Ruminations on The Justice League Film
The initial scene…Superman’s underlip looks really, really weird…thankfully the effects team get’s better at hiding that stache.
I now realize that Patty Jenkins did a piss poor job of indicating that Wonder Woman was moving at a preternatural speed. Whoever directed the Wonder Woman action sequence in that hostage scene (Whedon or Snyder) good job!
Whedon’s one liners could work in the superhero context…if only they were used more sparingly.
I was surprisingly impressed with Cyborg’s portrayal. The actor Ray Fisher played the role straight. No idiotic stereotypes. No jive talk, no Star Wars Finn moments. He was a genius who had something bad happen to him. He wasn’t happy about it, but that’s understandable. He wasn’t annoying. Joe Morton who played his dad is always good so double kudos there. Diversity done right. (Him levitating in the house was kinda lame though, could have just said now I can fly too).
Juxtapose that performance with Aquaman…who seemed surprisingly “hip” for someone who Lives. Beneath. The. Ocean. Does he have wifi down there, a cable connection? Is he also on Tinder? Maybe he went to public school.
These Amazon’s have known about bullets for at least over 50 years now…what’s with the bows and arrows? Forced drama based on stupidity, I wish I could feel sorry for them, but I don’t.
This Superman is just not very likeable. He’s like an angry Vulcan…very out of place. Superman should make you smile when you see him…you almost can’t help yourself. He should have that kind of effect. Donner’s Superman had that effect. I miss Christopher Reeve.
The most interesting fight was against Superman…not a good sign. Why is he so pissed again?
Batman doesn’t really have any great action scenes. They’re all fairly ho-hum. One almost wished they had a flashback to one of his earlier adventures…perhaps a nightmare of him in a near death situation.
A lot of these Flash jokes are falling flat for me. I think they are trying too hard.
This movie has two huge problems: Steppenwolf and the Parademons
One dimensional, no depth villians.
Steppenwolf
Badguys should have just as much drama and intrigue going on as the good guys. Steppenwolf wants the mother boxes so he can destroy and enslave. Yawn. Where is his behind the scene drama?
Great villains need behind the scene drama, it makes them more real.
Skeletor had his hands full with his henchmen, who all had personalities.
Cobra from GI Joe had more internal strife then you could shake a stick at. It made for multi-layered exciting stories.
Megatron (not bayformers!) had Star Scream and the Decepticons were generally at each others throats.
Steppenwolf swung his axe around and grimaced. He made Ultron look positively shakesperean by comparison.
If you can’t tell an interesting story starring your villain and no good guys then you don’t have a villain, you have a prop.
Parademons
Fodder for good guys to punch. No. Not interesting. Like Pinhead said in Hellraiser: Bloodline after he destroyed a robot: “The remnants of a most unsatisfying victim“. Using these creatures too much pushed the film into the Avengers: Age of Ultron problem. Flying scrap metal that served as unsatisfying opponents. Movies like this should use the Bruce Lee Game of Death model. Big bosses, sub bosses, mini bosses. Everybody should have something interesting to do.
Superman is way too powerful for Steppenwolf, it’s why they came up with cheesy reasons to keep him out of the fight. The absence of a character like Darkseid solidifies the films failure to accurately implement Hero Theory.
Best moment…when Superman gave Flash the evil eye when he thought he could sneak up behind him.
Worst moment…post credit scene.
It’s not a bad team. The chemistry is there. But they need to step it up on the villain side. Big Time.
