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Justice League Review : Mostly Tolerable than the Last

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

JUSTICE LEAGUE had Zack Snyder’s signature glum depicted on it, but unlike the previous film that suffered a horrible public backlash, it’s more tolerable to watch with its cute wisecracks. At least DCEU tried.

Praise be given to Gal Gadot’s charming presence as Wonder Woman and Ezra Miller’s goofy, boyish- which reminds me of Tom Holland in Spider-man– portrayal of the Flash, the film somehow kicked some ass. Amidst the visual clutter that is Justice League, we are also graced by Joss Whedon’s (Avengers) contribution to the film. With him on board and Zack Snyder stepping down, the bleakness of the initial Snyderian film somehow had a change in tone. Now we have moments of ensemble banters and one-liners, and a Joss Whedon production hallmarks such as good camera angling and right story pacing.

The rest of the movie offers disappointing backup leads, awful CGI rendering of a terrible villain, and a lazy solution to defeat the seemingly mighty (but dumb) antagonist.

WINNERS: Wonder Woman & The Flash

As charming as Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Miller’s Barry Allen a.k.a. the Flash shines the most in the film’s best scenes. Like any archetypal superhero who has zero battling experience, the Flash is kind of freaked out by all kinds of stuff. His wide-eyed reactions to almost everything he sees for the first time, combined with his brilliant comedic chops are lifesavers at times when there are scenes begging for a yawn-fest. DC has hit a jackpot with this character, and I can’t wait for DCEU to make a Justice League spinoff with the Flash as the solo lead.

Sorry Aquaman Fans!

Other fresh faces came on board such as Ray Fisher’s broody take on Cyborg and Jason Momoa’s short-changed character of the Aquaman. Ray Fisher could have done more and better if only the film scripts allowed him to. Nevertheless, he delivered his scenes with such precision that I couldn’t find anything else to complain about.

And while I am somewhat satisfied with this movie’s version of Cyborg… Aquaman was such a total bore. Like, what was he doing there, again?

Yes, I get it. He’s the Atlantean’s emissary to retrieve the ‘mother box’ stolen from them, but his presence in the league was very unnecessary. The idea of him being able to ‘talk to fish’ is way more entertaining than him just being able to take huge leaps and hurling his trident at the enemy. Character development-wise, we demand more FOR the Aquaman. The film doesn’t do him or Jason Momoa any justice. Still, Momoa got one of the best scenes in the movie involving the lasso of truth. The shallowness of his character introduction in the movie left us wanting to learn more about him, but DCEU might want us to discover all that in his solo film in 2018.

Oh! And let’s not forget to mention Ben Affleck’s gazillionaire Bruce Wayne a.k. a Batman, whose role has evolved into acting team manager and mission financier since Superman’s tragic death. Affleck’s Bruce Wayne is still warm to watch with his share of human moments, but these might be just reactions to the other characters’ sentiments and weren’t made for his own character development. In one scene, I got a feeling that Bruce Wayne has some kind of unrequited feelings for Diana Prince. But let’s leave that for future Justice League films.

It’s painful to watch the awful CGI action sequences, it’s like the movie’s $300 million budget was given to a second-rate CGI agency just to beat the deadline. Worse, Steppenwolf’s character looked like a video game rip off. Even video games nowadays look more realistic than the rendering of the said supervillain.

The movie’s crappy battle scenes and uninspiring character developments almost sunk it. However, the touches of humor in Justice League lighten the whole thing and came off as such a relief after the dragging Batman v Superman. With Joss Whedon running the show now, the Justice League sequels still have more room and hopes for improvement.

Did I like the movie?

It’s okay.

Did I enjoy the movie?

The movie was entertaining and fun. I give them credit for that.

But if you ask me if it’s any better than Wonder Woman, I’d definitely give a big “NO”.

“Thor: Ragnarok” was way better in every sense imaginable than this movie, even though the former didn’t make much sense as a whole.

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A writer by day, reader, diaper-changer, monster slayer at night. She's the wife of a rock star wedding photographer and the mother of Prym, the unicorn rider. She loathes writing in the third person and terribly misses the taste of coffee in her mouth.

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