Stop DC, just... stop.

Rating: 3/10 (21 February 2018)

Honestly, when the trailer first dropped and the way WB had done it and Suicide Squad with a really bad retro rock n' roll theme, I had a very bad feeling this was not going to be a good movie at all. Unfortunately, I was proven more than correct. Honestly, there's so much to talk about in that regard I could probably sit here all day, so I'll just try to go with some of the highlights..
1) Nearly half of everything in the trailer didn't make it into the movie. Now this might not be a really bad thing since trailers these days tend to give a lot of things away, but there were more than a few scenes displayed in them that were, theoretically, designed to get people to come watch. One in particular where Alfred looks up and says: He said you'd come. Let's hope it's not too late. Theoretically he was talking to Superman, which might have made a hell of a lot better intro for the Man of Steel, but it was left on the cutting room floor. There was a lot of that and it's really pretty annoying since it felt like we got a movie that wasn't advertised.
2) The characters. None of them with perhaps the exception of Wonder Woman were executed well at all. Superman's revival basically took the ending of BvS, where the soil atop Superman's grave begins to float for a split second before the movie ends and gave it the middle finger. We as moviegoers, were led to believe that his return (which the entire world knew would happen) would be something far more epic than what it was. It was really a letdown. Beyond that, the characterization was just kind of... meh. He had more humor one-liners in this movie, but it actually off and wrong because he didn't have any of that in the previous movies. You can't take such a serious character and suddenly have him cracking jokes like he's always done it. Batman... sigh, Batman. WB/DC, what the hell did you do to the Bat? I know a lot of people were upset that you aged Batman starting with BvS a la The Dark Knight Returns (which you blatantly ripped off for parts of BvS itself). Honestly, that in and of itself wasn't too too terrible. What was was the way you essentially neutered everything about Batman. He had one really great fight scene in BvS that really showcased what a Batman fight should be... and that's the only true Batman fight scene we get between it and Justice League. There was none of the physical prowess, brilliant detective skills, frighteningly good tactical skills, or technical competence. Hell, he only used TWO gadgets for the entire movie, one of which was his serious over use of the grappling gun. When you used The Dark Knight Returns as your design for Batman in these movies, you completely ignored the fact that Batman because even more dangerous when he got older because he became so much more cunning and ruthless. In this movie, he just seems old. Honestly, he really had no purpose in the movie other than being the guy that forms the Justice League. Aquaman and Flash, these two were horribly miscast and miswritten. Aquaman is not some rock n' roll badass. He's a noble character with a great deal of strength, but also wisdom since he is a leader. He's not some surfer brah. And where is Flash's smarts? Barry Allen is supposed to be a wicked smart forensic scientist and we see absolutely NONE of that here. All we get is a neurotic moron with a phobia of just about everything and absolutely none of the wisecracking humor the Flash is known for. And don't get me started on how he runs. Just what in the hell kind of running is that? He's just flailing his limbs around. NO ONE runs like that. Cyborg and Wonder Woman were the only two casting and writing choices that felt close to what they are in the comics, though Cyborg was far more serious. Still, in this case it worked for him. The rest... hell no.
3) The CGI. Way, way, way too much CGI. Just, WAY too much. I can't really say much more and I can't say it enough. It made the movie far uglier than it already was.
I'll just leave it at that. There's so much more but suffice to say this was a really bad movie. DC needs start waving the white flag, leave the live action stuff to Marvel since they can actually do it well, and focus on the animated movies. THAT is where DC can really shine because they've put out some phenomenal animated films (along with some real stinkers). Stay on those and leave your mark that way.