Ultimate wet dream of comic fans

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2017)

Watching Justice League on the big screen was a wet dream of comic fans all over the world for years and finally it is fulfilled. The DC Extended Universe kicked off with Snyder's Man of Steel in 2013 which garnered mixed reactions from viewers and critics. The dark tone and the reimagining of Superman's character were not accepted by many people and the chaotic action scenes added more hate towards the best Superman film I have seen. Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice followed in 2016 to mostly negative reviews resulting from the butchering of Snyder's into 151 minutes. With a lot of plot holes and a convoluted plot, the released cut of BvS had been just an average film. But the Ultimate cut released on Blu-ray with 183 minutes runtime proved to be one of the best superhero films. Then came Suicide Squad, which was another film for DC that had to go on to be a panned by the critics. With an average script and disastrous editing, the film was mostly carried by Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Will Smith as Deadshot who made it watchable to an extent. Wonder Woman was the film I was most disappointed in DCEU that everyone else seems to love. With nothing new to offer plotwise aside some big blunders, no real character development, no memorable action scene and a laughable attempt to make it look like a feminist film it totally disappointed me. Now Justice League is out as the 5th film in the DCEU.
Justice League starts off with Batman facing the imminent threat of parademons lead by Steppenwolf from an alien world (probably from Apokolips) who are searching for three Motherboxes in the earth. To face the threat Batman and Wonder Woman tries to make an alliance with The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg.
Unlike Snyder's previous entries in the series, there is no building up of scenes instead from the first scene itself action starts in this action-packed film. The plot is kept simple to provide the superhero team origin story the main focus. Zack Snyder has always excelled at making great opening credit sequences and although not as good as some of his previous works, the post-Superman world is shown with remarkable visual flair.
The rewrites in the screenplay by Joss Whedon is evident in the lighter tone of the film and the joking around of the characters. Visual command of Snyder becomes more evident with scenes that were obviously part of Whedon's reshoots.
The appearance of Superman in Justice League was obvious for many reasons. The scenes following his return, I was having goosebumps for a whole lot of reasons that were totally unexpected. The interactions between Superman and Flash makes you hope for a future with more of those in the DCEU.
Aquaman and Flash proved to be the most entertaining characters even in the small spaces they got. Cyborg and Flash are in their beginning stages and have a long way to get to their full potential. The scenes from Atlantis provided some insight into what the Aquaman film may deal with. Aquaman was a badass character who is able to be humorous at the same time.
Yet the film leaves you longing for more. The numerous cuts by the studio are not as evident as that of BvS but still makes things too quickly approached which could have had better treatment. While a lot of the one-liner jokes works a lot of them felt too forced and doesn't really fit with the DCEU. The mustache removal of Henry Cavill was clearly visible and weird to look at in many scenes.
Whedon's involvement definitely changed the tone of the film which wasn't a disaster, but it would've been better otherwise. The film could've been much better if it was approached with darker themes that could've been explored here.
Superman's character arc and the Injustice tease from BvS is pointing towards a darker future, though the involvement of Snyder in an uncertain state and Whedon's current involvement doesn't give hope for that arc.
Even with all the problems in the film, it was entertaining and satisfying enough for someone like me with the childhood nostalgia for Justice League.