Not nearly as bad as haters say, but WB needs to stop cramming 3-hr movies into 2-hr bags

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2017)

As with BvS, the major issue with this movie is the pacing and disjointedness. I can't for the life of me understand why Warner Brothers insists on bringing these movies in short (2 hrs for JL, 2-1/2 for BvS), when ITS THE FAN-BOY WORD-OF-MOUTH THAT WILL GREATLY DETERMINE THEIR SUCCESS. As has been widely acknowledged, the extended cut of BvS reveals a MUCH BETTER movie than the theatrical release. I have no doubt the same will prove true of JL. If it's good, people will pay and watch despite 2.5/3-hr run times - ever heard of Lord of the Rings, Avengers, the Dark Knight Trilogy? SMH.
I'll say "spoiler ahead" here out of abundance of caution, but for anyone paying attention/that has seen Man of Steel/BvS it's obviously not: Superman's return is the big problem with this movie. It's awfully rushed, as is his addition to the team and his reacquaintance with Lois Lane, Martha Kent, Batman and Wonder Woman. I'm sure the WB-mandated 2- hour running time accounted for a lot of the short-shrift given to this element of the story. Cyborg's crucial origin (given the movie's overall plot) is administered to us fire-hose fashion as well.
As for the villain Steppenwolf, he's a pretty standard, (literally from his own mouth) destroyer-of-worlds bad guy. Some reviews have complained about the bad CGI: I didn't think it was bad, just a lot of it, including the obvious un-mustaching of Henry Cavill in unfortunately too many full-screen head shots (making it nigh un- missable). I actually thought the action sequences were far and away the strong point of the movie.
It's too bad Snyder couldn't finish this. Whedon's lighter touch is clear in numerous moments throughout (some work, some don't). Still, this was a better movie than the BvS theatrical release (but not the BvS extended edition). Makes me all the more anxious now to see the more Snyder-esque cut once this hits Blu-Ray! As it stands, this movie is a solid super-hero romp, but not a lot more. But it does not approach the disaster some have tried to make it out to be (as was similarly done with BvS and Man of Steel).