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Episode 1675 Talkback - Justice League Movie Review

Just Imagine: the mightiest heroes of our time, banded together as the Justice League in a major motion picture! Next, imagine the CGS Geeks similarly united to review that motion picture, hashing out the good, the bad, and the ugly of the JLA's big-screen debut. Now stop imagining and start downloading! Justice Is Served!! (1:06:32)

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Comments

  • Spoilers? Haven't seen it yet.
  • Mr_CosmicMr_Cosmic Posts: 3,200
    On a 1-10 scale(yes I know that's not how we do it around here) I give it 7.5.

    I enjoyed a lot of what they did but there were short comings that bothered me. The biggest, to me, was the Flash. He was called the Flash, he ran fast, but that was about as far away from Barry Allen as they could get.

    Anyways, sorry to see it isn't performing as well as they were expecting. Hopefully we'll get more Justice League movies in the future.
  • Spoilers? Haven't seen it yet.

    Yes! Spoilers in spades! Caveat Auditor!
  • I'm PRETTY sure the Green Lantern shown in the movie was Yalan Gur...

    image
  • DmanDman Posts: 163
    I liked the Justice League, better than I thought I would after the disaster of Dawn of Hot Mess. I liked Jason Mamoa and Ezri Miller better than I thought I would and Gal Gadot can never go wrong as Wonder Woman. You can definitely see the Joss Whedon input and I thought it balanced out the Zach Snyder darkness very well. With all that said...

    If God is my witness, I don't care if Justice League 2 is directed by one of my favorite directors and word of mouth says its a superb film, I REFUSE to watch Jesse Eisenberg play Lex Luthor. I thought his "performance" in DoHM (see above) was one of the worse characterizations I've ever seen in my LIFE. It was agonizing to watch. That is not Lex Luthor. Lex is how he was portrayed in the Timm/Dini DC animated TV series' universe. Lex is how he was portrayed in Smallville. DC really needs to stop the bull and come correct. I repeat. I will not see any films with Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I despise that version of Lex Luthor with every fiber of my being. If I knew he was going to show up in the final credits, I would've left as soon as the credits started rolling.
  • DARDAR Posts: 1,128
    I saw the movie over the weekend. I had some issues with the CGI and such (Steppenwolf looked pretty bad). But overall I liked it. I'd probably say a 3.5 out 5.

    I will say that I'm one of the rare people that likes most of the movies in this DCEU. I loved Wonder Woman and Man of Steel. I know it has problems but for the most part I did like BvS. Suicide Squad though I didn't care for.
  • DmanDman Posts: 163
    Steppenwolf did look pretty bad. It made me think that I don't want them to try and do Darkseid if they can't get Steppenwolf right.
  • BionicDaveBionicDave Posts: 377
    edited November 2017
    Great podcast! - and such a relief. As someone who loved this movie, it's bummed me out to hear some of the reviewers I care about utterly trash it lol. So hearing you guys say you enjoyed it (well except for @Pants) made this especially fun for me.

    As for that opening scene, I felt it was there to do two things. Firstly, it's to show audiences right from the get-go that this Superman is not the Superman from recent DCEU films. This Superman is brighter, cheerier and more inspirational, more akin to his comic book roots; in other words, this is a person this world would indeed mourn and miss, versus the alien who so suddenly brought mayhem, destruction, confusion and fear into our existence. Secondly, the scene's conclusion - at least as far as I saw it - is meant to knock us in the gut. For just when we're smiling that this is the Supes we know and love, and those friendly podcasters ask him what he likes best about the world, and he's pausing so long because you can see that he loves so many things that he's finding it tough to pick just one-- he's bluntly cut off, and it smashes to black, reminding us that this super man who loved us so much is now dead.

    It's an obvious Whedon reshoot, as the scene's sentimental tone and Cavill's CGI'd upper lip seem to give away. But I think it was an excellent choice to set up this film. We need to feel what the world feels here, and certainly what the other five heroes of this story will come to feel: that we need Superman. It helps to justify the crazy risk that the rest of this new Justice League will take to bring back Earth's most powerful hero.
  • I saw it today. I'll gather my thoughts properly later but initial impression was that it was terrible. I didn't particularly like Batman v Superman but I still thought it was better than this.
  • i_am_scifii_am_scifi Posts: 781
    edited November 2017
    In the end, Justice League was...okay. A lot of what they attempted to do was left hanging due to not earning it, or attempting to give enough screen time to each character. But it wasn't a complete mess, and had a few enjoyable and fun moments in between the strain of bringing the band that we just met together. Momoa's Aquaman steals the show, Ezra Miller's Flash should have been named Bart Allen, and Ray Fisher's Cyborg was competent.

