Showing posts with label Justice League. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice League. Show all posts

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) - Recap and Review

zack snyder justice league ben affleck gal gadot batman wonder woman

After years of fan petitioning and online chatter, Zack Snyder's Justice League (or simply) Snyder Cut, has been released on HBO Max. This is a 4 hour long movie or a mini series (as some people would like to put it).
 
Spoilers ahead. Readers who are yet to watch the movie and would like to avoid details, are recommended to skip the post and watch the movie first.
 
The basic plot remains the same: Superman (Henry Cavill) has been killed by Doomsday. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman/Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) are on a recruitment drive to build an alliance to stop the invading forces of Darkseid (voiced by Ray Porter), led by his minion/maternal uncle Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds).
 
zack snyder justice league green lantern darkseid
 
This is not the first time that Darkseid has set his sights on Earth. He had made an unsuccessful attempt earlier, but was beaten back by the combined forces of Atlanteans, Amazons, Gods and a Green Lantern. The three Mother Boxes left behind are given to Atlanteans, Amazons and Men respectively.

This time, Steppenwolf is determined to acquire them and regain the trust and respect of Darkseid. It seems Steppenwolf has fallen out of the New God's good books.
 
But not every one is eager to jump the bandwagon. Flash/Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) agrees right away but Aquaman/Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg/Victor Stone (Ray Fisher) are reluctant.
 
 
 
Cyborg is content with helping out needy people by depositing cash in their bank accounts. Arthur is more than happy to rescue those in distress on his oceanic turf and celebrate his good deeds at the local bar.
 
Once the group does get together, it is time to bring back the most powerful member back to life. But this Superman is grumpy and may not be interested in working with others. 

Check out the trailer below:


The Snyder Cut is far superior to the studio mandated/mangled theatrical version that was unleashed upon unsuspecting viewers/DC comics fans.
 
The Snyder Cut differs significantly from the theatrical version in the following ways:
  • We get our first glimpse of Black suit Superman in live action
  • Darkseid makes his first live action appearance
  • Martian Manhunter finally debuts in the SnyderVerse
  • Steppenwolf's armor and backstory are improved
  • Cyborg's backstory is fleshed out (arguably the most)
  • Iris West has a cameo (in the strictest sense of the word)
  • Ryan Choi features in the movie (DC Comics fan would know him better as Atom)
  • The Whedonesque humor has been (thankfully) done away with, including couple of not-so-fun scenes with Wonder Woman
  • The action sequences are much better in this version
Gone are the unfunny jokes and the frankly unnecessary scene of Flash falling on Wonder Woman in the midst of a fight scene (both courtesy of Joss Whedon). Zack finally gets to release his vision for the Justice League as he had originally intended it to be. Like Whedon, there are the inevitable Snyderisms that this 4 hour long movie is packed with: Lots of slo-mo scenes (and I do mean a lot) and ladies reduced to lusting after alpha male figures.
 
zack snyder justice league black suit superman henry cavill
 
Needless to say Zack Snyder fans will be lapping this up. I would also recommend the movie to both DC Comics fans and specifically fans of Supes. Supes has never been this good in SnyderVerse. Henry Cavill's screen presence is limited but we do get to see him play a relaxed/smiling Superman (at last). Some may argue that he did that in the theatrical version too. But there are a couple of major plus points to this performance:
  • Cavill is no longer sporting the hideous (moustache removed) upper lip
  • He is a blast as the Black suit clad Superman
Additional bonus: We get to see Supes in action with Hans Zimmer's Flight soundtrack in the background. This brings a great closure to Cavill's Supes in this trilogy. I did not like the fact that the theatrical version left out Zimmer's score. But that was to be expected, considering the studio and it's hired hack director did not care for the comic book characters or the fans and were solely focused on releasing the movie for some quick cash.
 
zack snyder black suit superman heat vision steppenwolf beatdown

With Snyder back at the helm, that mistake has been rectified and here we have Supes in his full glory with Zimmer's fantastic theme music accompanying almost all of his scenes (even those teasing his return). The movie scores when Superman is onscreen and Cavill sets the screen on fire in the climactic action piece. Another great sequence is the team working together to bring back the last son of Krypton to life using the Mother Box. It is executed exceedingly well and hats off to Zack Snyder and his crew and actors for pulling it off.
 
