Doesn't Do Justice to DCEU

Rating: 6/10 (23 January 2018)

I think DC is going through an Identity crisis. They are in a big quandary. They have no idea what they should do with their films. They used to make dark films (One of the reasons I prefer DC over Marvel) but critics were not too happy with that, so now they are going the Marvel way, making films with colours and a lighter tone. Marvel has excelled the art of making such films and it works most of the time. That is exactly what DC is trying to do here. Unfortunately, it did not work. Some of the jokes were good but most of them were cringeworthy.
Justice League is not that bad but it could have been much better. I mean, It is the first Justice League movie. Who was not excited for this? I loved the animated JL and was really pumped up for this. That is why was a big letdown for me. It was too cliched and weak. I have two big problems with this film.
The villain is too generic - just like Marvel villains (Marvel villains are pretty weak. Hela was amazing though). Steppenwolf is another one of those I-am-going-to-destroy-the-world kind. He is a powerful villain in the comics, the movie version sucked. Say what you want to say about Man of Steel but Zod was an amazing villain. One of the most well developed villains in superhero films ever.
Another problem with this film is that the characters are not well developed. I think they should have made the solo films first. First Avengers came out after Iron Man, Spiderman, Captain America, Hulk and Thor. We knew most of those characters. That can not be said about this film. We had three new characters without any development. The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. They were all flat and one dimensional.
I have loved Ben Affleck as Batman in the previous films but his acting was pretty wooden in this one. It seemed to me that he was not interested. Same is the case with Gal Gadot. She is fine but she was much better in her solo film. Director matters when it comes to getting the best out of your actors. Too bad Jenkins did not direct it and Snyder left in the middle.
There were other minor issues with the film. The CGI was pretty video-gamish. You can deliver a much better experience for $300 Million. I have no idea what they spent that amount on. Also, the background score was totally forgettable. I could recognise the Batman, WW and Superman themes and that was all.
Now the good things.
The Amazonians fighting Steppenwolf is pretty well done.
Overall, Justice League is another forgettable flick from DC. It is not as vomit-inducing as Suicide Squad but it is not great either.