by Chris Feil
Has the DCEU gotten all that brooding out of its system now that the team is finally together? The answer delivered in Justice League is a "yes... but.” Here the combined powers of Batman, Wonder Woman, and (you likely guessed it) the reanimated corpse of Superman are joined by three new cohorts, though they are hardly to blame for the series’s new tonal obstacles that it has created for itself.
As teased in Batman v Superman, we get three new heroes and luckily more texture for the Gotham / Metropolis twin city scene. Ezra Miller as The Flash is the biggest breakout, all snappy wit and wide-eyed amazement at his and the team’s abilities. Cyborg surprisingly plays the film’s emotional core, even though Ray Fisher feels trapped in CGI hell. Aquaman gives Jason Momoa little to do past providing the eye candy. He's also stuck in an unclear characterization that's halfway between this franchise's macho instincts and its uneasy comic relief reaching...
At least the film sparks to the idea of these heroes as Greek mythological figures, striving for some balance between their titanic abilities and their earthly weaknesses. The smartest move is allowing Wonder Woman to be the team’s spiritual and strategic leader.
This time around there is also noticeably more affection for these iconic DC heroes after the soulless dirge of BvS or Man of Steel. It’s nowhere near the reverential heights of Wonder Woman (though Gal Gadot’s bits are Justice League’s high points), but does feel like a concerted pivot from what has come before. However, this vision still flounders in presenting a unique or engaging Batman. It’s somewhat shocking how little the caped crusader has to do; DC's flagship character is far removed from the film’s bones. Meanwhile, it doesn’t help that Ben Affleck still plays Bruce Wayne like a jacked Rick Perry.
The film is a real bummer, and not just for how it misuses Amy Adams and Billy Crudup. Chief among the film’s embarrassments is its ubervillain Steppenwolf, yet another world destroyer who is never as threatening as his physical prowess should make him. That’s probably largely due to the transfixingly rubbery GCI rendering of the character, but his shoddy visualization does help to distract from how uncompelling he is. The DCEU continues to have a villain problem, but this is a Worst Villain for the history books.
Sure, it’s par for the course for superhero films to feel manufactured, particularly in this day and age of long-game franchise overplanning. Here is one that feels stuck in too many preordained decisions, a stepstone rather than an organic team building delight. There are labored and mechanical stabs at humor, most effectively delivered by Gadot and Miller, but that doesn’t mean you won’t want to shake this thing by the shoulders and tell it to relax. Justice League is manicured past the breaking point of being much fun at all.
It’s the most strangely nervous entertainment I’ve seen in some time, like a punished toddler trying to tiptoe around a time out. There are films that try to please everyone to the point that they ultimately satisfy no one, and then there’s Justice League - a film that’s kind of for no one as well.
Grade: D+