Here is the clip from Man of Steel (for readers unfamiliar with the soundtrack):
 
 
I also liked all the scenes featuring Victor Stone and his fractured relationship with his father: Silas Stone (Joe Morton turning in another great performance). The Stones finally come to accept each other and this makes for some heart warming moments and adds the necessary heart and soul to what is essentially another superhero blockbuster movie.
 
joe morton silas stone cyborg father zack snyder justice league

None of the other characters have the kind of character arc that Victor goes through. His transformation over the course of the movie is terrific and Ray Fisher deserves kudos for an amazing performance. Fisher and Morton share the bulk of the work in carrying the emotional component of the movie. Joe Morton always does some of his best work in supporting roles and this movie is yet another feather in his cap. He had played a similar role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and even had a similar death scene, while operating a device controller.
 
zack snyder justice league cyborg victor stone ray fisher
 
This extended version makes us understand as to why Ray Fisher was so upset with the theatrical version and the supposed “unprofessional” behavior of Joss Whedon. He has (arguably) been the biggest casualty of Snyder's departure and the subsequent handling of the movie. The media has reported that the studio did not want a black character to be at the core of a million dollar superhero movie, but I think the right decision would have been to retain Cyborg's story line intact. Well, better be late than never. Hopefully, Ray Fisher will get his due and his career will rise to great heights again.

Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Ezra Miller's Flash provide most of the laughs. Ezra Miller's expanded screen presence has both pros and cons: we get to see more of his personal life which is a plus. But his rescue scene of Iris West (Kiersey Clemons) and his scenes with his father, Henry Allen (Billy Krudup) are way too prolonged and just excruciatingly boring. Especially, the last scene between the Allens is the second most boring scene in the movie. (I will come to the first one shortly). And yes this version of Flash kind of fancies Wonder Woman but that is handled much better this time than the in-the-face and crass objectification in the theatrical version (Joss Whedon strikes again).
 
His attempts at the wide eyed newbie style humor in MCU Peter Parker style gets jarring very quickly. Seeing Flash worship Batman (especially one that is played by the not-so-likeable Ben Affleck) is irritating. But Barry's respect for Supes is understandable.

zack snyder justice league vulko aquaman willem dafoe

We get to see more of Willem Dafoe as Arthur's mentor, Vulko. Dafoe is always a sight for sore eyes and this movie is no exception. It is interesting to note that he seems to be taking lessons on hair care from Loki.
 
Amber Heard has some scenes as Mera but does not have much of impact.

Arthur has some scenes with Diana, where they overcome the long standing lack of trust between Atlanteans and Amazons. This works out well in the final action sequence, when they have each other's back. Contrast this with the Aquaman-sitting-on-the-lasso scene in the theatrical version, in which he inadvertently expresses his crush on Wonder Woman and you will gain a clear understanding of the different approaches taken by Snyder and Whedon towards the source material.
 
Like the 4 hour long movie, this post has already gotten quite lengthy. I will be covering the rest of the aspects in another post, which will be up shortly.

Click here to read all my posts about DC Comics.

Image Sources: Atlas Entertainment, DC Entertainment, DC Films, HBO Max, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, The Stone Quarry, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros., Warner Max

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Justice League Comic Con Trailer - Review/Reaction

justice league alex ross new poster wallpaper screensaver image picture

Warner Bros. has released a sneak peek of the upcoming movie that unites the DC Comics superheroes.

Directed by Zack Snyder (Man of SteelBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), the movie stars Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as  Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash and Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg.

Newcomers include Amber Heard as Mera, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and Kiersey Clemons as Iris West.

Check out the trailer below:



This trailer is not much of an improvement over the previous trailer that debuted a few months ago. Since then, we have had rumors about Ben Affleck wanting to leave the franchise completely. He has officially stepped down as the director and Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes) has taken over the duties. Zack Snyder lost his daughter and has moved away from the production.

Joss Whedon (Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Avengers) is currently overseeing the post production work and has also reportedly done extensive reshoots. Joss was originally hired by the studio to write, direct and produce Batgirl.



Snyder had already completed shooting by the time Whedon took over. We all know Snyder's capacity to deliver a good superhero movie based on his previous two attempts. Snyder's movies boast of great visuals (specifically 300) but severely lack good character development, plot and dialogues. This movie also looks to suffer from the same drawbacks.

The actors strike all types of action figure poses and give reaction shots. The comedy looks forced, which is a surprise given Whedon's natural talent for writing witty dialogues/quips in his movies especially The Avengers. But Even Whedon can only do so much with this sub-standard material that has been forced on him. 




The special effects in this trailer look better than what we saw in the earlier one. Still some do look like taken straight out of a video game. No wonder the movie characters are also two dimensional.

