Film: Justice League

GENRE: Action

RATING: PG-13 for violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours

STARRING: Ben Affleck (Gone Girl, Batman v Superman)

Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Ezra Miller (Perks of Being a Wallflower)

DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Man of Steel)

WRITERS: Chris Terrrio (Argo) & Joss Whedon (Avengers, Buffy)

PLOT: Bruce Wayne gathers a group of superheroes together to take on some big enemy.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Am pretty skeptical of these DC films.

STORY STUFF: Why are DC films such disjointed messes? Could it be that the studio has too much control, they throw a bunch of stuff at a wall and see what sticks? There are some good lines here and there (probably courtesy of Whedon who stepped in for reshoots). The bad guy was way too Avenger Thanos-like and I didn’t find his endgame that clear. There’s a scene when they throw in some random civilians just so that one of the superheroes has some incentive to help. Also, the film seemed very concerned with setting up Flash’s own movie. The studio should take a meeting Kevin Fiege from Marvel and figure out how to do these films properly.

ACTING STUFF: I thought the chemistry of the heroes worked quite well. Gadot still rocks as Wonder Woman. Affleck is tolerable as Batman. Miller looks like he is having fun, which helps the audience root for him. Unfortunatley, Aquaman is trying too hard to be cool. Momoa (Game of Thrones) tries his best but it just didn’t work for me. Also, JK Simmons looks completely out of place as Commissioner Gordon, what a waste. He was far better as J Jonah Jameson in the Tobey Maguire Spiderman flicks.

ARTISTIC STUFF: There are some nicely done action sequences despite villains I don’t really care about. I was actually annoyed with The Flash’s suit; too much armor plating, it should be a lot sleeker. The soundtrack was pretty decent at times.   

VERDICT: Three stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You want more Wonder Woman, less story

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Darkest Hour, Coco