Growing up I watched plenty of cartoons. Among them were “The Powerpuff Girls,” “Teen Titans” and of course “Justice League.” I was in love with superheroes, because at any age, who doesn’t want super powers?
Not much has changed today. The idea of having superpowers has left everyone starstruck. Whether someone’s favorite superhero resides in the world of Marvel or DC, by this point everyone has an answer.
In my opinion, the best heroes are among DC comics and many of my favorites were shown in Zack Snyder’s “Justice League.” Forewarning: I’m about to reveal some spoilers.
Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg all team up to fight alien invaders, which is as plain and simple as superhero plots go, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s fine. It’s been done, and it’ll be done again.
What strikes me as odd, though, is how the movie opens up its first scenes. The film picks up at the end of “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” after Superman dies. Humanity is in mourning and chaos has filled the cities, but since when was the “Justice League” marketed as another Superman movie?
I understand this is the first time a superhero has actually died in any of the superhero movies, but does that constitute motive for humanity to suddenly treat his death like it’s the passion of Christ? Humanity pins Superman as the essence of hope, but really he’s just one of the good aliens and that’s all there is to it.
Another plot point that missed the target was the Justice League’s main missions. The first was to recruit the members of the League. Batman covered that area pretty well, and since he doesn’t have any powers, this was the only good thing he did to combat the aliens.
Then the team’s mission is set on reviving Superman once they decided fighting the alien enemy was a certain loss without Superman’s help. This facet alone made the whole movie seem like the Justice League is centered around Superman, and without him there would be no league at all. Not true.
But besides Superman stealing the show, the movie is genuinely funny in many scenes, and the action shots work well enough to satisfy my bloodlust and suppressed aggression.
Excluding the perfect fight scene between the Amazon warriors and the alien leader Steppenwolf, one of my favorite parts in the film is the epic fight between Superman and the other heroes. During this scene, I couldn’t help but think of the superhero fight game, “Injustice.”
Furthermore, the character development of the team was pretty good. I mean “pretty good” as in Batman and Wonder Woman were great, because we already had movies to their origin story, but everyone else faltered as far as their characters’ stories go.
Aquaman’s personality certainly showed through, but his legend is lost due to the movie’s time constraints. All we know about Aquaman is his true name, a vague mention of his birth by some random Atlantian soldier and then in the end, there was a weird personal bit he accidentally revealed about not belonging anywhere after sitting on Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth.
Truthfully I want to know more about Aquaman. At this point, audiences know nothing about him unless they’re avid readers of the DC comics or fans of other shows regarding the hero.
Cyborg was another underrated character, but at least Hollywood producers finally portrayed a black man as an intellectual and not the typical funny guy or perfect all-star athlete. Ray Fisher did remarkably well presenting a different perspective to Cyborg. In the beginning, he has a no nonsense demeanor, but he eventually opens up after finding his purpose in the League and saving the world.
Flash was always my favorite growing up, but I didn’t get to know much about him either. Ezra Miller did a fantastic job portraying Flash’s young, awkward and comedic personality for the rising hero, but his backstory was only mentioned in watered down one-liners, which thankfully Flash pointed out in dialogue with other characters.
Overall the producers of the film should have waited until all of the heroes’ movies were released.
If exploiting these heroes now was to compete with Marvel’s “Avengers” series, they’re too far behind to catch up, so waiting longer wouldn’t have done any harm. In fact, it would have built DC’s fanbase more had the superheroes each had their own movie before being thrown into a mix match group of Justice League heroes.
Though this critique sounds harsh, I actually enjoyed the movie. I laughed; I cried; but mostly I fangirled over the heroes who have been missing from the theaters for far too long. I like the Marvel movies fine and well, but they’re all new to me. It’s refreshing to finally see some old faces again, and I certainly look forward to learning more about my favorite superheroes.
“Aquaman,” “Cyborg” and Flashpoint” are expecting release dates coming soon. “Aquaman” will be released in December 2018, but the other two will have to wait until 2020 before their solo appearances are shown on the big screen.
