Could have used a better villain

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2017)

I have been one of the few people in this world that actually, kind of, enjoyed the "dark universe" that Zack Snyder has created with the DC Universe entries MAN OF STEEL and BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. The biggest criticism that has been lain at the feet of these films is that they are "too dark", so with the recent WONDER WOMAN entry, the balance between seriousness and "some" humor seemed to be achieved.
And...with JUSTICE LEAGUE...the balance continues to be well served - at least as far as tone goes. Director Snyder has figured out where the line needs to be for this sort of thing to make events serious and dark while punctuated with humor. He also has the good fortune of populating his world with a cadre of characters that are fun to watch on screen.
And, that's where this film has some problems. It suffers from the hurriedness of getting to the JUSTICE LEAGUE film and skip the "intro films" of some of these characters. Both AQUAMAN (Jason Momoa) and THE FLASH (Ezra Miller) were interesting characters and, I think, more background/depth to them would have added to the film. Adding these two to Ben Affleck's BATMAN, Henry Cavill's SUPERMAN and, especially, Gal Gadot's WONDER WOMAN make for an interesting group, indeed - only Ray Fisher's CYBORG was rather bland on the screen, but that just might be the fault of the character, not the actor (kind of like Jeremy Renner's HAWKEYE in the AVENGERS films).
Add to these are some fine actors - Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Billy Cruddup, Connie Nielsen, Diane Lane, JK Simmons, etc..) who are putting in Supporting Cameos to further the plot with some very good - if not spectacular - special effects and there is plenty to watch on screen.
The problem with this film is the plot and the villain - neither of which are particularly interesting, nor up to the challenge of challenging the JUSTICE LEAGUE, so we devolve, by the end into "punchy, punchy" action sequence with no real satisfying conclusion.
My hope for this Universe is more "stand alone" films (especially for THE FLASH and AQUAMAN) and the promise of what the opponent the next JUSTICE LEAGUE film will bring to the battle (as seen through the end of credits scene).
I'll come back for more.
Letter Grade: "B"
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)