If “Wonder Woman” provided a glimmer of hope that DC Comics movies might start looking, moving and sounding differently than before, “Justice League” plops us right back into “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” territory, albeit with a little more wit and humanity. But if you like your superhero battles in deep dark tunnels or under skies purple with alien soot, director Zack Snyder is back with yet another installment that looks the way Axe body spray smells.
Not that there isn’t a little more levity, and a touch more interest in character this time around — and whether or not those attributes can be credited to Joss Whedon’s additional photography can be interpreted by those who will read this sequel like it’s the Dead Sea Scrolls — but much too much of this team-up adventure is given over to ridiculous posing and posturing as our heroes battle a not-very-interesting villain over, you guessed it, the fate of the world itself.
In the script credited to Chris Terrio (“Argo”) and Whedon, based on a story by Snyder and Terrio, the world is still reeling from the death of Superman at the end of “BvS,” and with new threats on the horizon, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) feels called upon to assemble individuals who can pick up the Kryptonian’s mantle. He’s already in touch with Princess Diana of Themyscira, a.k.a. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), of course. Then there’s troubled teen Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), who mainly uses his super-speed powers to work several jobs in the hopes of getting a lawyer for his wrongly imprisoned dad (Billy Crudup).
Bruce also tracks down troubled young adult Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), a former college football player who was in a car accident and can now barely control the robot body (featuring Kryptonian tech) created for him by his widowed scientist father Silas (Joe Morton). There’s also Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), the king of the seas; Bruce tracks him to an Icelandic village but the Aquaman, at first, has no interest in meddling with land-locked affairs.
That all changes when Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciarán Hinds) shows up; the alien has some nefarious plans that call for three Mother Boxes, devices so powerful that putting them together would destroy all life on the planet. Ages ago they were divided up: one went to Themyscira, one to Aquaman’s domain of Atlantis, and one was hidden by humanity. Steppenwolf’s shopping spree is over before you know it, and it’s soon evident that even this team of heroes isn’t going to be enough to stop him. But hey, would one of those Mother Boxes have the power to bring Superman back to life?
On the pages of DC Comics, the Justice League has seen countless permutations, from heroic to gritty to the self-aware and jokey. (The latter, exemplified by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’ run from 1986-1992, might be my favorite version of the team, but I’ve enjoyed the print Justice League in a variety of flavors.) What the movie version of this cohort of superheroes will eventually become is anyone’s guess, but Snyder gives us far more set-up than payoff. And when he does finally get everyone together for the big battle, he once again drowns the proceedings in murk. Neither cinematographer Fabian Wagner (“Victor Frankenstein”) nor the army of digital post-production artists lets enough light into these proceedings.
The one note Snyder seems to have taken from “Man of Steel” was “maybe don’t have superheroes destroy densely-populated areas,” so the climax takes place in a mostly abandoned, Chernobyl-like area of Russia. That gets bystanders out of the way, yes, but it also plops the action into a featureless arena.
When “Justice League” comes to life the most is in the interaction of its players, more often than not when they’re out of costume. (Although any fan of the comics will be forgiven for feeling a little giddy at seeing these titans share the screen.) Affleck and Gadot give genuine performances, and their scenes together have real weight, particularly when he grills her about why she spent the century after the events of “Wonder Woman” in hiding. (Gadot also wins the film’s ass-kickery sweepstakes early on, as Diana literally defuses a hostage situation involving a gaggle of uniformed schoolgirls straight out of “Madeline.”)
Diane Lane and Amy Adams, as the two most important people in Superman’s life, also manage to carve out some moments of heartfelt humanity. We’ll soon find out whether or not Momoa’s undersea-bro strutting can be endured for the length of a stand-alone “Aquaman” movie, and if Miller wants to be the comedy relief of this franchise, he might consider bringing the mugging and the double-takes down from a nine to a six.
Meanwhile: Who is Steppenwolf? And why should we care? And who is Victor Stone — who will eventually become known as Cyborg — as a human being, let alone as a half-robot superhero? The screenplay breezes along as though these questions had been addressed, let alone answered. And giving Joe Morton the line, “I’ll never tell you!” in response to Steppenwolf’s demand for the location of the Mother Box plays like a scene from a film about a great actor who gets stuck playing a thankless role in a ridiculous movie.
