Before I go into my review, I want to share my backstory, for which I hope will provide you a perspective. Knowing a little about me, the type of movies I enjoy and my overall stance on the Marvel vs DC thing.
I'm a film buff, my favorite directors are Ben Affleck, Michael Mann, Chris Nolan, and Martin Scorsese. A list of my favorite movies is the Town, Heat, the Dark Knight series and Wolf of Wall Street.
I was more than excited when Affleck was chosen as the next Batman and I was equally excited about the Batman vs Superman theme. Yet, I did not think Snyder was the best man for the job. Man of Steel was..ok, but it was not the Donner Superman. BvS for me was a letdown...I think Snyder had a great cast of actors but failed to deliver a compelling story. A good story/film is when it connects to you...when you leave the theater, you should walk away with a bond with a movie. You should be thinking about it for hours, if not days and BvS was far from that.
Before BvS was released, we came to hear about Snyder directing Justice League. Hmmm....for those that may not be as familiar with the history of Justice League and Hollywood, there have been multiple attempts in making a Justice League movie. After watching BvS, and seeing that type of Batman Synder introduces, It made wonder hard and long of how will they connect this dark, older Batman with the light-hearted, colorful Justice League we all know of from the comic books.
The reason why Marvel has succeeded this long is that the tone of the individual movies was aligned and so as they all came together, their chemistry, energy was crystal clear.
Review of Justice League- So, now that you have an idea of my perspective and thought process, I hope my review will make sense to you. First off, I'm a huge fan of Ben Affleck. I became a fan after seeing him in the Town and following his directorial ventures. The man can act...not as great as Downey Jr, but he can deliver. The man understands directing so good that he's used it to improve his acting skills. Gal Gadot, for me was a good Wonder Woman, but I personally was hoping for a more full figure actress to play the part. Cavill as Superman in the Man of Steel was a great choice, however, BvS failed to provide him much substance.
Justice League has a weak story and the subplots from the beginning were weak. What I loved about Nolan's movies was that he mostly filmed on location (NY, Chicago, and Detroit). In JL, the opening scene was a film set and it was tacky. Why? It worked for Burton, but it failed for all the Joel Schumacher Batman movies.
It was stated in the news that WB trimmed the movie down to 2 hours due to the BvS experience, but here again, is an example of WB getting in the way of the director. What makes Marvel so successful is the Kevin Feige, the producer behind the Marvel movies doesn't micromanage. If you hire a director and want him to use his vision to make a movie, then you gotta have faith in this project...this is something WB fails to do. If you don't have faith in the director than don't hire him or her....
The Villian, Steppenwolf seemed like a character out of a video game. No character appeal, CGI to death...and just crappy. Than, Synder steps out of the movie due to personal reasons and they bring on the Maestro himself, Joss Whedon to help complete the movie. Sounds like a great idea but its' not the easiest of tasks. Where Snyder is known for his slow-motion visuals with dark backdrops, Whedon is colorful, has a great sense of humor...mixing the two didn't really make the movie all that better.
Superman dies in BvS, and we knew he was going to come back, but it was that easy to do so? I was turned off by this subplot. Okay, so he's back but he's in a bad mood. Why? I thought he and Batman had made up at the end of BvS? and what's his beef with Wonder Woman? So he hates Batman and remembers the line " tell me...do you bleed?" but forgot that Batman saved his mother? and then a quick visual of his lover, Lois Lane calms him down? CRAPPY!!!
Okay, so let's even go a point forward...Lois Lane convinces him to be the good Superman that he is, and he follows her advice....and all of sudden, he's got a sense of humor as he ends his battle with Steppenwolf? And guys, let's not forget, Superman is this super strong dude right....but then why wouldn't he just kill Batman....the human in a superhero suit?
What I liked about the movie was Batman, Aqua Man, The Flash, and Cyborg. Even though we hardly get any back story on the 3 dudes.
My final take- Snyder was the wrong choice from day 1. He's a decent director for the movies he's done outside of the DC. But he's no Nolan or Whedon. In fact, I would have asked Matthew Vaughn to direct this movie or perhaps a guys like F Gary Gray (Fast and Furious), Brad Bird (Mission Impossible 4) or Justin Lin (Star Trek) and if it was any way possible, I would have begged a guy like JJ Abrams to come on board.
Where does this leave us? I highly doubt a sequel to the Justice League movies. I'm even doubting standalone movies for the Aqua Man and Flash. I bet they will focus on Wonder Woman and the Matt Reeves Batman trilogy. I have no faith in WB with DC....I have no expectations, except for the Batman Movies. And after watching the Avengers Trinity War trailer today, I can bet almost anything that the Trinity War movie will be everything we expected and even more!
