Justice League (2017)

Directed by: Zack Snyder | 121 minutes | action, adventure, fantasy, science fiction | Actors: Gal Gadot, Robin Wright, Jason Momoa, Connie Nielsen, Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Ezra Miller, Amber Heard, Henry Cavill, Diane Lane, Kiersey Clemons, Billy Crudup, JK Simmons, Ciarán Hinds, Jeremy Irons, Jesse Eisenberg, Daniel Stisen, Ray Fisher, Erin Eliza Blevins, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Michael McElhatton, Samantha Jo, Joe Morton, Andrea Vasiliou, Suan-Li Ong, Eleanor Matsuura

When Marvel Studios brought their movie universe together in ‘The Avengers’ in 2012 and geek culture exploded, it was a natural step for Warner Bros to introduce their own superhero universe. The heroines and heroes of DC comic books finally made their appearance on the big screen to eventually come to the same movie where all the characters make an appearance to defeat one big bad guy. However, setting up the film series did not go without the regular threshold on the road to ‘Justice League’. ‘Man of Steel’ was not very special, ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’ was a dragon of a movie and ‘Suicide Squad’ was not really to watch. Since ‘Wonder Woman’ earlier in 2017, a step in the right direction has actually been taken. Fortunately, ‘Justice League’ is also putting its best foot forward.

That’s pretty clever, because where at Marvel Studios every main character got a solo film prior to ‘The Avengers’, ‘Justice League’ still has to introduce a lot of characters that have never been seen on the silver screen. Batman (Ben Affleck) is of course already known from many other films and in 2017 a look into his psyche may no longer be necessary to get to know the rich man who likes to dress up as a crime-fighting bat. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) already made an impression in the aforementioned solo film, but heroes like Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and especially Cyborg (Ray Fisher) may not immediately ring a bell with most viewers. Yet they are actually flawlessly introduced and work perfectly together. In fact, the majority are even growing in a movie that is expected to focus on character development. It often comes down to the team having to learn to work together, but everyone does this in their own way with their own motivations and struggles.

This results in a film that may be a bit simple in design, but when you have to juggle so many different and important superheroes that is not a bad thing at all. It is also not common for a film to contain both the sunken city of Atlantis and a hidden island full of Amazons. What suffers the most from this, however, is the villainous Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds). This one is very one-dimensional. He wants to take over the world with the help of three ancient power cubes that are guarded on Earth by three different races (Amazon, Atlanteans and Humans). As said, simple.

This gives the Justice League much more space to show what they can do. And that translates to a very enjoyable two-hour ride. Then the other negatives are even a bit insignificant. Because although the special effects in 2017 are really no longer suitable for an expensive production like this, that certainly does not suppress all the good that ‘Justice League’ comes up with. The tempo is nice and fast, but never so high that the viewer gets the feeling that scenes are missing (the studio opted for a two-hour film).

Because the stories from behind the scenes suggested that this part in the DC saga could have turned out to be a mess. Director Zack Snyder had to leave the production midway through problems in his personal life. Josh Whedon (director of ‘The Avengers’) took over and injected a little bit of his own style into the film. Yet it is never a mush of styles and it flows very naturally into each other without really noticing which of the two was in the director’s chair. In fact, Justice League is the most coherent and enjoyable movie in the DC universe. The league is unified!