Saturday, November 18, 2017

In Theatres: Justice League (2017)

Nearly a decade ago, Marvel Comics enacted a long range plan to bring their large library of heroes and villains to the big screen. That plan reached fruition 5 1/2 years ago with the release of "The Avengers", and, well, with the notable exception of 20th Century Fox's epic mishandling of the Fantastic Four in three attempts in 10 years (2005-15), you might as well say Marvel has become critic proof, and given a license to print money with their movies.

DC, on the other hand, has been behind the 8-ball from the jump. When Marvel put "Iron Man" in theatres in 2008, DC answered with "The Dark Knight", but didn't have anything to respond to "The Incredible Hulk". The fans basically spoke with their wallets. If it wasn't going to feature Batman, it wasn't going to work. 2004's ill-advised reimagining of "Catwoman" being one example of creative stupidity at Warners.

However, WB may want to rethink who's in charge of their DC Comics adaptations going forward.

Zack Snyder's 3rd visit to the DCU, "Justice League", isn't quite as bloated as "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice", released more than a year and a half ago, but it isn't exactly a critic's delight, either. In fact, critics by and large have trashed the film, if for no other reason than to protest Snyder's insistence on a now-out-of-date idea that all heroes have to be dark & brooding. While that works for Batman (Ben Affleck), it doesn't fit for everyone else. What became a chic thing in the late 80's (thanks to Sylvester Stallone's take on "Rambo" and Marvel giving The Punisher his own book in response) is now best left in the history books.

The origin of the Justice League in this context draws its roots from DC's New 52 initiative from 2011, although Green Lantern is missing from the picture, save for an alien GL in a brief flashback. Oh, I'm sure there will be a few kiddo's who might be confused seeing Cyborg (Ray Fisher) as a member of the League when on TV, he's still a Teen Titan. Aquaman (Jason Momoa) is all tatted up and loaded with an attitude that mostly comes from the 90's and an attempt to make him more of a clone of Marvel's Sub-Mariner. Flash (Ezra Miller) is a college student instead of the police scientist we know from TV and years of comics. Snyder's idea was to posit Barry Allen as DC's answer to Spider-Man. The closest analogue to this Barry would be from 2001's Justice League animated series, whose Flash was a clown and a bit of a tool, too.

Snyder co-wrote the original story with Chris Terrio (no relation to Denny of Dance Fever fame--we think), but the final screenplay was credited to Terrio and Joss Whedon ("Avengers", Buffy The Vampire Slayer, etc.), who actually took over directing when Snyder left the project after a death in the family. On the whole, DC/WB would've been better served if Whedon had been lured away from Marvel well before this. Snyder's been losing credibility points with each of his DC films, and this didn't help.

This trailer will help paint the picture:



Let's put it this way. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is the glue holding everything together, and keep an eye out for a mid-credit scene that recalls an iconic moment in DC history.

Other trailers include:

"The Greatest Showman" (Dec. 22): Hugh Jackman swaps Wolverine's claws from a top hat & tails as P. T. Barnum. It's not "Barnum", per se, but if you wonder why Jackman also has a Tony Award or two on his mantle, you'll see why.

"The Quiet Place" (April): A family on the run tries to avoid making noise, but an accident brings a worst case scenario to their door.

"The Commuter" (January): Liam Neeson has to find a particular person or innocents will be killed by a crackpot. Sound familiar?

"Rampage" (April): As if visiting the jungle of "Jumanji" next month wasn't enough, Dwayne Johnson's spring blockbuster looks to be a tale involving a mutated white gorilla named George.

"Samson" (February): The Biblical strongman's story is told for the first time in years.

"Black Panther" (February): Previously discussed.

"Ready Player One": Steven Spielberg's latest is based on a young adult novel, set nearly 30 years into the future.

"Pitch Perfect 3" (Dec. 20): Rebel Wilson & friends return.

"Justice League" gets a C.

2 comments:

Goldstar said...

As a point of interest, "Rampage" is based on a video from 1986. Basically, it was about giant animals (George the gorilla, Lizzie the lizard and Ralph Wolf) wreaking havoc in a city while being attacked by onslaughts of military forces. When I saw the trailer for this before Justice League, I was thinking, "Wait...a giant gorilla named George, a wolf and a lizard, is this a Rampage movie?", and then I saw the title.

As for Justice League, I didn't hate it, it was enjoyable, if a tad uneven, which mainly stems from the fact it was originally meant to be a 2 part movie that was later mashed into 1. I appreciated the attempt at a lighter approach. No disrespect meant to Zack Snyder, but I hope that Warner Brothers will place someone else in charge of the DCEU after this. Snyder's a decent director, but super heroes aren't his forte.

hobbyfan said...

Agreed they need someone better at the helm (Whedon? JJ Abrams?). I had never heard of "Rampage" before seeing the trailer. It was enough to avoid making reference to a certain Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck cartoon about an abominable snowman that wanted to name Daffy "George".....