3.5 stars. Rated PG-13, for sci-fi action and violence
By Derrick Bang
Seeing director Zack Snyder’s
name attached to this film was not happy news, given the degree to which he
ruined both 2013’s Man of Steel and
last year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
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| Having responded to the bat-signal illuminated by Police Commissioner Gordon (J.K. Simmons, far left), the newly formed Justice League — from left, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Batman (Ben Affleck) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) — learn that Gotham City is, once again, in serious trouble. |
Snyder has much in common with
director Michael Bay, similarly notorious for the Transformers franchise. Both favor bloated, soulless, humorless
slugfests that wreak havoc on landscapes and cityscapes, while casually
snuffing hundreds (thousands?) of civilian bystanders. Their films are the very
definition of mindless product over art.
On the other hand, I was cheered
to note Joss Whedon as co-scripter on Justice
League. As the writer/director of 2012’s The Avengers, Whedon established the template for solid, successful superhero epics. Fans have
recognized Whedon’s gift since television’s Buffy slayed her first vampire,
back in 1996: He has an unerring talent for blending action fantasy with a
(frequently droll) human element, which eases our suspension of disbelief.
And is a helluva lot more fun.
It’s easy to spot Whedon’s touch
in Justice League, which is most
successful during its first and second acts, as the stage is set, and the
players assembled. It’s equally easy to see that the third act belongs to
Snyder ... but not entirely. Even here, we get the vicarious relief of the
unmistakable Whedon touch.
Justice League picks up in the immediate wake
of Batman v Superman. The latter is
dead, having perished at the hands of a Kryptonian monster genetically
engineered by the villainous Lex Luthor. The country (the world?) is sliding
quickly into anarchy, humanity apparently having abandoned hope after losing
its gallant symbol for truth, justice and the American way.
(Ah ... but is Big Blue really, truly dead?)
Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Diana
Prince (the Amazon Wonder Woman) are doing their best to stem the lawless tide,
but they operate in the shadows; they’re not “living symbols” in the manner of
Superman. Worse yet, Batman has been encountering winged “parademons” — very
hard to kill — that seem to be seeking something.
Mindful of the need for
additional super-powered allies, in order to hold off whatever comes next,
Bruce and Diana reach out to three promising individuals: Barry Allen (Ezra
Miller), a twentysomething nerd transformed by a lightning strike into The
Flash; Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), dubbed Aquaman, and heir to the underwater
kingdom of Atlantis; and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), a once-promising college
football player nearly killed in a horrific accident, and “saved” when his
scientist father Silas (Joe Morton) employed alien tech to transform his son
into the biomechanical Cyborg.
