbole of being the worst ever is a bit much. I actually didn't noticed the bad CGI for Superman that much and just all around had a fun time. Will be interested to see what will hopefully be an Ultimate Cut on home video.

***Ύ/*****, (B+, 7.7/10, 3/4)

RoboDad

I can't even begin to fathom this comment. JL is light years better than BvS, in pretty much every possible way.

People are critical of him because he is a bad storyteller. He has a great visual style for certain things, but that is as far as it goes. And calling this a "Zack Snyder movie" is kind of ridiculous, anyway. Joss Whedon's fingerprints are all over this film. With that said, I do agree with most of your insights into the film.

TheMovieman

Really hoping this happens. Seems to set up with a Deathstroke and Black Adam solo movies. Then, like, 50 years down the line, they'll face off in Justice League 2.

RoboDad

But that was explained in the movie. He kept changing, and he had no control over what was happening most of the time. That is why his body was looking so chaotic. At the end, when his father helped him, he gained control and the body smoothed out. I thought it worked (assuming we will see the smooth version in the next movie)

dex14

Latest update on Deadline says this may not even crack $100mil during opening weekend.

Deftones

Villain(s) were better in BvS. Didn't spend half the movie trying to get a team together like JL did. I think the extended cut of BvS does a much better job with story than the theatrical cut. I just prefer it to JL at this point. That could change with a 2nd viewing of JL, but at this point, that's how I feel.

Why So Blu?

Oh, and no Superman in the black suit. Apparently that was stuff Snyder shot that will probably never see the light of day.

stingermck

Saw that. They said it had a rough morning. Well no shit, everyone is at work or school.

Inhumans99

I am looking forward to seeing this over the next week or so (want to hold off until I can see it with my Dad over the T-Day holiday), but word is that JL may struggle to crack 100 million. If this film does not outgross Thor it is a bloody disaster, even struggling to put up Wonder Woman numbers for D.C.s The Avengers is just nuts...WB can't be happy with the projected weekend numbers considering how much treasure has been put into this film.

Wonder is over performing...projected 9 million has now jumped to projected 20 million (taking a bite out of JL and Thor's 3rd weekend, which may only hit 20 million), combined with Murder On The Orient Express and Daddy's Home 2 both holding up real well in their 2nd weekend...that is a lot of headwinds against JL. D.C. needs Wonder Woman 2 to hit theaters now more than ever.

The thing is...plenty of folks are on-line saying they enjoyed the film so maybe word of mouth will kick in, but will it add 20-25 million to the projected gross to get it past Thor...that is the question (probably not though).

The Antipodean

God, the media has it in for this movie.

TomOpus

I saw it in a mostly empty Alamo Drafthouse. Of course it was at 10:30am but the next two regular showings were pretty empty when I looked to see what seats were taken.

dex14

Or it’s just not that good?

TheMovieman

According to this forum, in the few who have voted, it apparently is or at least passable. Personally I liked it but I'm a DC fan who actually enjoyed BvS, though once JL comes out, that will have far more replay value.

BTW, anyone chronicle what was deleted that were in the trailers?

- Alfred sees someone offscreen (presumably Superman) and uses the word hope.
- Clark and Lois in the cornfield where he mentions the engagement ring (was shown in the trailer as if it were a dream)
- Flash doing some sort of meditation

TheMovieman

Who knows. Maybe we'll get an ultimate cut.

Inhumans99

The whole it sucked/no it was great, stop hating you Marvel fanboy (who claims they also loved WW to avoid the D.C. hater label, but are not believed because everyone says that to try and shield them from being called a hater, etc.etc.,etc) makes for some fun back and forth on forums like this one, but even if it had a fresh rating and tons of folks praising it on-line...WB would be all like so what?

All they see is a movie that multiple reports say cost up to 300 million (not including P&A!) that is under-performing even the modest expectations going into this weekend (seriously, even if it was guaranteed to hit its 110-115 million prediction...that is below Thor, so not good).

WB must be thinking Hells Bells when they see the box office prediction stories hitting the web today. The only saving grace is that with Thanksgiving week upon us it should have a decent second week hold, but yeah...scary that major outlets are reporting this could gross less than Wonder Woman on its opening weekend. I personally still think it can get to 110-120 million, if folks who were on the fence hear good word of mouth on-line and get to the theater to buy a ticket.

Edited to add: The comments section on Variety under their JL story proves my point about the back and forth of commenters being a fun read.