Justice League

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice suffered from beginner's mistakes, but I was able to forgive it many things for its grandeur and its almost comical desire to encompass or touch an entire generation of stories with one film. However, Justice League does not learn any lessons from its predecessor and, on the contrary, is worse in every way. Special effects either get lost in the darkness or appear embarrassingly unfinished in the final battle, the dialogue between Clark and Lois seems like it came from the most awkwardly written fan fiction, and the introductions of Aquaman and Cyborg through summarizing dialogue confuse the viewer more than they clarify anything. A few added lines from Joss Whedon cannot hide the fact that this team movie feels loud and almost obnoxious on all fronts, and if it weren't for the genius of Ezra Miller and the unwavering messiah-like presence of Henry Cavill, the disaster would be complete. When I think about the criticism towards the villains in most of the Marvel movies and then look at the embarrassingly generic development of Steppenwolf, I feel quite ashamed of the barrage of criticism that has been dumped on DC's head after years of effort. The only way forward from here is through solo films, assuming that this path has not already come to an end. (11/15/2017)

The most anticipated film from DC, where every fan of this universe hoped that the League would finally outshine Marvel and be a better film for once, but after all the reshoots and changes in various roles, even I lost hope and expected a real flop. It didn't turn out to be that, but the potential was still not fully realized. The concept could have been exploited more. Snyder's scenes are flawless; his style is recognizable, and they had the right dark impact on me. However, Whedon made fun of the film in many moments with his scenes, and as someone who always saw DC as the more serious option, I was not impressed. I understand he’s used to Marvel’s style, but it just doesn’t fit with DC. The soundtrack could have been more prominent. As for the story, it could be improved, no doubt, but they didn’t ruin it too badly, resulting in a fairly satisfactory outcome. Some characters were introduced too quickly; it needed another half hour. Among the new additions, I liked Aquaman and Flash quite a bit. Steppenwolf wasn’t outright bad, but Darkseid would have been a better marketing move. The ending was once again full of CGI (but within limits). It's weaker than BvS and WW. Still, it's a good film (mainly due to a successful ending). If a director’s cut is released, I’d definitely check it out. I give it 73%. P.S. When I wasn’t focusing on Cavill’s digitally removed mustache, I barely noticed it :) EDIT: After watching the 4-hour epic on HBO Max, I have to lower my rating significantly; this film now seems like a cheap parody compared to that. 5/10 (03/21/2021)

We all know that Batman vs Superman wasn’t great, but it was spectacular, broad in plot and ambitious in scope – that's where Marvel is not even close. Unfortunately, the second time around, instead of a peak, there is a fall. Not only did Snyder ease off the gas, both the darkness and the climactic action are gone, but halfway through, the film seamlessly switches to Whedon’s style, goofing around like in Avengers, which feels stupid for a dark comic book that often takes itself deadly serious. Straight up skip the main CGI villain with zero charisma and the whole thing about saving the world. Yes, really, someone wanted to destroy the world with a magic artefact, again, a cube this time. That leaves only the main characters, who are fine separately and together, but the screenwriting pile of shit around them doesn't give them much room to stand out and instead brings out the secondary roles of the not-so-important characters (Lane, Crudup, Nielsen). Compared to "first one", it's a downgrade in quality and, nothing against Joss Whedon, but when a joke-cap director takes on a pompous and properly dark intergalactic drama-material, it turns out to be exactly the kind of CGI mess we have here. (11/20/2017)

First, let me say I pity Zack Snyder, who killed his potential quite thoroughly with DC Comics for several years to come. At the same time, however, I feel that the whole DC Comics universe made a significant step forward with this movie. It still looks like a Marvel movie from six years ago, but there is the occasional hint of a joke; for every two awkward ones, there is a quite funny one. This is a fair improvement when compared to the last battle between Batman and Superman. Story-wise, there is a lot of work to be done if they wish to pull themselves together because it is one big mess. And that says a lot considering the number of movie stars who star in the movie. Henry Cavill, together with Amy Adams and also surprisingly Ezra Miller made the strongest impression on me; we will see where they are standing in the years to come… (01/03/2019)

It looks like DC wanted to make another team-up film. Which is exactly what happened. A comic book team-up that features a lot of familiar characters, but which works as a team-up for about the last five or ten minutes. The plot is extremely predictable and the villain is very boring, and unfortunately, so is the team of heroes. Flash is at least entertaining. And that is all. (11/21/2017)