Justice League: attempt at the piece of the pie

Been there, done that. That would probably summarize Justice League. It would not be a bad thing, if DC/ Warner Bros could do as good as the Avengers. They tried, copying back the similar formula as Marvel Cinematic Universe, but by rushing to catch up, the movie just feel flat.


I would not be purist as to say who copy who. Marvel has the Avengers, DC has JLA. Marvel has Captain America, DC has Wonder Woman. One play with Quicksilver, the other the Flash. The list will just go on. However, no one can deny that Marvel Studio did an amazing feat by creating a series of independent movies to weave into a huge story arch, heading towards the finale by next year. It is a HUGE risk to take, but they just hit the bulls-eye. DC realizing while they are missing on the piece of pie although they were neck to neck in terms of comics popularity. However, DC are so many movies behind. And if they follow the exact formula, they need to make at least a few more titles before they reach Justice League. Thus, Justice League felt rushed, arrival before time, and definitely premature.




The story is not as dark as Nolan's Batman. It felt more light, follow simple super hero league kind of formula. Heroes gathering together, forming alliance to battle a common enemy who threaten the fate of the whole world. Continuing from Dawn of Justice, Batman felt the need to gather other super heroes to battle any enemies in the absence of Superman since his death in the last movie. Batman, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman and Wonder Woman join forces to battle an alien force led by Steppenwolf who threaten to destroy earth. In the process, they had to resurrect Superman and with the man of steel on their side, they manage to drive away the enemy.


Yup, it felt so Avengers but no harm in that, since Wonder Woman felt so Capt. America but yet so entertaining. Where did it went wrong? The action is fair, but none that is out of this world. Many had complain of the computer graphic, and it did look like something out of PS4. The humour is present, usually with the Flash, but felt disjointed overall. The main problem lies on the characterization. Avengers work because we were introduced to a few of them in their own individual movies before the main show. The introductory movies were good that we actually care for them, even in the beginning of Avengers. That will leave Marvel more chance to introduce other minor character like Hawkeye and Black Widow or reintroduce Hulk. DC did not have that. Nolan's Batman did not fit into the extended universe, Superman earlier movies was not impressive, and Dawn of Justice left us with a bad impression of Superman and Batman. The only saving grace was Wonder Woman solo effort. Aquaman, was.... an extra in this movie. It probably would help to have James Wan's Aquaman before Justice League. The other amazing effort from Marvel was the seamless integration of movie and the TV series. Although they do not overlap much, but at least the timeline do flow parallel. DC, on the other hand, did a huge overlap in the Flash. Different Flash. Ouch. I really want to like the movie version. He is funny, he is the Spiderman of Avengers. However, I am stuck imagining Grant Justin. DC should have let Flash stay in TV and take this chance to reboot Green Lantern instead. And did I mention Cyborg's design was... awful. It felt the same how Transformers redesign the robots for the movie, over-designing them just to make it look sophisticated.

To be fair, it is still a good movie. But certain recipe need to be cook, slowly. You can't cook rice in 3 minutes. Certainly you cant make an Avengers movie that fast. It need to be brewed.

ratings: 2 half poink~!
comments: think DC want to use Darkseid as Thanos to MCU. We will see how it turn up.