Justice League - around the corner

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2017)

Justice League-a high anticipated movie, thought to be one who will take the DCEU further after the success of Wonder Woman, does wonders, but only for the things that happened at the cutting floor (read Joss Whedon). The following review contains spoilers.
The film begins with Superman talking about hope. Then switches to a robbery being observed by batman who uses the robber as a bait to draw a para-demon, well that's one of the few scenes where we see Batman actually engaging in a hand to hand combat. What follows is a fast paced plot beginning from Wonder Woman foiling a bomb blast to Aquaman refusing to join the team to Flash's recruitment to Aquaman being motivated by Mera to join the team to Superman's resurrection to Steppenwolf boom-tubing at random ease & collecting the mother boxes & setting up his base in Russia for his wicked plan of Unity & he shown as being eaten by Para- demons for his 'fear' & the League posing for a group photo at the activity landscape, the movie rolls its credits.
What works in the movie are the central characters; Gal easing into the shoes of Wonder Woman; Ben portraying a tired, 'I've seen lot of s**t' Batman who's been fighting for 20 years; Ezra Miller as a nomad, fan boy & 'I am new to this kind of world Flash; Ray Fisher as a confused metal man still trying to cope with what he has become (didn't notice anyone using the word cyborg throughout the movie & so was the word flash); Arthur Curry as a the narcissistic Aquaman & Henry Cavill as Kal-El, a troubled man who is coming to terms with being back to the land of the living. I am not mentioning Steppenwolf as one of the central characters because the dude was hardly there in the movie.
What doesn't work in the characters' department are the under- utilization of the likes of Alfred, James Gordon & Mera, sure there are lot of characters & not everyone can be given a lot of screen time but given the fact that the movie is just 120 minutes, the movie goers would not have cared much to sit for another 30 minutes.
The Plot-Steppenwolf wants the 3 mother boxes to bring out his plan of converting the earth (what is with these guys? General Zod wanted Krypton on earth in Man of Steel, now this guy). They say, since Superman's death, the earthlings have succumbed to fear, sensing this Steppenwolf & his minions comes to earth to collect the mother boxes. First one at Themyscira, the Amazons couldn't defend, the second at Atlantis, Atlanteans fail to protect it, & the third one at Silas Stone's house, the bloody conqueror can't figure out where the third mother box is hence forced to kidnap a bunch of people to torture them to say where it is (he is poor that way, can't see things hidden in a house), the team rescues them. Then out of desperation Batman suggests resurrecting Superman to give people hope, rest of the team disagrees, but still they proceed in bringing him back. Kal-El is confused & is provoked by Metal Man's automatic self-defense mechanism. The team then makes a failed attempt to tame Superman - shown to be remorseless in using his powers at league. That scene where the flash just runs & sees Superman can SEE HIM run, Flash is petrified to the core, the dude is not used to people seeing him run like that, & this is happening when Aquaman, Wonder Woman & Metal Man are going full throttle holding Superman down, was one of the very few praise worthy scenes. Batman gets a taste of his 'Do you bleed?!' when Superman tosses him over from few feet above the ground. Lois Lane appears & bring Superman back to HIS life. The league then makes an attempt to stop Steppenwolf without Superman in the team. The team is beaten and flying comes Superman some action here & there, & boom!! The villain is supposedly dead & back at his home. The world is saved! Booyah!
There is no much action in the movie, if this is a competition to Avengers, they should have brought in a lot of action.
The CGI department, is not bad at all, except for Superman's face at close up. Real close, it makes you cringe. Other than this, nothing wrong in the CGI.
Humor was in bits & pieces, some had to be paid real close attention, maximum credit in goes to Alfred Pennyworth, Flash & Wonder Woman in that order.
Green Lantern Corps are shown in the movie when they fought the war with the Atlanteans, Amazons & Humans.
Somewhere I feel that Joss Whedon did damage to the movie more than he could revive it. There are sudden cuts in the movie, abrupt endings to a scene, new scene introduced without a justified flow & few scenes missing from the original trailer when Zack Snyder was at the helm.
Broken screenplay, decent cinematography, a slightly messed up plot & a weak villain, the central characters holding onto the movie with their lasso or pitchfork or speed force is what drives the movie.
Background score was mediocre to low, again has to be blamed on Joss Whedon for firing Junkie XL, being replaced by Danny Elfman.
There was no edge of the seat scenes, no adrenaline gushing either. One of the climax scenes shows Bruce planning to covert the Wayne Manor to the JL headquarters with Diana hinting of new recruits.
I would recommend watching this movie with no big expectations in mind, had Zack been at the helm I am forced to believe that the outcome would have been a different & positive one. I hope to see an Ultimate Edition/Director's Cut.