Warner Bros. doesn’t seem to have settled on a consistent tone — or even a range of tones — for their superhero epics in the way that their distinguished competition at Marvel has, but what works here comes very close to overpowering all the things that don’t. (Believe the rumors about Henry Cavill’s badly-digitally-hidden mustache, though.) “Justice League” may not represent the alchemic assemblage that “The Avengers” was, but now that these super not-quite-friends have saved their universe, they might eventually rescue their cinematic one as well.
Every DC Comics Movie Ranked, Including 'The Suicide Squad'
Films based on DC properties go back nearly a century to those ancient Batman and Superman serials. That's a lot of history -- how does James Gunn's violent and hilarious "The Suicide Squad" stack up against everything that's come before?
39. "Jonah Hex" (2010)
Despite the efforts of Josh Brolin and Michael Fassbender, this is one of the worst comic book movies of the modern era.
38. "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)
Christopher Reeve is by far the best Superman. But "Superman IV" is a bomb in every sense -- partly because of its heavy-handedness about bombs. Nuclear bombs. The film finds Superman trying to eliminate the world's nuclear threat, but his best intentions run afoul of a silly, badly dated villain named Nuclear Man.
37. "Supergirl" (1984)
We had a female-superhero movie in 1984, and it was pure cheese. But hey, at least they tried. The best thing I can say about it is there are worse things in life than this movie.
Best known as "the one Shaq was in back when he tried acting," "Steel" is pretty bad. But the fun kind of bad.
34. "Justice League" (2017)
The Joss Whedon cut of "Justice League" is a disaster on so many levels before we even talk about Superman's weird CGI mouth.
33. "Man of Steel" (2013)
Could have been worse, I guess. But it's still morally gross and has a plot that doesn't make sense. That it's very pretty to look at doesn't override those things nearly enough to make it watchable.
32. "Joker" (2019)
This is not a good characterization of the Joker as a human being, and aside from that it's just a soulless, meaningless experience.
31. "Catwoman" (2004)
Thoroughly horrible, but somehow amusing even so. Sad that it's seemingly been swept into the litter box of history.
30. "Batman & Robin" (1997)
Rightly hated, but it's tremendously entertaining here and there. Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzeneggar are going so far over the top I can't help but admire them.
29. "Superman III" (1983)
Featured a brilliant corporate rip-off -- one later referenced in "Office Space" -- but the attempt to funny things up with the addition of Richard Pryor didn't gel. There was also a weird bit about a weather satellite creating bad weather, which isn't what weather satellites do. Seeing Clark Kent fight Superman was pretty cool, though.
28. "Green Lantern" (2011)
Overreliance on cartoony visual effects during a period when big blockbusters were moving away from that aesthetic meant this was a movie nobody liked. Not that it was especially horrible. It just looked like a dumb cartoon and is hard to watch.
27. "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012)
Probably wasn't intended to be a grim and gritty Shumacher Batmovie, but that is indeed what it is. This is Nolan going full Hollywood, smashing plot points into place by sheer force of will rather than because they make sense. An extremely theatrical Tom Hardy as Bane is amusing front to back, and a nuke with a countdown clock on it will never get old.
26. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016)
A total mess that hates Superman and turns Batman into a total maniac. None of those things are good. Ben Affleck can't save the thing, but he's excellent nonetheless and gives it a huge bump it probably doesn't deserve.
25. "Watchmen" (2009)
I have no particular affection for the revered "Watchmen" comic the way a lot of other nerds do, so my distaste for this adaptation isn't personal. It just doesn't add up to nearly as much as it thinks it does.
24. "V for Vendetta" (2006)
Felt nothing watching this. I tried, OK. It's impeccably made, though, and very watchable.
Giving this its own slot because it fundamentally changes the narrative of the movie and the character of Superman in the DC Extended Universe. This version is still not great (especially at three freaking hours), but it's a monumental improvement over the theatrical version.
21. "Red 2" (2013)
Did you even know these were comic book movies? Whatever, it's a great cast in a serviceable action movie and everybody's having a good time. Hard to remember, but fun.
20. "Red" (2010)
Better than its sequel, but they're basically the same.
19. "Batman" (1989)
Fondly remembered mostly because it was the first Batmovie in a couple decades. It isn't actually very good, though. The reveal that a younger version of the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents is as hamfistedly dumb as it gets in a "Batman" movie.
18. "Superman Returns" (2006)
Actually a pretty decent attempt by Bryan Singer to do a Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie in the present day, but Brandon Routh couldn't pull off the charisma it takes to be the Man of Steel. It was his first movie, so that's not surprising. But it's a shame, because Routh has gotten much better in the years since.
17. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" (1993)
Remember that time they released a "Batman" cartoon theatrically? It gets lost amongst all the live-action ones, but "Mask of the Phantasm" is better than most of them.
16. "Superman II" (1980)
Made kids everywhere cry as they watched Superman give up his powers for a normal life with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). There are different edits of this movie, and we frankly can't keep them straight. But the sight of a powerless Clark getting beat up in a diner made Superman as sympathetic as he's ever been.
15. "Shazam" (2019)
It’s just so much fun! It’s a blast to watch, and is just a really nice celebration of the good parts of humanity. “Shazam” is a movie that simply feels good to watch.
14. "Wonder Woman" (2017)
Has the standard origin movie problem of "too much story, not enough time." And the standard DC Extended Universe problem of "We gotta have a nonsensical CGI battle at the end." But despite those caveats it's an enormous delight, and a big step forward for the DCEU.
13. "Birds of Prey" (2020)
This film is sensory overload, but (mostly) in all the right ways. And it's got the best action we've ever seen in any DC or Marvel movie. This would be a top 5 DC flick easily if the storytelling wasn't such a huge mess.
12. "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020)
Patty Jenkins' has the same sort of qualities that made "Superman: The Movie" so appealing. It's earnest, sincere and serious, but not silly or gritty or full of irony.
11. "Zack Snyder's Justice League" (2021)
It's obnoxiously long and actually makes less sense than the theatrical cut. But this is still the quintessential Zack Snyder experience -- and thus it is just such a cool movie to watch. What it lacks in brains it makes up for with sheer audacity.
10. "Batman Forever" (1995)
Hits just the right tone for what Joel Shumacher was trying to do with the two films he directed. Tommy Lee Jones, as Two Face, is doing stuff in this movie that is hard to believe even today, given his perpetual sour face in nearly every other movie he's been in.
9. "The LEGO Batman Movie" (2017)
Funny, sweet and self-deprecating -- exactly what we needed in the wake of the disaster that was "Batman v Superman."
8. "The Dark Knight" (2008)
Should be way shorter, but Heath Ledger's Joker is far and away the best villain in any of these movies. Ledger elevates what would otherwise be just another self-indulgent Christopher Nolan exercise into an endlessly watchable picture.
7. "Superman: The Movie" (1978)
This is the gold standard of Superman movies, and was the best superhero movie bar none for many, many years. John Williams' score soars, and so does the believable and compelling romance between Superman and Lois Lane. The film convincingly blended camp (in the form of Gene Hackman's wonderful Lex Luthor), an epic origin story that actually felt epic, and funny lines. The scene in which Supes and Lois fly together is one of the most beautiful metaphors for new love ever captured on film.
6. "Batman Returns" (1992)
One of the best of the franchise because it's really just a political thriller. The Penguin emerges from the sewer and runs for mayor of Gotham! It's great stuff, especially as we continue to watch the rise of Trump in our world.
5. "Constantine" (2005)
A happy balance of serious and ridiculous, manages to find exactly the right tone for this weird religious fantasy and a cast led by Keanu Reeves. They all seem to get it.
4. "Batman: The Movie" (1966)
Has a timelessness that none of the other films do, and it's just a delight from beginning to end thanks to Adam West's winking Batman and the coalition of villains who can't stop cackling maniacally. Watching it again recently, I found it functions almost perfectly as a parody of the super-serious Christopher Nolan Batfilms, which is incredible.
3. "Aquaman" (2018)
It's not often that we get a comic book movie that is: full on ridiculous; loves how ridiculous it is; and is made with skill by a legitimately great filmmaker. James Wan's "Aquaman" is all of that, and it's just a wonderful experience.
2. "Batman Begins" (2005)
The most complete film, on its own, in the entire live-action franchise. It's just, like, a regular movie... except it's about Batman. It has actual characters and everything, and Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne even has emotions. It's weird.
1. "The Suicide Squad" (2021)
After Disney caved to a bad faith campaign to have director James Gunn fired, Gunn responded by making one of the best and most raw comic book movies ever. It's gross, funny, mean and heartfelt -- this is the work of a director at the very top of his game.
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James Gunn’s cynical action flick is a blast, but how does it stack up against the other great movies based on DC Comics?
Films based on DC properties go back nearly a century to those ancient Batman and Superman serials. That's a lot of history -- how does James Gunn's violent and hilarious "The Suicide Squad" stack up against everything that's come before?
