JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017) *** ½

Justice League is missing the godlike awe Zack Snyder brought to Man of Steel and Batman v Superman.  If ever a movie needed that touch it’s this one.  I mean you have the biggest names in the DC arsenal assembled together for the first time.  It should definitely feel loftier.  As it is, it’s perfectly acceptable Saturday morning fun.

Snyder stepped down during post-production due to a family tragedy and was replaced with Joss Whedon, who brings his patented wisecracking antics to the party.  Because of that, there is an inconsistency in tone.  Whedon, who already had two Avengers movies under his belt, tries to duplicate the Marvel formula, which is sometimes at odds with what Snyder had previously established.  Even though the movie didn’t really need the jokey tone, I have to admit that it is often hilarious.  (I especially liked the Pet Sematary references.)  Maybe it’s the Super Friends fan in me, but I dug seeing the superheroes ribbing each other.

Seeing the League unite is half the fun.  The chemistry between the superheroes makes up for the film’s lapses in tone.  I loved seeing the bromance between Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) and Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) blossom.  Gal Gadot continues to impress as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher makes a solid debut as Cyborg, and Ezra Miller steals the show as The Flash.  Although I wasn’t a fan of Aquaman’s Hell’s Angels look, Jason Momoa did a fine job in the role.  (I especially liked the scene where he accidentally sits on Wonder Woman’s lasso and confesses his deep-seeded fears to the team.) 

Some elements feel like leftovers from The Avengers.  Remember in that movie when a box-shaped doodad was going to end the world?  Well, this one has THREE box-shaped doodads that can end the world.  The villain, Steppenwolf (Cirian Hinds) lacks personality too.  In fact, he often feels like he came out of a video game.  

All of that hardly matters when the heroes are front and center.  The action is entertaining.  (The Flash sequence, though it is reminiscent of Quicksilver’s scenes in the recent X-Men films, is awesome.)  The performances are game.  It pretty much gives you everything you could want from a comic book movie.  Qualms aside, when it’s firing on all cylinders, it’s a lot of fun.  I mean how can you not grin from ear to ear when you see Superman fly past The Flash and call him a “slow poke”?

The 3-D is surprisingly good.  Most of these things forget that they should have stuff coming out into the audience’s laps.  So, it’s a treat seeing all this stuff come out of the screen:

·         3-D Fruit 

·         3-D Bullet 

·         3-D Suitcase 

·         3-D Batarang 

·         3-D Gun 

·         3-D Sword 

·         3-D Cyborg arm

·         3-D Trident 

·         3-D Axe 

_·           3-D Wonder Woman 

2017 Comic Book Movie Scorecard:

The LEGO Batman Movie:  ****

Thor:  Ragnarok:  ****
Spider-Man:  Homecoming:  ****
Logan:  ****
Wilson:  *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:  *** ½
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets *** ½
Wonder Woman:  *** ½
Justice League:  *** ½
Ghost in the Shell:  *** ½
Atomic Blonde:  **
Death Note:  **