Justice League (2017) - An Overhyped and Mediocre Injustice | Intricate Films

" Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should..."

      

                                                      - Ian Malcolm                                              Jurassic Park (1993)

Every once in a while comes a film so monstrously hyped that it simply cannot surpass the hopes and expectations it garnered. So, lets talk about Justice League. This film is an excellent example of what happens when two directors who are the polar opposites of each other in terms of filmmaking come together to make a film. At several points, we see it struggling with an identity crisis. Parts of it wants to be the dark brooding yet nonetheless unique version of Snyder's DC while the rest is afraid to take a risk and try to be a copycat of Whedon's Marvel. Large parts of the movie seem empty. The emotions seem forced and the characters seem hollow. The problems appear far too early in the film. The first one that arises, is one of tonal continuity. The batman that we saw in Dawn of Justice was dark, haunted. He flips sides and becomes the butt of all jokes.  Justice League's attempt to force comedy into the narrative feels like a poor choice because we were never introduced to these characters properly. The jokes never land because we can never relate to these characters. Marvel's comedy worked to a large extent because they have dedicated an enormous amount of time to carefully sculpt a universe, and let its characters grow. Justice League would have perhaps fared a lot better in a universe where forced comedy was a substitute for character development but alas, it is not this one. Watching Justice League made me feel like I was skipping two or three movies in the DCEU. It felt like it wanted to cash in on the Infinity war idea and jumped to the destination without properly planning the way. 

The film is based around three macguffins,  boxes (whose powers, threats, uses are never revealed) that the big CGI baddie Steppenwolf wishes to obtain, and it's up to our suddenly merry band of heroes to save the universe and Warner Brothers' money.  The marvel universe may have had its share of flaws, but it had a vision and a patience that is blatantly absent in the DCEU. It gives us heroes we don't care about to fight a villain we do not fear  to save three boxes which we know nothing about. Perhaps it's time to realize that simply spouting lines, having a climatic showy CGI fight in the end and throwing around (and ruining) memorable characters does not make for a particularly good film. When we do not know who it is the heroes are fighting, and for what, all the fights and dialogue becomes pure noise. Infinity War worked wonderfully because Thanos was developed as a character, whose motivations were not only explained but also made understandable. We could see why Thanos would imagine that he is saving the universe by trying to destroy some of it. Without developing him as a human, who we could understand and simultaneously fear, no amounts of beautifully constructed actions scenes could save a superhero movie.An important reason as to why Justice League is such a poor film is because Steppenwolf is never a character. We do not understand what he wants, or the threat that he poses. Justice league feels like it it had a priority of ticking boxes that successful marvel movies had rather than constructing a proper narrative around them. 

Justice league is also a relentlessly ugly movie. From its inconsistent visuals (Cavill's moustache says 'Hello!')  to the nightmarishly ugly CGI backgrounds, there is a lot to be baffled at. The previous Snyder movies, were highly criticised because they featured destruction on a large scale which did not befit a superhero movie. Justice League solves this problem by having all of its fights in places with nobody around, which removes all sorts of tension. The fights are extremely dull, with each character just running and punching their way through baddies without ever using their powers in a way that feels satisfying. Even if they were to use all their powers, it would all be upto superman to do anything. Superman feels like a cheat code. Someone who is so powerful that the rest of the team is rendered useless. With him, the team faces no challenge. Whatever physical threat opposes them, they use superman as a trump card. Thus, there is no need to even have a team in the first place. Because all the threats are completely external. None of the characters are even mentally threatened. The enemy to be defeated is always outside and never poses a threat to their character. This makes an already dreadful movie torturous.  Justice league is a failure on every level. A film that refuses to think and chooses to blindly jump into something that it knows nothing about. Its comedy is some of the worst a big budget blockbuster had to offer for a long time. Its fight sequences are uninventive and tiresome. In the end, what it is, is an injustice.

                                                               - Arvind Narayanan

The Important Characters and their Casts :

* Batman - Ben Affleck. Billionaire superhero who mopes around for the duration of the film, being the most convenient plot device. Completely useless.

* Superman - Henry Cavill. A literal God who obliterates everything in this bath. Even if he was the sole member of the titular Justice league, it would make no difference.

*Wonder Woman - Gal Gadot. The token eye candy who is given multiple cleavage shots to extract every last drop of the teenage boy cash.

* The Flash - Ezra Miller. The one weird guy at the party who just does really awkward jokes but is still part of the cool gang's group because they want to occasionally get a laugh out of him.

* Jason Momoa - Aquaman. The eye candy to extract every last drop of the teenage girl cash.

* Cyborg - Ray Fisher. I almost forgot to add him in the cast. That should tell you how memorable his character is.

Intricate Meter - 3/10

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                                                           - Abhyjith and Arvind