    It's VERY apparent to me that there are way more reshoots than was originally reported, as nearly every scene with Cavill's Superman looked like it had the weird CGI mustache removal, and there was some very inconsistent VO with Cavill that was way deeper than other spoken dialog. Whedon and Snyder's styles do not stitch together easily, and I found myself focusing more on who did what instead of the plot, which is noticeably paper thin to begin with.

    Affleck's Batman has much less to do in this outside of assisting in moving the plot forward, as we get a lot more of Gadot's excellent Wonder Woman than in BvS; although her Amazon sisters lost their midriffs since World War I somehow. If there is indeed a second of these movies, they better avoid hooking these two up, even if JLU always hinted at it. And Steppenwolf was...a CGI character named Steppenwolf. I'll give it a 2.5 out of 5. DC still has a lot of work to do to make me care, but at least this one didn't make me angry.

    P.S. I approve of Commissioner J. Jonah Gordon.

    P.P.S. The middle credits scene is cute and fun, but the post-credits scene felt stiff and forced, especially with a last second character inclusion. Obviously a holdover from Snyder's version that was left feeling a bit meaningless in the final iteration.
  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    Great podcast episode guys! I think I’m with @pants all the way this time. This was another timely episode. Thanks everyone for making it happen so quickly. Great production this time also. Good sound, everyone’s levels were comparable, and Mr. Eberle’s connection sounded the best it ever has (imo). Well done!

    I’m hearing that with the reshoots and salaries factored in, this movie cost nearly $600 million to produce. I’m not convinced that this film is going to be very profitable for Warner Bros.
  • alienalalienal Posts: 508
    Chiming in late here cuz of busyness: I'm pretty much in agreement with those above who gave the movie a 3.5 FSs. I was actually quite surprised at how good it was AND at how it made me feel. The brighter Superman, the putting the team together, the team-ups, the team helping Batman even though he tried to sacrifice himself, the race, the end credits race and the possible new villains' team. Awesome! I didn't totally agree with everything Shane said, but overall I felt pretty much the same way. I'm quite surprised at Pants' "Meh" 2.5 score. Do I have to call Julie Benson on you? lol
  • MattMatt Posts: 4,457
    edited December 2017
    Damn, no wonder my hears were ringing; a lot of mentions. Although I didn’t see the movie, I can provide some backstories:

    There’s at least an hour of footage not in the movie for several reasons. The initial product, all Snyder & before postproduction, was deemed “unwatchable.” Whedon was teamed with Snyder to handle rewrites & reshoots. Snyder left due to his family tradegy, so Whedon finished the rewrites, then the reshoots. It’s up in the air how much of the rewrites Snyder we’re apart of. There’s reportedly nearly a whole, unfinished, different version of the movie released.

    Also, the WB CEO placed a 2 hour time limit on the movie.

    WB wanted to fire Snyder after the BvS:DoJ debacle. Unfortunately, the preproduction was too far along in JL to do so.

    Cavill was required to keep his mustache for Mi6. WB offered to pay to have the “lip beard” (as my daughter called it) to be CGI-ed, but Paramount Pictures declined. It’s easier to add the facial hair with cgi then delete it

    Despite your impression, @Adam_Murdough, Cavill has since stated he looks forward to playing this version of the character. He enjoyed Joss’ version of the character.

    Whedon replaced Junkie XL with Elfman, who thinks it’s shit his Batman theme (or as he stated “THE Batman theme”) wasn’t used since Returns. He’s only recently admitted to getting a day’s notice to rescore the film...essentially half-assing it.

    Finally, the Batman comments. I’m not a fan of Affleck as Batman for two reasons; I did not like the interpretation of the more violent, gun toting, willing to kill Batman in BvS. I can’t not see Affleck as Batman & think “that’s just Ben Affleck.” Like Clooney, his celebrity status is on par with Batman. That’s why I prefer lesser known/fallen star actors for these parts.

    From what I’ve seen in the trailers, Batman tried to recruit Curray & Allen as Bruce Wayne, which is another misstep I believe. Now his identity is out there.

    And @ShaneKelly, I will continue to disagree that Batman was birthed due to a gun, so he won’t resort to using one; Knightmare or not.

    And the Tumbler kicks ass, seconded only to the 90s Breyfogle designed Batmobile.

    From what I’ve read, it will be Wayne Manor that Batman rebuilds as a Hall of Justice, as he continues to live in his cottage on the property.

    Kinda like Batman, Inc., making easy connections to “Batman poses as Bruce Wayne”. Not a fan.
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