Warner Brothers' attempt to establish the DC Extended Universe has been off to a somewhat shaky start, as its first three entries- Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad- suffered from various problems, such as bad characterization, overly complicated and bloated narratives, and others. Justice League attempts to succeed where those three failed, and achieve Wonder Woman's level of success, with mixed results.
The film involves the formation of the eponymous Justice League to stop Steppenwolf from using three Mother Boxes to destroy the world. To that end, the film has to introduce and recruit three new heroes- The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg- set up the conflict with Steppenwolf while making it relevant to the overall story, and continue to develop existing characters... all in a mere two hours.
Of course, while the film overextends itself, it also does things better than other movies. While the world is in a bleak situation, the tone is fairly hopeful, as it involves heroes uniting in order to save the world. The plot is less convoluted than in BvS, and has a somewhat more consistent pace.
The action is decent, but nothing particularly special as far as superhero movies go, and the same goes for the special effects. The heroes display some impressive teamwork, and use their powers and equipment well, though.
Now for the characters. Batman has clearly changed for the better since BvS, particulalry in trying to be a leader, but the conflict between him and Wonder Woman seems a bit forced. The Flash is often quite funny, but seems to have the least reason to be there out of all the heroes. Cyborg, while more relevant to the story, spends too much time pitying himself- his arc was honestly better done in Teen Titans. Meanwhile, Aquaman goes from somewhat dismissive of the idea of cooperation to willing to join up after his people's Mother Box is stolen, without much indication of how much he's changed as a person. While Wonder Woman is a fairly strong character, she's largely underutilized here. As a whole, the story doesn't use the characters' contrasting backstories/personalities/powers as well as it could, so while some of the characters are well done, there aren't many compelling relationships between them.
The main villain, Steppenwolf, is somewhat forgettable, without much personality or any real personal connection to the heroes. He isn't even that much of a threat without his Mother Boxes, so he's quite unimpressive overall.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
As you might expect, Superman didn't actually stay dead, and is resurrected in the third act of the movie. It's a welcome change to see him acting like the optimistic Ideal Hero he usually is, rather than his brooding BvS self, but the change is too abrupt to be organic.
END SPOILERS
All in all, Justice League is decent superhero fun that improves on some previous DCEU films, but don't expect anything impressive.
You Can't Save the DCEU In One Movie
Warner Brothers' attempt to establish the DC Extended Universe has been off to a somewhat shaky start, as its first three entries- Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad- suffered from various problems, such as bad characterization, overly complicated and bloated narratives, and others. Justice League attempts to succeed where those three failed, and achieve Wonder Woman's level of success, with mixed results.
The film involves the formation of the eponymous Justice League to stop Steppenwolf from using three Mother Boxes to destroy the world. To that end, the film has to introduce and recruit three new heroes- The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg- set up the conflict with Steppenwolf while making it relevant to the overall story, and continue to develop existing characters... all in a mere two hours.
Of course, while the film overextends itself, it also does things better than other movies. While the world is in a bleak situation, the tone is fairly hopeful, as it involves heroes uniting in order to save the world. The plot is less convoluted than in BvS, and has a somewhat more consistent pace.
The action is decent, but nothing particularly special as far as superhero movies go, and the same goes for the special effects. The heroes display some impressive teamwork, and use their powers and equipment well, though.
Now for the characters. Batman has clearly changed for the better since BvS, particulalry in trying to be a leader, but the conflict between him and Wonder Woman seems a bit forced. The Flash is often quite funny, but seems to have the least reason to be there out of all the heroes. Cyborg, while more relevant to the story, spends too much time pitying himself- his arc was honestly better done in Teen Titans. Meanwhile, Aquaman goes from somewhat dismissive of the idea of cooperation to willing to join up after his people's Mother Box is stolen, without much indication of how much he's changed as a person. While Wonder Woman is a fairly strong character, she's largely underutilized here. As a whole, the story doesn't use the characters' contrasting backstories/personalities/powers as well as it could, so while some of the characters are well done, there aren't many compelling relationships between them.
The main villain, Steppenwolf, is somewhat forgettable, without much personality or any real personal connection to the heroes. He isn't even that much of a threat without his Mother Boxes, so he's quite unimpressive overall.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS As you might expect, Superman didn't actually stay dead, and is resurrected in the third act of the movie. It's a welcome change to see him acting like the optimistic Ideal Hero he usually is, rather than his brooding BvS self, but the change is too abrupt to be organic. END SPOILERS
All in all, Justice League is decent superhero fun that improves on some previous DCEU films, but don't expect anything impressive.