I Watch Films: Justice League
I enjoyed this film, but it wasn’t good. There were a lot of weird scenes, and choices, and, well, just everything.
Let’s start with the villain, Steppenwolf. I am not very much into the New Gods, so the only time I think I’ve ever seen him before was on the Wacky Races episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. That’s okay, but don’t pretend that before it was announced anyone was saying “I can’t wait for a film where Aquaman throws down with Steppenwolf.” That never happened.
So he’s a big dude with an axe, who turns his victims into para-demons who feed on fear, and is looking for three mother boxes to transform the Earth into a hellscape that reminds him of home. Okay so far, but he’s not a villain associated with any of our heroes. He isn’t trying to mess with any of them on a personal level; he doesn’t have a relationship with anyone on Earth (maybe Hippolyta). And similarly none of the heroes have anything they want to do with him that isn’t “Stop the destruction of the Earth”. (Maybe Cyborg). He’s just this big bad dude they want to stop.
Anyway, because of this the final setpiece battle doesn’t have a lot of emotional weight. It’s fun, and the team getting together is good, though it’s mostly Aquaman and Wonder Woman (the two who can stand up to super-strength) fighting Steppenwolf, Batman hanging about doing clever gadgety stuff, Cyborg trying to deal with the Motherboxes and the Flash comic reliefing. It’s not quite synergy; everyone has their niches they are holding down rather than becoming more by working together.
The emotional centre (SPOILERS?) is of course, the resurrection and fight with Superman. Which is fun. Especially when the Flash gets up to speed, and then Superman’s eyes move to follow him; his superspeed isn’t as fast as the Flash, but it’s close enough.
Anyway, a bit of fun, not to be taken too seriously. Batman says “I promise you Steppenwolf isn’t standing around arguing ethics,” (or similar, I’m not doing a lot of research on this) and maybe he should have been? A villain that cares about morality and ethics is probably more interesting than one that just wants to conquer and destroy?
Watch This: For some superhero action, punchin’ and beatin’ and stuff.
Don’t Watch This: For any twists or last minute surprises, or if you aren’t interested in guys in funny outfits beating each other up.
Here: Is where I saw Steppenwolf before.
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