In a sentenceThe heroes are decent company; unfortunately, the film keeps asking us to care about the boxes
Batman (Ben Affleck) needs help to protect the world, with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) among the heroes drawn into the effort. She is in action at a London bank, while trouble also reaches Themyscira. The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) bring different personalities to a team that has yet to learn how to work together. Their opponent is Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciarán Hinds), and a collection of mysterious boxes is central to the threat. Saving the world means first getting these people to agree on how.
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Gal Gadot and Ezra Miller bring warmth and comic timing to a poor superhero team-up. Murky action, rushed introductions and a bland villain leave the cast doing most of the work.
Justice League has enough likeable performers for a good superhero team and too little patience to let them become one. The result is a poor action film with intermittent good company, directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay credited to Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon. It hurries through introductions, strains for jokes and sends everyone into fights that are difficult to follow. At 120 minutes, it still manages to feel crowded and slow.
Gal Gadot does the most to keep the enterprise human. Her Wonder Woman has the composure to make the surrounding fuss seem manageable, and the London bank sequence supplies a welcome spell of direct, readable action. Ben Affleck is better when his Batman has someone to talk to, particularly Gal Gadot, than when the film asks him to carry its importance. Their exchanges suggest a team that might have been enjoyable without quite so much plot to get through.
We laughed at Ezra Miller’s Flash. His quick comic timing gives the team an ease that the screenplay’s laboured jokes cannot sustain. Ray Fisher’s Cyborg is intriguing enough to make the skimpy attention paid to him frustrating; the film moves on before curiosity has much chance to become concern. With Jason Momoa’s Aquaman also requiring an introduction, the screenplay keeps adding people without giving their relationships enough room.
Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon’s screenplay gives those people a poor reason to assemble. The mysterious boxes demand attention without becoming interesting, while Steppenwolf, voiced by Ciarán Hinds, is a thin opponent for this much combined talent. The jokes and the solemn passages seem to belong to different versions of the same film, and neither makes the threat more persuasive. The fighting needs a stronger motive than another instruction to save the world.
Fabian Wagner’s cinematography is hard to appreciate through the muddy effects, which flatten the action and make bodies difficult to distinguish. Patrick Tatopoulos’s production design fares little better; the murk leaves us struggling to get a sense of where anyone is. The Themyscira action offers some relief, with a force and purpose missing from much of the rest. Too often, though, a clear view of the fight would have helped more than another burst of movement.
Editors David Brenner, Richard Pearson and Martin Walsh keep things moving, but speed does not disguise the awkward joins between solemnity, quips and combat. The cutting gives too little time for a response or a relationship to settle before the next demand on our attention. Danny Elfman’s music cannot make the action exciting when the images give us so little to hold on to. Nor can it persuade us to feel much for characters the film has barely allowed us to know.
A team film can get away with a simple enemy if the people facing it are good company, and there are glimpses of that pleasure here. Zack Snyder has performers capable of giving the costumes distinct personalities, yet their interactions keep getting interrupted by the least interesting business. That is a substantial waste, even allowing for a few appealing introductions and some welcome wit. Anyone coming for a favourite hero should be prepared to wait while the film attends to its boxes.
Most critics find Justice League an underwhelming team-up, with its cast supplying pleasures that the story and action struggle to sustain. Praise clusters around Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Ezra Miller’s lively Flash, while several reviews enjoy the exchanges between contrasting personalities. Even some unfavourable notices find moments of humour and warmth, though these rarely outweigh complaints about thin plotting, a weak villain and muddy visual effects.
The spread is wide, and the ensemble’s chemistry is a particular dividing point. The Los Angeles Times finds the character introductions, humour and distinct personalities enough to make the film satisfying; Deadline finds the team chemistry weak despite Miller’s comic contribution. Critics also disagree over whether the lighter tone is an improvement or an awkward compromise. The harsher reviews describe rushed storytelling and clashing styles, while the more receptive ones accept familiar superhero conventions in return for a livelier cast.
The critic finds the film mediocre, lacking a cohesive tone and feeling underdeveloped. Ezra Miller’s lively performance as the Flash is singled out as a wasted asset.
Read the full review →Turan finds the film a seriously satisfying superhero movie. He especially praises how the character introductions and distinct personalities, aided by humor, keep the ensemble engaging.
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Read the full review →The review says the film is a welcome leap skyward for the usually dour DC universe. It singles out the larger cast of personalities as making the film more fun.
Read the full review →Kohn finds the film a tighter, more engaging spectacle than Batman v Superman, but ultimately a tired imitation of the Marvel formula. He praises Gal Gadot’s vivid Wonder Woman, whose presence elevates the otherwise conventional movie.
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The IncrediblesA superhero family whose arguments make the danger matter rather more.
Mystery Men · not reviewed yetMisfit heroes get the bickering and dubious competence this team could use.
The Heroic Trio · not reviewed yetThree contrasting heroines and action with more confidence in its own absurdity.
Seven SamuraiA team assembled with patience, so every fighter matters when trouble arrives.
Attack the BlockAn alien invasion with clear geography and a group worth worrying about.
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