Justice League: Just Okay

2017 has been a year of superhero movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has released 3 movies (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok), and the DC Extended Universe has released two (Wonder Woman and now Justice League).

Justice League is the fourth movie in the current DCEU, after Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, and Wonder Woman. Starring  Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, and Ray Fisher as the titular Justice League, the movie has currently grossed over 90 million dollars. The movie is rated 7.3 on IMDb and has a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, in comparison to Wonder Woman, which has a 7.8 on IMDb and 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. This puts it above two of its fellow DCEU movies (Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman), but far below the others. In short, Justice League is average. It isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great either.

*WARNING, SPOILERS BELOW*

In Justice League, Batman, who is still feeling guilty after Superman’s death, is getting together a new team, because he believes a threat is coming. This team at first consists of Barry Allen (aka the Flash) and Diana Prince (Wonder Woman). Quickly joining them are Arthur Curry (Aquaman) and Victor Stone (better known as Cyborg). The threat turns out to be the villain Steppenwolf, who aims to (of course) destroy the world and have humanity bow to him. He will do so by collecting three ‘mother boxes’ which contain energy to destroy the planet. After a terrible first battle with Steppenwolf, Batman decides to resurrect Superman to come and fight with them. They end up fighting Steppenwolf, and, with the help of Superman, win.

*SPOILERS END*

I saw Justice League over the weekend, and if I had to rate it, I would give it 3/5 stars. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. The movie especially pales in comparison to Wonder Woman, as this movie was simply boring. There were a few good jokes, but most of the time, I just didn’t care. The villain was pretty useless, as there was no backstory and no build-up. The audience is just plopped right into the plot without any background information and the meager explanation given was not enough to satisfy my questions. Who is he? What does he want? Why? Where did he come from? The list goes on and on. There were some high moments though. I enjoyed both Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Ezra Miller as the Flash. They both did the best they could with their roles and managed to make the audience laugh. Gal Gadot, as before, was amazing as Wonder Woman, though her role was more diminished. Ray Fisher was good, although, since I have never seen him in anything else, I cannot make a clear judgment. Ben Affleck’s Batman was almost unneeded throughout the whole movie, as he didn’t really contribute. Superman, to me, was much too powerful. I didn’t like the way he was more powerful than the whole team put together, it kind of made the rest of the characters useless.

Overall, the movie had some high points and some good characters, but that could not make up for the boring, confusing plot and the truly awful villain. It lies in the middle of the other DCEU movies, not the best, not the worst. Would I give this movie a chance and watch it? Yes. But would I pay extra to watch it in the theater, if I had the choice? Probably not.