Justice League is not the perfect movie, but it is a light of hope in the DC universe

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2020)

With the proper presentation of the DC Holy Trinity in previous films, it is time for the first DC Comics Justice League meeting. The formation of the team has undergone some changes over the years, but for this film version we have the meeting of Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash and the Cyborg. In 'Batman v Superman', in addition to the Holy Trinity which had a much greater prominence, we quickly glimpsed Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg, indicating that this would be the team of this first version of the League in theaters.
Once again, who heads this meeting is Zack Snyder, one of the main creative minds in Warner's latest films. This time, the script is under the responsibility of Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon. Interestingly, Whedon was primarily responsible for adapting the first two meetings of the Avengers for cinemas, a rival publisher of DC. The invitation for the screenwriter / director to stay with one of those responsible for the script had a clear objective: to try to make the story a little less obscure and with more humor, in addition to having the artist's ability to integrate different worlds into a unique and cohesive.
In Justice League, Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) assemble a team of superheroes composed of Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) to face the catastrophic threat of SteppeWolf (voice of Ciarán Hinds) and his army of Parademons that try to conquer and remake the Earth through the combined energies of the Maternal Boxes, which are separated and hidden in places around the world.
The beginning of the film shows a world that has lost hope and is still shaken by Superman's death. People have created memorials for the superhero and his memory is everywhere. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) continue to keep in touch, but still suffer from the loss of Clark and have difficulty moving forward. In the midst of this, Batman investigates the rise of Parademons. Batman tries to deal with the guilt of Superman's death, while constantly dealing with his own mortality and humanity in a team of superheroes. Feeling that a greater evil is about to appear at any moment, he needs to contact Diana Prince, who continues to defend people and fight for justice, to meet with other metahumans like Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman to face an evil bigger.
The first twenty minutes are dedicated to showing a little more about these last two and the recruitment of both for the Justice League. If Barry Allen, the Flash, accepts right away, enthusiastic. The little thing shown about Flash is that he keeps moving and does not stop at any job, that his father is in prison for killing his mother, but that he has always defended his innocence. Unfortunately, this question is not addressed during the film and the scenes only serve to situate the character to the audience. Victor Stone (Cyborg) has a great IQ, had a football scholarship at the University of Gotham and was considered dead after an accident in which he participated with his father, leaving his body modified like a machine. He is recruited by Wonder Woman. Arthur Curry, Aquaman, who wants some peace of mind and refuses Bruce Wayne's first contact. He only joined the team after Atlantis suffered an attack and made him realize that something more dangerous was about to happen. There is also no further explanation of his past, perhaps why an upcoming adaptation of Aquaman is right, which will tell his story in more detail.
Unlike the Marvel Avengers, in which almost all of the main characters had solo films before the team meeting in the first Avengers film, here the script has to waste time introducing three main characters from the team. The script, unfortunately, ends up showing them in a superficial and generic way, as if it were an obligation before inserting them in the battles with the Holy Trinity. In this respect, Warner / DC lacks a little more care when dealing with characters from its main group. It is necessary for the public to care, create bonds with those superheroes who are willing to sacrifice there to save the Earth. The only one that does better in this task is Flash, the main comic relief of the film, responsible for practically all the moments of humor in the film, and there were even a few. Aquaman also carries a charisma and presence of scene that set the stage well for his solo film. Cyborg, due to the accident, is still in a phase of denial and does not see his powers as a gift, but as a disgrace that ended his life. Only gradually does he realize that he can be useful against something greater.
The Justice League members' first team collaboration was at an abandoned facility in the Port of Gotham, where they face off against enemies looking to find out where the Maternal box kept with the men was. These are breathtaking scenes in the underground, including the powerful Nightcrawler, another toy created by Batman. However, they feel they need Superman's help to defeat the enemy and devise a plan to resurrect him using one of the Maternal Boxes. Halfway through the film, we see this plan in action and the consequences of Superman's return. This was an expected moment, after all, the Justice League without Superman is totally uncharacterized. The question was how they would get him to return and the solution found until it is consistent with the plot and does not sound so appealing. Too bad that after meeting his great loves, Superman soon has to return to active duty to help save the world once again. The Man of Steel, who has always been a problematic hero, since the fact that he is practically unbeatable harms the creation of threatening situations, here it appears in an imposing way. The hero's return is one of the highest points of the production.
Unlike previous films that did not know how to balance the action so well with the development of the characters, this one does a little better on the mission. Snyder does well in what he knows how to do better again, that is, the creation of striking images, whether in the scenes where Batman appears in the shadows in his intimidating poses or even in the creative battle scenes. This time, we have good scenes scattered throughout the projection, with special emphasis on the scene in which Diana saves people from a group of reactionary terrorists, or even the entire sequence of the reappearance of the Steppe Wolf on the Paradise Island of Amazonas. Once again, the Amazons show their value, their courage and render great action scenes against the Steppe Wolf and his Parademons. Even flashbacks showing the unity of a unified army that included Olympic Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, humans and Green Lanterns that offered the Steppe Wolf the first defeat in the past. We must also highlight the scenes of the theft of one of the Maternity Boxes in Atlantis, introducing us to that underwater world for the first time, even if for a short time and the final climax of the village in Russia, when the entire League gathers to try to defeat the threat of the Wolf of the Steppe. Unfortunately, this last act is all shot on green screen and the artificiality of the scenes gets to bother, despite the visual being quite interesting as a whole.
It is worth mentioning the good photography work by Fabian Wagner and the production designer by Patrick Tatopoulos. Composer Danny Elfman returns to work on a DC film 25 years after Batman: Return. He does a really interesting job, mainly for putting together his score for Batman, Rupert Gregson-Williams for Wonder Woman, and John Williams' classic theme for Superman.
One of the biggest problems of the 'League' is an extremely convenient script, where everything is easily conquered, if the question is to convince Ciborg, this happens in a common way, if the group has to go after Superman's body, it comes without difficulties , and so on, as if nothing defied those heroes. Justice League surrenders to very poorly thought out crutches, such as a series of expository dialogues, some flashbacks and a huge number of catch phrases, in a search for easy acceptance by its audience.
The film is visually compelling, but it fails to treat some of its characters in a shallow way. Following a little of the Marvel formula in the presence of Joss Whedon in the script, there is more room for humor and scenes that are a little clearer and less dark at different times. And making the movie fun at one time or another does not erase bad narrative development. Something that still has a problematic performance by Ezra Miller that always seems in a different tone than the rest of the film. Or Ben Affleck's non-existent comic timing, transforming Batman Vs Superman's stern Batman into something a little lighter. Incidentally, Whedon is one of the film's screenwriters and also directed part of the filming, after Zack Snyder left because of a personal tragedy. The director's credit, however, goes only to Snyder, while Whedon shares the script with Chris Terrio. In fact, Snyder's absence in the final stage of post-production is felt. Known for composing great action scenes and possessing a rare skill with this segment, the director seems not to be there to avoid bad moments of computer graphics (removal of Cavill's mustache) and others of dubious taste (construction of SteppeWolf).
'Justice League' is sometimes lost in two worlds traveling between the dark and the basic humorous cliché. It is a movie with some flaws, but very fun that will delight any fan of the genre. In the end, we have two post-credit scenes, one of which is really important that indicates the emergence of the Legion of Evil, rival to the Justice League, created by Lex Luthor, who had just escaped from the Arkham madhouse. It is essential that the viewer remains in the room until the last second. Justice League is not the perfect movie, but it is a light of hope in the DC universe.