'Justice League' REVIEW: An imperfect, but joyfully fun superhero team-up that'll satisf

'Justice League' has finally arrived. It's the fifth film in the DC Expanded Universe and it's the first time in film history to have comic book fan's childhood heroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg on the big screen. Who wouldn't be excited for that? I wasn't. When it comes to the film's in the DCEU I find my feelings being all over the place with them. I've seen the worst in the franchise such as a little film called Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and the best of the franchise with films like Wonder Woman (2017). Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was a mess in terms of it's structure and an incredible lack of focus and joy. Not the worst film ever, but a dull sit for me. On the other hand, not only is Wonder Woman one of my favorite films of 2017, but is my favorite film so far this year.

Justice League is also the third film in the DCEU to also be directed by Zack Snyder. I've liked his films in the past like the remake of Dawn of the Dead (2005), 300 (2006), Watchmen (2009) and Man of Steel (2013). BvS was just a misstep for him. Unfortunately, Zack Snyder had to leave the project for an understandable personal reason and Joss Whedon has taken on the reigns as director in the post-production process. I've also liked Joss Whedon as well. He's the mind behind great television shows and movies such as Firefly (2002-2003), Serenity (2005) and the two Avengers movies. If anyone where to replace a director for a comic book film, he'd sure be my first pick. But, how is the film? We've seen the best and the worst, so my thoughts for this film is that it could be one of them or in between them. After leaving the theater, I can say that comic book fans will get their money's worth here.

So what's Justice League about? Well it's set after the event of BvS and a new evil baddie is coming to destroy Earth (no surprise there). It's Steppenwolf (played by Cairan Hinds)and he's here to find the three missing mother boxes to combine them together so that he can have the power to destroy Earth. Batman (played by Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot) anticipate this invasion upon Earth and try to form a team of special people. The rest of the remaining heroes are Aquaman (played by Jason Mamoa), The Flash (played by Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (played by Ray Fisher). Together, they must find the missing mother boxes and stop Steppenwolf from fulfilling his evil scheme.

Firstly, I want to talk about every individual member of the Justice League. After all, that is what we are all paying to see. Ben Affleck once again makes the role of Batman his own. He was one of the brightest spots of BvS and does an amazing job here as far the character goes. He kicks plenty of ass and you finally see some humanity in him especially after the events of BvS. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman still works as well. She was amazing in her standalone film and I'd go far as to say she is Oscar-worthy for that film. She's still massively charismatic as the character and kicks as much ass as Batman. Newcomers like Barry Allen a.k.a The Flash is definitely the one that sticks out to me because I thought he was the funniest aspect to this film. He was the one we related to the most as the audience being amazed and excited to be part of the Justice League. Jason Mamoa as Aquaman certainly has presence here. While the character has a reason to be part of the team, he wasn't too compelling neither was he boring. His powers were cool and I am looking forward to seeing his standalone film. With the character of Cyborg, I feared for him the most when it came to watching the trailers. He's being played by a first time actor and I feared that he was going to be stoic and dry. After watching the film, I thought he was good. He was the most resourceful and I am interested in what he could bring in his own standalone film. Together, they work well off each other. They've got chemistry and synergy almost instantly even though this film skips over a couple of films worth of character development to get to this point.

Among the other DCEU films, this is the one that in my opinion looks the most like a comic book film. It was bright and colorful especially in scenes where you see the Justice League line up together. Shots and action sequences would also look like panels ripped straight out of the comic books. The special effects in this film look mostly solid, but I'll get to what I didn't like about them later. I'm not going to lie, but I would often get chills from this film. Superman does indeed make his return to the DCEU returns and goosebumps where all throughout my body. It felt amazing and that scene when Superman gets resurrected didn't go as expected which was a good thing in my opinion. The film also exhibits an amount of joy and lighthearted fun with its humor and also understands that it's an all out comic book fluff. The film also makes certain references to other DC films and I couldn't help to smile every time they occurred.

While I think this is a film that comic book fans will gush for, this film does have major problems. I said earlier that the special effects are good overall, but I can't help to say that there were shots that looked unfinished like the scene where Steppenwolf arrives and a scene where one of the heroes fights Steppenwolf to list a few. It sometimes would look like something out of the video game Injustice. It was just glaring. By far the weakest aspect of the film is the villain himself. We learn nothing about him and cared for nothing about him. What we do learn is all through exposition and it doesn't make for a compelling antagonist. He's just a purposefully forgettable baddie so that the League has team up to beat him up. I also found that the first act of the film was choppy. There wasn't a flowing structure and I was worried that I wasn't going to be invested at all. Luckily, the second act jump starts the film into gear and I was having a good time until the end. The story itself is generic blockbuster material, but I think that the portrayal of these heroes help elevate it to be more fun and joyful.

Overall, Justice League is a wet dream worth waiting for to an extent. Zack Snyder's choppy editing is prominent in the first act, but once the second act kicks in it's an enjoyable ride. The individual heroes are all great and work well together. The story has more to be desired like an interesting villain and an emotional undercurrent of high impact. I admittedly had a lot of fun with this film despite its blatant flaws.

'Justice League' gets a B