They said the age of DC heroes would never come

Rating: 6/10 (1 December 2017)

The DCEU went through a strenuous journey in the last 4 years but it undeniably found a fanbase and all the set-up from the 3 previous films (Suicide Squad isn't touched upon in JLA) finally comes home to roost here. The question on everyone's mind is if this is still a Snyder film and it clearly is. Just look at the expectedly harsh critical reception People who (mostly) didn't care for what came before should stay home and a producer statement that 80% of the film can be directly credited to Snyder is how I mostly feel too. The camera work especially kept his trademark touch. Chris Terrio's script though undeniably got a "touch-up" by Joss Wheedeon. I don't mean this as a negative, as Wheedeon's trademark banter is mostly on point and appropriate in this particular entry in the franchise. These are the Super Friends after all and anyone who thinks that BvS would have led to another deconstruction didn't get that film's message. The film's humor is naturally derived from the characters, so let's move on to them. Batman and Wonder Woman were always liked by even the harshest of critics and they again deliver here. Gal Gadot brings the expected heart and people who only liked her solo film should consider seeing this one due to her being the deuteragonist. The one and only Batfleck continues his struggle to redeem the sins of the past and to fit into an increasingly fantastical world he clearly has little place in. The film further bothers to point out how underpowered the aging Batman is against both the alien forces and his teammates. Even his suicidal dive to succeed is addressed. It must be noted that some of his re-shot scenes are noticeably inferior, especially his introduction. Jason Momoa is the badass 90s comics Aquaman that made me a fan of his stories as a kid and the film's too short trip to Atlantis just reconfirmed to me that his upcoming solo film will blow minds. Yet he is also the character who was hurt the most by the re-cuts to get the film under 2 hours. The exposition heavy interaction with his fiancé should feel especially bewildering to viewers who have no idea about his cannon. Ray Fisher's take on Cyborg may surprise anyone who only knows him from the Titans cartoons but what you see here is also what he is about in the comics. I honestly didn't expect the film to go this broody with Victor and his CG body is astonishing. Fisher has quite a voice too! Ezra Miller's overeager Flash is my favorite team member and has the easiest to define character arc in the film. The film even borders on an origin film for him but it must be noted that this is the Wally West version of the character with Barry's new origin and career aspirations mixed in. So more or less what the Justice League (Unlimited) cartoon did. Superman also shows up and I overall liked him but the filmmakers overshot a bit with trying to please audiences who only know the character casually and were left frustrated with past films.
The film's villain Steppenwolf and his army are an equally complicated case to judge, as they were well chosen but the film's break neck pace squanders their potential. About 3 more scenes with them and a less one sided ending battle would have worked wonders. Especially if the film bothered to point out what the "unity" is the villain desperately seeks, what a New God is and that his hive mind cyborg army is what humanity would have turned into if Steppenwolf succeeded. And there we are. The film's lost potential due to the studio desperation to please more viewers than before. This desperation lead to sometimes very clear re-shoots and obviously missing scenes. Elfman's lazy and nostalgia driven score is even harder to swallow but at least sounds professional and the film's sound design is thankfully genre leading. A novel could be written about the behind the scenes drama, yet the final product still works despite these sharp edges. This adaptation is also a slight improvement over the source comic Justice League Origin and certainly better than it's messy toon adaptation Justice League War. I hope that a superior/longer version of this film will see the light of day but what we got is better than most could have put on screen and that has to be enough. Especially as I waited 2 weeks to form a final opinion after re-watching the film, seeing it fail at the box-office and seeing the cut scenes leak online. Yet none of that swayed me and my positive opinion still stands. I wish Zack and co. better luck and a less hateful reception for their future endeavors. They gave us comics fans so much over the years and I will remain forever grateful. May we join them in the sun!