Episode 1675 Talkback - Justice League Movie Review
Adam_Murdough
Posts: 506
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.