Bland-al Savage

Rating: 5/10 (9 December 2019)

I rewatched "Justice League" this weekend, for the first time since its Cinematic release to see if time and expectation improves the film at all. Unfortunately it does not, if anything it heightens the folly of the movie and the desire to compete directly with Marvel in a race they've already lost.
Wracked with guilt about his part in the death of Superman, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) discovers that the earth is under attack from scouts for an alien race that would rule the planet. He works to pull together a team of powered individuals that can mount a resistance but before he's ready, the villain Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) arrives to secure and reunite three long forgotten energy sources.
It's not so much that "Justice League" is irredeemably awful; like an artistic idea that didn't resonate with the audience for example, or is just undone by one aspect of that undermines good work elsewhere. The film is just so staggeringly mediocre, in every aspect. A dull fetchquest story, punctuated by a number of uninteresting fighting sequences. Tepid banter between the cast. Generic CGI villain. It's all so bland, so uninspired and now has the added bonus of not being worth it as "road to somewhere better" as this appears to have been the final nail in the idea of an extended universe, with DC now looking to the much more sensible approach of asking interesting filmmakers to do what they want with the characters.
Having said earlier that there isn't one particular aspect that lets the film down, there is actually one that drags you out of it whenever he's on screen. The CGI work to erase Henry Cavill's moustache is always, staggering and distractingly awful. You can look at literally nothing else whenever he's on screen.
It's hard not to acknowledge the tragic circumstances that forced a change in director and for Joss Whedon to complete filming reshoots and editing. I appreciate that people would like to see what Snyder's true vision for the film was, however, I can't believe that there's some magic way to reedit this film and make it passable. The "bones" of a good film just aren't there for that to happen.
A waste.