Large Popcorn Review

MPAA RATING: PG-13

Family Friendly?: Yes

After numerous failed attempts to try catching up to Marvel’s success in making movies, DC Comics finally made a film that was able to go up against “The Avengers” (2012). This epic team-up film is the Justice League, and though the company has had failures before this film, this movie was able to gather their superheroes together in order to form a team. The film follows heroes such as Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), and other heroes, as they go up against an alien god named Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) who wants to take over the world. With their strongest ally, Superman (Henry Cavil), recently sacrificing his life to save the world, will these heroes be able to do what Superman did, or will they be defeated by Steppenwolf?

This film was interesting in terms of visualization in the environments in which the characters interact in. After the death of Superman, the world’s shining light, the world the heroes fight to save has a darker and grittier feeling to it. Whether the heroes were in the dark alleys in Gotham City, or even in foreign countries, the world definitely feels like all hope is slowly going away as a result of Superman’s absence. For example, when the heroes met Commissioner Gordon (J.K. Simmons) on the roof of the Police Department, the scene had a dark and ominous feeling in the sky with the thunder in the background. This brought about a feeling that something was about to happen in which the heroes needed to save the day from. On top of that, crime is on the rise with terrorists and villains believing that they don’t have to worry about Superman coming in and saving the day.

Henry Cavil’s return as Superman was truly a sight to see. After his portrayal in “Man of Steel” (2013) and “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016) made his character seem like a sad and mopey hero. Thankfully, this film definitely makes his character the true boy scout hero we all know and love. As it seemed like all was lost, and the Steppenwolf was going to succeed, there’s a moment when you hear the lines “I believe in truth, I also am a big fan justice” accompanied with the classic Superman theme, that Henry Cavil finally is able to embody the Man of Steel. With his powers on display as he fights the unstoppable Steppenwolf, it feels good to root for Superman as he is the only hero who was able to put a ton of damage onto the alien god.

An interesting thing to consider about the Justice League was how easily the film was able to introduce all the heroes without having films for each one of them before teaming up. It’s actually very enjoyable to be introduced to Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) in this movie because the film focuses on their character growth. The Flash is trying to find his mother’s killer in order to get his father out of prison; Aquaman is denying his destiny to be king of Atlantis; Cyborg is trying to find his meaning and purpose in life now that his body has fused with an alien metal. All of their storylines; even with Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman having character developments as well; are naturally sewn into the story, and seeing each one of them overcoming their own obstacles was intriguing because they were able to do it together, as a team.

Overall, Justice League was not only a new beginning for the DC Cinematic Universe, but it was also the starting point to give iconic characters a proper live-action representation. I cannot wait to see Henry Cavil continue playing Superman, and with all the other actors supposedly to continue their roles, things are finally beginning to look better for DC Comics. Although it didn’t make as much of a splash as The Avengers did in the box office, Justice League was a film that overcame many challenges that came with rushing a movie universe to make money and instead united these spectacular heroes into the team we know them as, The Justice League.

 

RATING:
4.6/5 POPCORN KERNELS

 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE:
This review was for one of my film classes at school, I decided that since it was the same length as the ‘Large Popcorn Reviews’ I would go ahead and upload it for YOU!