Keep It Reel: 'Justice League'
By Marc Woodfork
Remember when superhero movies used to be fun?
Maybe it's the oversaturation of them now, but they're no longer fun. "Justice League" fits right in with that assessment. In this film, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of other "meta-humans" to defeat a new threat to all life on Earth.
The problem is, it doesn't seem like Bruce Wayne really cares or not if our planet is destroyed. Ben Affleck takes another shot at the caped crusader, and if you didn't care for him before, you won't this time around either. Affleck actually looks like he would rather be anywhere else than playing this character. His performance is poor, lackluster, tired and careless. The entire film takes on those traits as well.
I don't know if it's director Zack Snyder's fault or Warner Bros. Studios who have no idea how to make a good, fun superhero film. "Justice League" is boring. No solid storytelling; it's filled with big explosions and racy action and feels disconnected and erratic.
On top of that, new characters that lack proper introductions are thrown on to the screen and we're supposed to care about them.
Note to the producers: No one cares about Aquaman and Cyborg. They weren't popular comic book heroes, so who cares to see them on the big screen. Ask your average superhero fan if Aquaman is anywhere on their list of favorite characters. The answer would be a resounding "no." Half of those people wouldn't even know who Cyborg is. "Justice League" does a poor job of explaining the origins of their abilities and powers.
Of all the villains in the DC Universe, Zack Synder and Warner Bros. decide to use "Steppenwolf". Again, the average superhero fan has no idea who he is. The one bright spot is Gal Gadot as "Wonder Woman". She picks up right where she left off in her standalone film from earlier this year. My only criticism is that Synder or someone at the studio decided to sex up the scenes she's in. A lot of the camera angles and clothing choices seemed to push the sex appeal -- some scenes, very obviously.
I'm not sure what happened to DC films. Maybe being so far behind the Marvel model of superhero films is too much ground to make up. Or maybe a fresh re-invention of the genre is needed. Warner Bros. needs to fix it. They are ruining a great collection of stories and characters. If something doesn't happen soon, audiences will turn on the DC franchises completely.