Perhaps, the future of DC Films lies in female superhero led movies. Wonder Woman has been a hit both critically and commercially. Provided the studio does not interfere too much, Whedon will knock it out of the park with Batgirl.

Click on the link below to pre-order Wonder Woman:



Click here to read all my posts about DC Comics.

Image Sources: DC Comics, DC Entertainment, Dune Entertainment (as RatPac-Dune Entertainment LLC), Lensbern Productions, Warner Bros.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Justice League (2017) Trailer - Review/Reaction

justice league movie poster wallpaper screensaver image picture

The first trailer for the long awaited movie has finally been released.

Directed by Zack Snyder (Man of SteelBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), the movie stars Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as  Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/ The Flash and Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg.

Newcomers include Amber Heard as Mera, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and Kiersey Clemons as Iris West.

Check out the trailer below:



From what I have seen in the trailer, I am guessing that this movie is based on story Justice League: Origin by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. That story features an invasion of earth by Darkseid and the heroes forming a team to stop him.

The DC animated movie Justice League: War is itself an adaptation the same story. I am quite sure that this live action movie will not measure up to the animated version.

The trailer is not as exciting as the trailer for BvS: Dawn of Justice was. Considering the quality of BvS, this does not bode well for the movie. The movie seems to suffer from the same shortcomings as the previous two Snyder movies: weak character development, weak dialogues and the most damning of all - special effects that are not worthy for a video game.




Even video games have better detailed locations than this movie does. Like BvS, this one too has been shot extensively in the studio against green screens. Instead of filling the background with details, the lazy director and his crew have just opted for darkened visuals to hide the fact that they have zero imagination.

Considering that this is a superhero movie, at least the special effects must be good if not excellent.

Even the great J K Simmons looks bored. He was on fire as J Jonah Jameson in the Sam Raimi Spiderman movies. Here he just looks lost. I think this has to do with the general lack of vision and direction about the DC Films at Warner Bros. The standalone Flash movie lost not one but two directors and is now headed for a complete script rewrite.

The Batman standalone movie is in a slightly better situation: after Ben Affleck quit as director, the studio managed to hire Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes). The movie is also undergoing a complete script rewrite after the previous script credited to Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns was discarded.

If the rumors are to be believed, Affleck completely wants out of the role. It is understandable that his retirement from the role will be officially announced after this Justice League movie will be released. Given this state of affairs, it is obvious as to why he too looks bored in the trailer.

Click on the link below to buy Batman v Superman:


The rest of the cast do their best with the weak lines. But none of the so-called humor works. The actors just strike action figure poses and have minimal dialogues. Further it does not help that some of the footage are reused from the character spots the studio has been releasing for the past couple of days. I think the best shots in the movie are in this trailer.

But not all hope is lost for DC Films. In addition to hiring Matt Reeves, the studio is reportedly in talks with Mathew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class) to direct the sequel to Man of Steel. That does raise my hopes. Point of interest - Vaughn's Kick-Ass had a Batman knockoff character in the form of Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage in one of his better performances in the recent past).

Clearly, Warner Bros have acknowledged the negative feedback about Snyder's “vision”. If only they had not hired him in the first place....



Coming back to this movie, I am predicting that it will earn around the same amount of money as BvS: Dawn of Justice did. Just as that movie had the novelty factor of the two heroes appearing first time onscreen, this one too has the famed DC team coming to life. Once the opening weekend is over and the hardcore fans are done with the movie, the movie should drop like a rock. Yes, pretty much the same trajectory as what BvS took before falling well short of the coveted 1 Billion USD benchmark.

The critics will no doubt be tough on the movie and I expect the Rotten tomatoes rating to fall below 30%. The hardcore DC fans will take up arms and demand the site to be closed. They will be interested to know that Warner Bros. owns the Rotten Tomatoes site.

Ben Affleck's Batman says at one point in the trailer: “My turn. To see the same line delivered by an actor invested in his character, check out this scene from V for Vendetta:



Unless Zack Snyder has improved his sensibilities and directorial skills dramatically, I would expect this movie to be another missed opportunity.

Click here to read all my posts about DC Comics.
 
Image Sources: DC Comics, DC Entertainment, Dune Entertainment (as RatPac-Dune Entertainment LLC), Lensbern Productions, Warner Bros.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) - Recap and Review

Batman Superman Wonder Woman Justice League poster wallpaper image picture screensaver

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (JL: CoTE) is inspired by “Crisis on Earth-Three!” (written by Gardner Fox) and JLA: Earth 2”, the graphic novel by Grant Morrison.

