Tuesday November 21st in Chicago, IL. It has been a long road. What started out as an as an idea over 10 years ago finally made it to the big screen, though one could argue that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was kind of a Justice League film. Outside of Nolan's Batman films, the DCEU has paled in comparison to Marvel, the lone exception being Wonder Woman and the filmmakers wisely decided to make it a Marvel film.
Since Marvel has had a lot of success with the Avengers, DC decided that if you can't beat them, join them. Join them they did. They made an Avengers film with DC characters. Which is fine, that's the formula and Hollywood sticks to formulas. The problem is that Justice League is not a very good Avengers film. The film has made a lot of money. Over $600 million worldwide, but that doesn't make it a good film.
Anyway, Superman's death activated three Mother Boxes that were hidden on Earth since a huge battle that put the forces of Darkseid's henchman Steppenwolf and his army of parademons against an all-star line-up of heroes representing Earth that including the Amazons, Atlanteans, the Gods (of the Greek variety), metahumans and a member of the Green Lantern Corps (which would have made for a more interesting film). Steppenwolf is defeated and the Mother Boxes are hidden, instead of destroying them of course, so that they can't be united and bring about doom to the Earth.
Fast forward a few millennia and Steppenwolf is back and he's after the Mother Boxes. He easily defeats the Amazons in a pitched battle for the 1st Mother Box, a fact that was not touched upon in Wonder Woman by the way. He then goes to Atlantis and even more easily takes the 2nd Mother Box, there may not have been enough money it the films massive budget for this. The battle for the 3rd Mother Box take place in Gotham where the heroes manage to keep Steppenwolf at bay. Batman decides to use the final Mother Box to resurrect Superman despite not everyone on the team being in agreement that this is a good idea. Superman is resurrected (did anyone not see this coming?) and after a brief fight with the Justice League (if you're going to copy Marvel, you go all in) he simmers down. Steppenwolf easily gets the 3rd Mother Box which leads to a showdown in Russia of all places.
Steppenwolf's plan is merge the Mother Boxes together so they can terraform Earth into Apokolips friendly atmosphere ( because it worked so well for Zod in Man of Steel). The League battles Steppenwolf as he managed to merge the Mother Boxes. Wonder Woman and Aquaman battle Steppenwolf, Superman and Flash evacuate the town (though Superman could have been more useful in the battle as he is the most powerful being) leaving Cyborg to unmerge the boxes. Spoiler alert, the heroes save the day.
Rotten Tomatowise, this film was not that good, the plot is convoluted and predictable. Plus you get the same settings director Zach Snyder can't bear to stop using. Snyder has directed three films in the DCEU that range from bad to mediocre at best. Visually, they can barely be distinguished (which goes for most of his films) from one another. Give the next one to Patty Jenkins.
Much like SNL's "more cowbell" sketch, the DCEU needs more Wonder Woman. The presence of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman makes this film bearable. From her introduction to the film, great scene, to final scene, she is awesome. Affleck seems to have gotten tired of being Batman and it showed. When Batman is in his heavy armor for the final battle, CGI is needed to pull off the stunts and it shows. They're not good. Affleck's best scene is as Bruce Wayne when he responds with "I'm rich," after Flash inquires about his superpower.
Speaking of Flash, I thought Ezra Miller's performance of Flash/Barry Allen was fine except for the speed effects that were not as good as either Quicksilver from Marvel. The character's biggest non-effects related problem was the ridiculous the run time padding scenes with his father. It added nothing to the film and wasted the talents of Billy Crudup. I liked Ray Fisher (Cyborg/Victor Stone) a lot but as I mentioned before, the CGI needed to pull off the character seemed unfinished. Cyborg had the most depth of any of the new characters. The character had intelligence and was good in a fight. Jason Mamoa had some good moments as Aquaman but he was little more that a discount strongman. The film had a few good moments of humor but could've used more. It is my belief that neither of these three characters could hold their own in a stand alone film without cameos from the likes of Wonder Woman, Batman or Superman.
DC has had ten years and several Marvel films to copy and they still could not get it right. If you have been following the DCEU then you should see the film. Otherwise you're not missing much.
