Justice League is the first film featuring the alliance formed by DC superheroes who are willing to fight to death to protect the Earth. It does not only showcase the superheroes fighting scenes but its role to shape the DC universe is also significant. It is definitely the long-waited movie that DC fans want to watch, however, the box office of the opening weekend is only $94 million in North America, comparing to its counterpart The Avengers(2012) by Marvel, who reached $80 million just in the first day.
Prior to the release of Justice League, there were only three "individual films", Man of Steel(2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice(2016) and Wonder Women(2017). The audience do not know much about the other three members of the League and they are total strangers without any stories background to back them up. Even Batman, as the founder of Justice League, such an important character does not truly have its own film. In contrast, by the time The Avengers was released, there were already five individual films featuring Ironman, Captain America, Thor and Hulk, even Black Widow have shown up in more than one film. The audience are familiar with those characters and the success of individual films attract them to watch The Avengers. Individual films do not only provide the background story of the superhero, but also the personal characters, the soul, and letting the audience know why he or she makes certain decisions in some situations.
Unlike the boys, females are usually less interested in this kind of comics movies. Having one or two character with good appearance can attract females to watch. In Justice League, I understand that the physical appearance of the characters are based on the comics, but they are not attractive to women. Aquaman is muscular and very manly, but in general he is more like a wanderer than a superhero. Most importantly, he is not good-looking enough, not to mention the senior Batman, the robotic Cyborg or the sissy Flash. The Avengers have the strong and handsome Captain America(Chris Evans) and Thor(Chris Hemsworth), or the humourous Iron Man(Robert Downey Jr.).
The plot is rather old-school and it lacks original ideas. "A bunch of superheroes knowing nothing about each other, that at first they do not trust each other and are dissatisfied with some other members but at the end, of course, they start to work as a team to save the world." It basically sums up the predictable plot. More disappointing is that the conflicts between superheroes are too minor, the League is formed too easily. Some parts are even far-fetched. Aquaman is supposed to be the stray Prince of the Atlantis, refusing to stay there because of being abandoned when he was a child. He declined the invitation from Batman but soon after some talking with Atlantis people, he changes his mind, embraces his responsibility and return to the team.
Watching a film featuring different superheroes, I expect to see cooperation and synergy between them rather than each superheroes fighting alone with their own abilities. Although there are scenes that they cooperate with each other using their abilities, Superman is too powerful. Without Superman, the rest of the team are far weaker than Steppenwolf and they can barely harm him. The Justice League superheroes are too unbalanced, which will be discussed one by one below.
The most heartbreaking thing recently I have done is watching Batman is Justice League. Being Batman in Gotham for 20 years, Bruce is a senior superhero in the team. Disappointingly, he does not show any combat skills and he cannot even beat a soldier of Steppenwolf, not to mention Steppenwolf himself. Without his high-tech toys, he is basically useless. I understand it is unfair, but I can help myself comparing him with the Dark Knight Trilogy. The Dark Knight(Christian Bale) is young, strong, vibrant, unlike the current one who is a much weaker character. From the trilogy to Justice League, the change is too huge. Justice League destroys Batman completely.
As the currently most popular character in DC series, Wonder Woman is definitely what the audience buy tickets for. Her fighting scenes are awesome, but the film seems to focus on her too much, which is understandable as Wonder Woman film is very successful. Without her, this film would be a disaster.
Superman is way too powerful. He, one man alone, is basically 90% of the strength of the League. He has an enormous strength, an invulnerable body, and a laser beam, which is still acceptable. But with a speed as fast as the Flash, that would be another story. If Superman has that speed, why would they need the Flash? The flash has become the weaker version of Superman that his power is not special anymore and his existence becomes questionable. Without Superman, Steppenwolf gets the upper hand as no one can harm him. When Superman arrives at the boss fight, the situation immediately turns in favour of the League. Superman is an one man army. Superman is the Justice League.
The Flash is a talkative teenager who is extremely fast and even conducts electricity. I don’t know if it is intended, but his running posture is quite sissy. His interactions with other superheroes in various scenes are actually funny, which save this film a bit. I appreciate that the Flash has zero combat experience and he actually does not know what to do in his first fight. It is definitely something new in superheroes films as all the other superheroes do not panic in their first combat. He is an appealing character, but his power is overshadowed by Superman, which is such a pity.
As described above, Aquaman is a very manly character. Saving sailor in thunderstorm and drinking a whole bottle of wine and disappearing in the waves shape this character quite well. His abilities, however, are disappointing that he can only swim fast, breathe underwater and control water a bit, which other Atlantis people can do the same, making the character not being unique. When he leaves the water, he is basically a melee fighter and all he can do is stabbing enemies with his trident. It would be great if there is some kind of water tank on land and he can use it to fight steppenwolf. His abilities and his trident are still unclear and I believe this character still has great potential in future films.
Cyborg is the superhero whose character is poorly described. He isolated himself since the incident causing him to lose his body. But after meeting Wonder Woman, he changes his mind and decides to join the League. Why would he, a man isolating himself from other people, decide to help the League and save the world? Again, his thought process and personality are not well described and this decision is hard to be understood.
I understand the settings of the characters are based on the comics but the outcome is too unbalanced. I see that DC wants to catch up Marvel so they released this film in such a hurry but the fact is that Marvel was ahead for at least five to six years. Rather than focusing on catching up their rival, they should slow down the pace and put more effort in each film to shape each character.
