Dawn of justice

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It took the third movie for me to finally admit it, but Wonder Woman is single-handedly saving DC’s Extended Universe from its moody, emo self.  She’d already made the last third of Batman vs Superman watchable, even if the rest of the movie was complete crap, similar Martha’s and all. The standalone Wonder Woman movie shone, if only because next to all those duds it was nice to see a DCEU movie done right for once. I wasn’t quite satisfied with its fight scenes or the totally obvious plot twist, but it’s a minor complaint in a movie that was okay.

Full disclosure, I was fully prepared to dislike Justice League. The last DC ensemble I’d seen was Suicide Squad, and that movie was a total dumpster fire. The aesthetic of the DCU has never charmed me, and I don’t think it’s meant to be charming at all. Not that every superhero world has to be charming, but if you’ve sat through Man of Steel and BvS: Dawn of Justice, you’re going to come out of the theatre wondering if DC hates its viewers. The world is too grim, the colour palette too dark, its heroes too tortured and there seems to be absolutely no hope of redemption from the cartoon characters who play their villains.

It doesn’t help that DC’s most recognizable villains have already been played in various reiterations by actors capable of truly mining the depths of a character – Heath Ledger’s Joker and Kevin Spacey’s Luthor come to mind (I realize this is a bad time to celebrate Kevin Spacey, but the man can act). After bravura performances what’s a successor to do to avoid being carbon copies? We get Jared Leto as the Joker by way of Hot Topic. We get a motor-mouthed Jesse Eisenberg as a wholly irritating Lex Luthor. They even gave up on having an actual actor and handed us Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf, for all the vocal stylings of Ciaran Hinds, is the crappiest CGI rendered character since The Rock’s turn as the Scorpion King in the second Mummy movie.

Also, Ben Affleck’s Batman is the worst. There’s just no indication he’s fully tuned into the role, and every indication that he hates himself for saying yes to the Batsuit. Like it’s somehow sucking out his soul. And here I thought I’d never hate a Batman the way I hated George Clooney’s Batman.

But I didn’t dislike Justice League. It was a good two hours, and I didn’t come out of the theatre feeling robbed. Still a bit clunky in parts, and story-wise it’s completely out there, but it’s a good comic book movie. With the trifecta of Zach Snyder directing, pinch-hit by Joss Whedon who also did the writing and Christopher Nolan as producer, it had to be better than Suicide Squad.  It wasn’t as bright, or as funny as it tried to be (Zach Snyder and Joss Whedon are complete opposites style-wise and the clash is sometimes apparent), but it’s an ensemble movie that’s truly an ensemble, where we get to root for the team as a whole.

Surprisingly, it’s The Flash and Cyborg who are the interesting dark horses in this particular ensemble. They aren’t weighed down by two previously crappy movies, so it’s a treat to meet both characters for the first time. They’re less tortured, young enough to still be able not to take things so seriously, and they form a nice little buddy twosome. A scene with shovels is a particular standout. 

Jason Momoa’s Aquaman successfully dispels with the notion of Aquaman being the butt of all the JL jokes, and it’ll be interesting to see what he does with the character in his own standalone movie. Gal Gadot can seemingly do no wrong. She plays Wonder Woman with such conviction, she makes Batfleck look even worse by comparison and she makes it easy to overlook the lameness of her weaponry (a lasso of truth, come on).

Yes it tanked at the box office, but as an answer to Marvel’s Avengers, it’s not a bad riposte. Marvel may still be ahead of the game, but DC shows every sign of learning from their mistakes, and that is always a good thing.

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Author’s Twitter: @nikkajow

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