So, I just saw Justice League opening night last night and will post my usual spoiler-free review for everyone. Coming into this review, I should probably note a few things to put things in context. Rotten Tomatoes currently is showing a 38% Rotten score for Justice League, which isn't good, and in general, my reviews don't stray super far from RT scores. I even came into this movie pretty skeptical after seeing these scores. Also, my past history with the DCEU is this. I really liked Man of Steel, while I recognize its flaws. At first, I hated Batman vs Superman, although it has grown a bit on me some since, especially after seeing the Ultimate Cut that filled in a lot of plot holes. Still don't really like it. I really did not like Suicide Squad, although a few things in it were fun and good. I loved Wonder Woman to death and consider it a top-tier Superhero movie of all time. Lastly, I'm truly about a 50-50 Marvel/DC guy and want both universes to succeed.
With all that thrown out there, screw Rotten Tomatoes on this one. I really liked and enjoyed Justice League. Yes, the general consensus out there right now of its main flaws being a relatively weak CGI villain, a fairly vanilla plot, still botching Superman a bit, not enough back-story, and not being long enough are all true to some extent. However, I was easily able to look past all of those in this case due to what the movie did right, which was the team of the Justice League. In fact, over the course of this movie, I came to love every single member of this team, and the only thing better than each member, was their on-screen chemistry together. This chemistry is what Justice League, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers got right, and what movies like Suicide Squad got wrong. I've been waiting my entire life to see the Justice League finally on the big screen, they are who I came to see, and they are who I got, which is why I was okay with Steppenwolf being downplayed a bit in this instance, since it allowed more time for the heroes to shine.
While I am still disappointed that all the new characters didn't get enough backstory to lead up to them teaming up together, I still found what we got as at least good enough, especially when you consider how short of time they had to do it with a 2 hour long run-time. When I say good enough, I mean that each character had just enough of a back-story to make the teaming up and the reason for the teaming up of all these guys to be pulled off fairly well and feel relatively natural. Then, once you get past that teaming-up, I felt the on-screen chemistry of all of them only grew as the film went on. Each character has their respective role to play and nobody felt left to the side. In fact, the two actors/characters I felt most skeptical of around a year ago were Cyborg and The Flash, and I would say those two characters were the stand-out characters for me. Aquaman was no slouch either. In particular, I loved how well they interwove Cyborg into the plot to make what could easily be a really goofy weird character not feel that way.
Overall, I came into this movie fairly skeptical and spent nearly the entire movie smiling and having tons of fun, even with recognizing all its flaws. The movie is break-neck throughout with no wasted time, which is both good and a bit bad. Truthfully, my biggest complaint by far was that the movie just WAS NOT long enough, not because it was bad and missing stuff like Batman vs Superman, but rather because it was good and left me wanting more. What I wanted more in particular of was the backstory to each character. In fact, I'm really kind of mad at the Warner Bros head mandating the movie be under 2 hours after the over-long debacle that was BVS. I'd just for once like WB to simply react to the mistakes of their previous movies, but not overreact. No, these movies don't need to be 3 hours long, but they also kind of need to be longer than 2 hours too, particularly with team-up movies, and even more so with ones which are introducing a lot of new major characters. With that said, this is one where I really hope they end up with an extended-cut blu-ray edition that adds another good 20-30 minutes to the film. I'll be chomping at the bit to see that if they do.
Anyway, I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts. As I repeat, screw Rotten Tomatoes on this. I get to some extent some of their criticisms, but I do find them to be overly too harsh on this one. I'm even one who loves the service, thinks the aggregate scores get most things right, but not in this case. Are you seriously trying to tell me that Justice League is a 38 when movies like Thor:Ragnarok are a 92, Doctor Strange is an 89, Iron Man 2 is a 73, The Incredible Hulk is a 62, and Spider-Man 3 is a 63. I mean, Spider-Man 3 is a 63!!!! Are you freaking kidding me???? Maybe I'm finally starting to believe there is some DC bias out there. /rant
If you are looking for another really good spoiler-free review, I'd strongly recommend watching this. All these guys pretty much in total agreement with me.
I think you'll find that most actual superhero fans out there are in agreement with me also.
