When I first saw Man of Steel I felt it’s follow-up would be it’s true measure. Disappointed with that I really hoped Justice League would right the wrongs of Batman v Superman. In some ways it did, but it also seemed to overcompensate to the point where this felt like it didn’t fit in with the other films in the series… it also felt like a rip off of Avengers.
Here’s the basic plot: Billionare/superhero assembles a team of other heroes to battle a villain from another world who uses a cubical alien object for power.
Superman’s inevitable return occurs around the mid-point, but like the decision to kill him in the first place they cocked this up too…
First of all, his face looked weird for most of the movie, which I suspect was due to mustache related issues. He was also very jokey at times which seemed out of character. But perhaps the biggest problem is that early in the film there were multiple suggestions that his death caused an increase in crime. First of all, this Superman was never known to be a crime fighter, and upon returning he did nothing to prevent it. He just fought more aliens. His super-breath appears but also looks weird.
As far as his resurrection, it felt… off. How it was accomplished was ok, although it could’ve been much better. His transition from being confused and angry into being cutesy and quippy felt rushed. Even the changes in his costume felt distracting.
Anyway his rebirth would’ve benefitted from a movie of it’s own, but thankfully, aside from a pointless Wonder Woman action scene at the beginning, there wasn’t a lot of Tommie wasted on backstory as I had feared.
The alien cube – actually there are three of them here – in JL is an ancient thing that was supposedly pulled apart in the past. However Superman wasn’t around at that point. There were apparently Green Lanters, so I’m not convinced that the Justice League could fare better than armies of Amazons, Water-folk and Lanterns, who merely slowed down steppenwolf for a few generations until he felt like coming out of hiding.
But over-analyzing this film is probably a mistake anyway.
Cyborg and Flash were really enjoyable characters. Batman seemed like a useless addition, and Aquaman was about as cliche as a character can get… a reluctant loner hero who puts it all on the line for humanity. In fact he didn’t really accomplish much to speak of. Wonder Woman and her tight leather pants was a treat start to finish.
Overall it was fun but not great.
Keith Dumbuck 