Though Justice League is a mess, it has good moments that don't make it a total loss

Rating: 5/10 (17 November 2017)

Boy has DC Comics come a far way when it comes to its cinematic adaptations. For years, we've gotten a lot of Batman and Superman movies. It wasn't until Man of Steel when Warner Brothers decided to follow Disney and Marvel's footsteps and create their own cinematic universe. Man of Steel was split for a lot of people, but it had managed to establish it's own identity that actually fairs well with DC's image. The difference between to comic giants was that Marvel was humans becoming gods and DC was gods becoming humans. So why has it continued to split people?
A lot of it has to do with how Warner Brothers has been handling it's property. Like a lot of people, I blame that rather then doing the work of making several movies before they get to a major crossover point, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice tried to jump five steps ahead by having too much of a good thing. Now that were looking at Justice League, it has a lot to live up to. For many of these characters, this is the first time were seeing the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg on the big screen. Let's see if Justice League can live up to it's expectation and be heroic.
After Supermans death, Bruce Wayne (played by Ben Affleck) has decided to atone for his mistake of misjudging and build a team of metahumans or fellow super powered humans in case another threat comes to Earth. With help from Alfred (played by Jeremy Iron) and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Played by Gal Gadot), they talk to the quick willed Barry Allen (played by Ezra Miller) from Central City, the legendary fish man of the Scandinavian Arthur Curry (played by Jason Momoa) and the half human half artificial intelligent living computer Victor Stone (played by Ray Fisher) into joining their new league.
Meanwhile, an alien villain Steppenwolf (played by Ciarán Hinds) has returned to Earth to try and reclaim a set of "mother boxes" in order to start an apocalypse. One of then is in Atlantis, another is on Diana Prince's home island Themyscira, and one more is hidden within the human world. Though the team of heroes, now called the Justice League, manage to retrieve the final mother box, Steppenwolf has built an army that has proved difficult for everyone. Will Superman make a return to help his fellow metahumans?
Justice League is a messthat happens to have good things within. Let's get into the positives first. It's clear that director Zack Snyder (and Joss Whedon) has understood the mistakes from Batman V Superman, and have done things to improve. The plot is tighter and focused on one goal; stop the villain from taking over the world. The overall look is going in the right direction with brighter colors taking fold, thus making guys like Wonder Woman and the Flash seems more like beacons of hope. Plus, the relationships between the characters are more defined and are used to it's entertaining advantage.
The two favorites here are Miller as the Flash and Gadot as Wonder Woman. They have a fair amount of screen time that establishes Miller as inexperienced, but with a mouth that's as quick as his actions. Gadot is showing more vulnerability has her connection to the humans has evolved since Wonder Woman. Affleck is great as Batman, but looks constanly disinterested as Bruce Wayne. Momosa does okay with his material (though with not enough time to show more of his personality) and Cyborg seems to have gotten the shaft as he's only in to do computer stuff for the sake of the plot. The problem is that Justice League feels like the tenth film in a series that seems to have skipped ahead (again, that blame is on Batman V Superman for rushing the cinematic universe).
Now for the negatives. Steppenwolf is a surprisingly boring villain as he's your typical one- dimensional villain bent on destruction. Nothing new and even worse then Lex Luther's poor motivation in the last movie. A lot of the humor adds a bit more of a necessary lighter tone, but it doesn't always mesh with the Snyder-tone already established. Though it's been well publicized that Joss Whedon took over for the reshoots, it's painfully obvious when he came in, given that his are more humorous when compared to some of the fight scenes and other development scenes that are more grim and serious.
I'll give this five Justice League comics out of five. This movie is learning as it's going, but it still has a lot of rough spots. I hope that future DC films lay off on the crossovers in order to give characters like the Flash and Aquaman a chance to shine in their own movies. I doubt I'll return to this like I do for Tim Burton's Batman, but I can see a lot of people overcoming this mistakes for the films more entertaining parts. If your just looking for your heroes fighting, you'll get plenty of it. You'll even get a lot of laughs and entertainment. I just don't think it's for me. Take it in perspective and see if the DC cinematic is worth saving.