The Wait is Over

Rating: 6/10 (25 January 2018)

After years of anticipation, DC's answer to The Avengers has arrived. It's been a rough road for DC, with all but one of the movies being either panned by critics, or receiving mixed reviews. After a complicated production process, the final product is quite the mixed bag. First, the good. The league works well together, and they all develop quite well. Batman and Aquaman learn to work in a group, Wonder Woman is still the strong leader she was, and the Flash is a good comic relief. That chemistry between the group is vital, as the movie could not possibly be good in the slightest without it. And, to the movie's credit, they handle this quite well. The Flash was surprising, and the movie managed to give him a backstory and character development. Aquaman looked and fought cool, but wasn't as interesting a character as he could have been. Batman was much better in this movie than he was in BvS, and they at least tried to redeem him from his portrayal in BvS. If you think he's going to be as good as he was in the Nolan trilogy, don't. Jeremy Irons is also a great Alfred. Wonder Woman may not be as good as she was in her solo movie, but the way she and the Amazons connect to the overall story is very interesting. And, the bad. Steppenwolf was one lame villain. He's remarkably generic, seeking the Mother Boxes to destroy the world. And the fight scenes with him, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman appear to be recycled. His lack of clear motivation is also a problem. Yes, there is apparently a deleted scene with Darkseid in it, but that really should have been in it to begin with. Even if it's exactly like the Thanos scene in The Avengers, it would have made the movie as a whole better than if they dropped it. Cyborg is all edgy and brooding. While that is understandable, given his situation, it just feels like the same crap we saw in the previous DCEU movies. Still, his presence here also means we'll probably never see a proper Teen Titans movie. Superman's return, even ignoring its predictability, was extremely cringeworthy. Also, it teases Green Lantern, but he doesn't appear outside of flashbacks. That's not cool. Given the internal issues there were at DC, you can pick this movie apart and see "the Zack Snyder parts" and "the Joss Whedon parts." It's quite evident who would have done it better. The future of the DCEU has been questioned lately, as Justice League didn't do nearly as expected at the box office. DC absolutely needs to turn things around in their next few films if they want this franchise to be successful.