Justice League - The Simpsons did it

Right now, the long awaited ‘Justice League’ is taking a bit of a hammering at the Box Office.  People are already claiming that it signals the (premature) end to comic giant DC’s ‘shared universe’ (which, in case you’re not up on the cut-throat world of comics and their filmic interpretations) was Warner Bros’ answer to the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that is Disney’s ‘Marvel cinematic shared universe.’ And, they may be right, but sadly for possibly the wrong reasons.

The tragedy is that DC has – arguably – the most famous and beloved superheroes in its arsenal, i.e. Batman and Superman (whereas Marvel was forced to rely on (due to licensing issues) a rag-tag band of its lesser-known stars such as Iron Man and Thor).  Twenty years ago if you had told the cinema-going public that they were about to witness Bruce versus Clark slug it out on the big screen it would probably have been seen as the cinematic event of all time.  However, ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’ kind of whimpered its way through the public’s consciousness, leaving no one that excited (and die-hard DC fans more worried) about the film that was supposed to bring all their most beloved heroes together for their first major outing.

Critics have already slammed ‘Justice League’ for being a ‘directorial mess,’ citing a change of directors for the post-production phase and general studio interference.  Now, I’m not saying they don’t have a point.  Original director Zack Snyder wanted a film that was closer to three hours, yet the studio wanted as many showings per day as possible, therefore made the cinematic cut just under two hours.  So the finished product does feel decidedly unfinished.

Also, a few weeks before ‘Justice League’ came out, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ sneaked out in cinemas.  And, despite it being about one of my afore-mentioned ‘lesser’ heroes and it was the third instalment in Thor’s personal film career, it was amazing.  It performed better than even Disney had hoped and forced ‘Justice League’ onto the back foot in the public’s and critics’ eyes alike.  There are plenty of other minor gripes like the 'forced' humour that secondary director Joss Whedon seemed to feel the need to add, JK Simmons being very underused as Commissioner Gordon, continuity issues, things that aren’t properly explained due to the harsh cutting to save runtime, the – slightly cheesy – CGI, especially in the film’s villain himself, Steppenwolf and that one terrible line poor Jeremy Irons is forced to utter during the final battle.  However, I felt the real problem lay in the fact that ‘Justice League’ was released too early.  Superman was only given one solo film, before sharing the stage with Batman (for a new caped crusader’s first outing after Christian Bale refused to reprise the role and link Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy into this new shared universe).  Aquaman was decent enough, but he would have benefitted from having his own stand-alone film shown BEFORE he was put into JL.  The Flash makes his first film appearance, despite DC giving him his own (highly-prised) TV show and then choosing to create a new version for the big screen.  And, as for Cyborg, personally I liked him, but no one besides die-hard fans of the kids’ cartoon ‘Teen Titans’ will know who he was.  Wonder Woman was about the film’s only real character people felt they connected with due to her having a hit film (or should I say the ONLY hit film) prior to this get together.  Therefore, whereas much of the audience this film was meant for has already seen this kind of ‘superhero shared universe’ played out by Marvel characters.  All of which had their own solo films to build up their characters and bring a sense of grandeur to the point in time when they finally come together as one unit.  Here, it just felt rushed for the sake of ‘playing catch-up.’

If you’re wondering what my ‘Simpsons-related’ title refers to, it’s about a little-known episode of ‘South Park’ which made fun of itself and ‘The Simpsons’ where the jokes come from the fact that the Simpsons has been on TV for so many years that they’ve done everything and there’s nothing that ‘South Park’ can do that feels original.  This was how I felt watching ‘Justice League.’ Every time something happened a little voice in my head said ‘Marvel did it, Marvel did it, Marvel did it’ and that was kind of disappointing.  Whether it was watching Aquaman fly and fight like Thor or the team chasing Infinity stone-like cubes to stop them  falling into Thanos’ hands (sorry, Steppenwolf), everything felt like I’d already seen it before – and, sadly, better.

I didn’t hate ‘Justice League,’ in fact I found it an okay movie and definitely not as bad as many of the online community is making out.  However, it is definitely a missed opportunity and could have been so much better if handled with just a little more care and forethought.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that