Highly Enjoyable for any Comic book super-hero fan

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2017)

I was so nervous about liking this movie. Given the poor to mixed reviews of all other DCEU movies aside from 'Wonder Woman', the initial critical response made me feel even more dread at the fact that DC cannot get this franchise rolling. However, if you are a superhero fan, throw that critical response out of the window. Listen to the comic book guys, the YouTube superhero vloggers and GO SEE THIS MOVIE.
Yes, objectively, the movie does suffer from pacing issues and the main villain is under-developed but the Justice League members are wonderfully brought to life. Every single character in the league has so much personality for you to like and each character has enough space for development in their upcoming movies, it's intriguing and exciting. I would also like to contradict the growing opinion that Ben Affleck's Batman and Ray Fisher's Cyborg are weak. I completely disagree with this, Batman has gone through a significant change and they have moved him far closer to a Batman we might expect but he still has a lot of room to grow as well. Cyborg is shown to be quite troubled but very cool and possibly has the most intriguing function of the entire team. Everyone loves the Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman but my highlight for the movie is the change in Superman, he is completely different which is so refreshing and his scenes and chemistry with the Flash are just great to watch and you can't help but smile.
Admittedly, my score is a little inflated and on the current theatrical release it should be closer to a 7 or 8, but the reason I gave it higher was because I believe this is not the final version of this movie we shall see. The two main issues of the movie, mentioned previously, can quite simply be solved by giving characters more screen- time and dialogue. Everybody is expecting there to be a huge extension to this movie given the Warner Bros. mandate of the 2-hour restriction. This means that there could potentially be huge amounts of film set to come into this movie, from the trailers alone, that will develop the characters more and explain the plot in more detail. I also have confidence in this because they have done this before with BvS. I hated the theatrical release it was such a poor production and the editing guys messed up. They have taken a lot out of this one too but have not spoiled the movie this time, thank goodness, so it's certain there will be good footage to come. Finally, Zack Snyder and his team do like to write a complete story, it was arguably even a bit convoluted and contained too many layers and symbolism in BvS, so I am certain any kinks are ironed out in the DVD release.
I love the Marvel movies to bits, but I am more of a DC guy and I desperately want this franchise to start moving in the right direction and I think this movie signals a change to a more character driven universe. I actually enjoyed the tone of 'Man of Steel' and 'BvS: Ultimate Edition', and the approach of making the characters experience a journey of self-discovery and creating a universe where the superheroes are constantly being challenged by the people they are protecting, it makes it more real. I think the theme of most if not all of the DCEU movies was going to be "where do I fit in the world", or "what is my role in all of this" and that defining of self was going to drive these character on stories of discovery. This movie shifts that emphasis to be more about the personalities the characters already have and how they can bring life to a story. This is a very Marvel approach to writing, so whether you like that or not the movie certainly benefits from giving these characters room to breathe and not suffocating them in dreary personal pressures. There were still seeds of the original theme in this movie, a major part of Barry Allen's personality is that he is very awkward, Aquaman's life is without direction and Cyborg is somewhat of a recluse; so they can return to this theme nicely going forward but this movie took the right approach for what the franchise needed.
Overall guys, you will enjoy these characters despite the pacing issues. If you are new to DC comics characters it might help to read up a little on the characters they are bringing in to help in the immediate term but I am certain the DVD release will complete this movie for how it was meant to be and improve on an already thrilling and exciting movie experience.