Tag Archives: batman

Justice League

Been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let’s see if I remember how.
I think this was a step up for the DCEU. It started out weak, but got stronger. Still not a super great movie, but leagues (heh) ahead of the previous DCEU movies. Story wise, it was alright. I like that they brought in a family near the source of things so that we could have an emotional investment in what was happening. It wasn’t just a random city being destroyed, there was someone we cared about there. There wasn’t anything really special or new about the story otherwise, but it wasn’t terrible. The telling of it suffered at first. Too many characters without a backstory in place already, so they tried to force too much in in a small amount of time. It came off as awkward and expository. But, once that was out of the way it got easier to get lost in the movie. I do take issue with the ending. It was a classic alien cop-out. I hate alien cop-outs. Almost as much as “it was all a dream” cop-outs. At least this one set up for it throughout the movie.

In terms of characters, I like the new additions. Their characters felt more natural, like actually people. Their dialogue felt more real and natural. They were easier to connect to and like than Batman or Superman. Wonder Woman stands her own with the new guys in that area. I do like the new direction with Superman though. I was not a big fan of his last two movies and, even though I tend to like the darker, grittier stuff, I think this lighter, smiley-er direction is better. They could stand to make some of his (and Batman’s) dialogue less cheesy however. Still better than Suicide Squad’s Enchantress by a mile. 

I think the actors played the characters well. Again, I think the newcomers deserve the most praise. Jason Mamoa and Ezra Miller in particular. I think they were cast very well for their characters. 

The direction was alright. There was not quite as much slo-mo and the like, or it was done more tastefully at least. It wasn’t distracting and cringe-worthy like the rest of the DCEU movies. I wouldn’t say I loved it or anything.

Overall, it wasn’t an MCU movie. That is not a compliment. But it was enjoyable. One of the top two DCEU movies for sure.

Suicide Squad

Meh.  You have to see it, but it wasn’t great.  It had such great potential, but fell so short.  The story was flat and detached.  It felt more like someone telling you what happened rather than immersing you in it for most of the movie.  And much of the dialogue was forced and cheesy.  Like seriously, unless you character is intentionally goofy or uses cliches in a funny manner, don’t have them say “join me or die.”  That is just about the stupidest line a villain can say. And that was definitely not the only bad line.  

And the characters, most of them were fairly one-dimensional and kinda dumb.  Most of the actors did a great job with what they had to work with, but what they had to work with was not great.  Harley Quinn had such potential, and while still entertaining, she fell short of what she could have been.  Too much effort put into her sex appeal and crazy when she could have been a much deeper character.  You saw pieces of the deeper character, but they often felt out of place and just an aside rather than the focus they should have been.  Margot Robbie did the best she could with the character, but she could have done so much more had her role been written well.  Deadshot was done a bit better, but still had some room for improvement (Will Smith did a great job though).  Diablo was kind of stereotyped, but he had some depth.  Boomerang was fairly flat.  Entertaining, but flat.  I did like Killer Croc though.  Enchantress was the worst.  She could have been a good character, but she had the worst lines and was just not done real well.  And probably was acted the worst.  Most of them had great acting, but hers was a bit below the rest.  I’m not going to go into the rest except to say that Amanda Waller was probably the best and was wonderfully played by Viola Davis.
And then there’s the way the movie was shot.  Too much slow motion and too much emphasis on style.  Great cinematography can be put into a movie without a hundred slow motion shots saying “look at this awesome shot we’re filming.”  And then there were a decent number of scenes where it wasn’t clear what happened or how a character got from point A to point B, which was a bit distracting.  Then there were just some unnecessary shots that really served no purpose.  Like, I like the shot of all the casings falling at their feet as much as the next guy, but I think I’ve seen it enough and really don’t need it to understand that their using a lot of ammo.  Just show me what they’re shooting or what the more interesting characters are doing.  Or move on with the story rather than just showing five minutes of shooting gallery.  We get it, the enemy are mindless drones and the heroes are untouchable.  Next scene please.  Okay, that may be an overeaction, the scene is question wasn’t too bad and went a long way toward establishing what the characters can do and even who they are, but it wasn’t perfect.

So the acting was great for the most part, and the story and characters had some real potential, but the movie just kinda flopped.  These new DC movies are just a bit of a disappointment.  They make me long for the Dark Knight trilogy again.  At least the tv shows are starting up again fairly soon, they at least are pretty good.  I really hope Wonder Woman is better.  It looks amazing, but so did this movie.  Forgive my rambling.  Go see this one, but leave your expectations low.