Justice League Full Review

I recently went to see Justice League in the cinemas and like the DC fanboy that I am I really enjoyed the movie. It was a triumph to finally have the Justice League appear on the big screen together for the first time and I am very grateful to be a part of the generation that witnessed this epic event. That’s not to say that the film didn’t have its flaws however, as there were a few elements that could have been refined a bit. Although none of these detracted from my overall enjoyment.

Firstly, the lighter tone of the film. As most of the DC films of the past have generally taken a darker more brooding atmosphere that alienated a lot of fans (though personally this never bothered me much), it was a bit jarring to have the characters being more comfortable with the occasional quip or one liner. However, I quickly got used to this and I felt that it helped give the film more character. The performances from all the main cast were solid with each actor either continuing to perfectly portray their character, successfully bringing their character to the screen for the first time, or expanding on their character in meaningful ways that aided the plot or the tone of the movie.

I felt that Steppenwolf was a bit of a generic villain and I think that a lot of the general audience will have forgotten his name by the time they leave the theatre. However, that doesn’t detract from the fact that when he’s on screen he felt like he was a real threat to the League. Although that quickly changed towards the end of the film. In general, though it felt like Steppenwolf was just a Steppen-Stone towards Darkseid.

I also felt that Superman’s resurrection happened a bit too quickly. If the idea of Superman’s revival was brought up earlier in the film and it was debated more before they actually decided to do it, there would have been more impact. I really liked the way that Superman was portrayed however. It was more in line with the comic book Superman that fans have been asking for since Man of Steel and I think Henry Cavill did a fantastic job of bringing that side of Superman to the screen. Also, the CGI upper lip was a bit obvious at points but it didn’t detract from Henry Cavill’s performance.

Lois Lane was a little bit useless in the film. Her only role was to remind the audience of Superman’s death and help with his rebirth. However, I thought her reunion with Superman as well as Martha Kent’s was touching to watch and added an extra emotional weight to his resurrection.

The soundtrack was a bit of a step down from the bombastic, immersive sound of Hans Zimmer and I felt like it would have been better to bring him back for this film to continue the themes for all the characters that he spent the last few movies establishing. Although I really liked the inclusion of the 1989 Batman theme as well as the 1978 Superman theme. It was quite a pleasant surprise to hear those old themes being played over the newer characters actions and I felt they added and extra something to the scenes they appeared in. And they weren’t the only two references in the film. Being the DC fanboy I am, I very much appreciated all of the references to the comics as well as earlier films in the franchise and classic DC movies. The end credits scene also had me excited for future instalments in the DCEU and I was very happy with the appearance of a certain one-eye mercenary as a foreshadowing of things to come.

Overall, I really enjoyed Justice League. I felt like the film was a step in the right direction for DC in terms of appealing to a wider audience as well as leading the franchise towards bigger and more exciting story possibilities for the characters and the universe as a whole. I really look forward to what comes next, especially if Darkseid is involved. I highly recommend checking the film out if you are a DC fan.