Justice League aims for a brighter tone, but ultimately falls flat on its face. Watchable it may be, but also disappointing.

Rating: 6/10 (20 November 2017)

Expectations were high ahead of Justice League. It had to kick start a cinematic, justify its colossal hype and set up solo films for a couple of new heroes. That and make bucket loads of money. Walking out of the cinema following this film, I knew that it would not accomplish all of those objectives. First, the positives; there are some excellent action set pieces in this film, accompanied by solid (for the most part) special effects. There it's also some amusing humour threaded in throughout, and in terms of acting, Gal Gadot gives another reliable turn as Wonder Woman, with Ezra Miller stealing scenes as the Flash, even if his irreverent quipping becomes irritatingly tiresome after a while. The set piece in the middle of the film is also spectacular, if overshadowed by the dismal second half of this film, and it was dismal. The flaws are about to come pouring out now, so hold on tight. First and foremost, the plot of Justice League is diabolical, at times even ridiculous. The editing in this film is very messy as well; you can really notice that a lot of the film was cut in post production. I do appreciate the tragedy surrounding Zack Snyder however, so I can forgive this. The characters I cannot forgive. The way they are scripted is horrible especially for characters like Aquaman and Cyborg, as portrayed by Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher respectively. Cyborg is really underdeveloped (although that isn't helped by Fisher's lifeless performance), and Aquaman underused and forgettable. Ben Affleck also seems to have lost that special something that made him so watchable as Batman in BvS; perhaps his charisma. And finally Ciaran Hinds, who portrays Steppenwolf, makes the most strained, generic and by the numbers villain I think I've ever seen in a Superhero Film.To say the cast isn't helped by the troubled production and awful script and plot is an understatement, but I expected so much more. In conclusion, a sloppy, disappointing mess, which is actually still quite enjoyable if you take away the negativity weighing it down and crippling the film's positives. One last thing; there is a scene with a *Cough* *Cough* character and their somewhat controversial bottom lip which I thought was very poorly thought out, bar one brilliant element.