As the movie's title indicates, there are alternate earths, each with its own version of our DC Comics heroes and villains. Of course, in other realities, the roles are reversed.

In one such alternate universe, Lex Luthor and Joker are the good guys in charge of the Justice League. The villains are bad guy versions of our regular Justice League members. We have Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Power Ring and Johnny Quick. These super villains are members of Crime Syndicate”.

In one such encounters between the heroes and villains, the Joker sacrifices himself in order to save Lex Luthor's life. Lex travels to our Earth and requests our set of Justice Leaguers to help save his planet. The rest of the movie is about how our regular heroes fight their evil counterparts and save the alternate Earth.

This is a movie that gives equal  importance to all Justice League members. This means in addition to Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern, we get a good look at the most (criminally) underused Justice League member of all time: J'onn J'onzz, better known as the Martian Manhunter (MM).


Jonn Jonzz Martian Manhunter Justice League poster wallpaper image picture screensaver

MM is one of the coolest and the most powerful heroes among the entire lineup of DC Comics characters.

To give an idea of the insane arsenal of powers that MM possesses, I have also mentioned another Comic Book character who has the same power:
1. Intangibility (Kitty Pryde)
2. Shape-shifting (Mystique)
3. Super-strength (Superman)
4. Telepathy (Professor X)
5. Flight (Wonder Woman/Rogue)
6. Martian Vision/Optic Blasts (Cyclops)
7. Telekinesis (Jean Grey)
8. Invisibility

It is almost impossible to best him in a physical confrontation and deserves top billing in any DC Comics adaptation (animated or real life). But fate has dealt the Martian a cruel hand and he still lingers on the sidelines, waiting for his spot in the limelight.

MM has not got much of exposure except for a few rare animated movies like this and the Justice League series that ran from 2001 to 2006. Phil Morris played J'onn J'onzz with a healthy dose of humor, intelligence and the requisite air of mystery in Smallville. His MM had an excellent chemistry with Tom Welling's Clark Kent and this remains one of my favorite parts from the TV show.

Getting back to the movie under review, MM gets enough moments to showcase his amazing powers. Credit to Dwayne McDuffie for his script that helps MM get his much deserved screentime.


Batman Owlman Justice League Crisis on Two Earths poster wallpaper image picture screensaver

Obviously, any DC Comics adaptation cannot do without the Batman and this movie is no exception. The Dark Knight and his evil doppelganger, Owlman arguably have the best written parts. Owlman is a nihilist and his motto is Nothing matters. He means to destroy Earth-Prime and with that, all life that exists on various alternate universes (including our Earth).

Other Crime Syndicate members that get to leave an impression are Superwoman and Johnny Quick, the alternate versions of Wonder Woman and The Flash. Another common feature to these three characters is that they get to bash around Batman quite a bit. The Caped Crusader gets even with a couple of them and I will leave it to the readers to enjoy these surprises for themselves.

Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery have co-directed this movie that stars the voice talents of Mark Harmon as Superman, William Baldwin as Batman, James Woods as Owlman, Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman, Gina Torres as Superwoman and others.

The direction and voice acting is the kind of work that makes DC Animation stand heads and shoulders over their competitors. Lauren Montgomery has also helmed Justice League: Doom, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, Green Lantern: First Flight and Wonder Woman. Sam Liu has Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and The Batman vs. Dracula to his credits. Goes without saying that these are some of my favorite DC Comics adaptations.


Owlman Superwoman Johnny Quick Ultraman Crime Syndicate members Justice League Crisis on Two Earths poster wallpaper image picture screensaver

The acting ensemble does a good job. I personally liked James Woods (Owlman), William Baldwin (Batman) and Jonathan Adams (Martian Manhunter).

The animation quality ranks among the best in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Hats off to the animators and other artists who have worked on the movie. The output is top-notch.

The action/fight sequences in this movie are just amazing. There are a bunch of them and each and every one of them have been lovingly choreographed and executed.

Click on the link below to buy your copy:


Like the other alternate universe movie, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, this one too features familiar characters in a different perspective. I particularly liked Harley Quinn and Jimmy Olsen of the alternate Earth. Jimmy is referred to as Ultraman's Pal, in an obvious reference to “Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, the famous comic book series that ran from 1954 to 1974.

This is DC Comics at its peak, right on par with the Christopher Reeve movies and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Needless to say, a must watch for fans of DC Comics.

Check out the trailer below:


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Image Sources: Warner Premiere, DC Movies Wiki