by Ethan Dowling
“Justice League”, the 5th movie released in DC’s line up of live action films, has brought life back to the movies, and obviously Superman himself.
As per usual with my reviews, there will be major spoilers for the story. If you haven’t seen the film, go see it then read on.
Many years ago, Steppenwolf, with an army of winged creatures known as Parademons, attempted to conquer and remake Earth through the combined energies of the Mother Boxes before they are foiled by an alliance of the Amazons, Atlanteans, and humans. After repelling Steppenwolf's army, the Mother Boxes are separated and hidden in locations around the world.
In the present year, the world still mourns the death of Superman in the 2016 film Batman v Superman. Sensing humanity's fear, Steppenwolf and his Parademons return to Earth to resume their hunt for the Mother Boxes through kidnapping several employees of S.T.A.R. Labs, which is in possession of one box. Having investigated the kidnappings and encountered a Parademon himself, Bruce Wayne decides to move forward in recruiting his planned team of metahumans, as he believes an invasion is coming.
Steppenwolf manages to retrieve the Mother Box from Themyscira, prompting Queen Hippolyta to warn her daughter Diana Prince. Diana joins Wayne's group and informs him about Steppenwolf and the Mother Boxes. The two of them fail to persuade Arthur Curry, the Aquaman, and Victor Stone, a human/machine invention of the Mother Box, but manage to recruit Barry Allen into the team. Stone later joins the group after his father Silas is among those kidnapped, and Steppenwolf attacks Atlantis to retrieve the second Mother Box.
The team receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon that the Parademons are traveling underground, and conclude that Steppenwolf's army is based in an abandoned facility. Although the group manages to rescue the kidnapped employees, the facility is flooded during combat, which traps the team until Curry rescues them, having decided to join them after Steppenwolf's attack on Atlantis. Stone retrieves the last Mother Box from S.T.A.R. Labs for the group to analyze. Wayne, realizing the potential power the boxes have, decided to use the Mother Box to resurrect Superman not only to help them fight Steppenwolf's army, but also to restore hope in humanity. Diana and Curry are hesitant about the idea, but Wayne forms a secret contingency plan. Clark Kent's body is exhumed and placed in the waters of the Kryptonian ship, and Allen provides a strong energy blast to activate the Box and resurrect Superman. However, he possesses few memories, and he attacks the group after Stone accidentally launches a projectile at him. On the verge of being killed by Superman, Wayne enacts his contingency plan, Lois Lane. Superman calms down and leaves with Lois to his family home where he reflects and tries to recover his memories. With the last Mother Box unguarded, Steppenwolf retrieves it with ease.
Without Superman to aid them, the remaining five heroes travel to a village in Russia where Steppenwolf plans to unite the boxes once again and reshape the world for his nephew Darkseid. The team fight their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf, although they are unable to distract him enough for Stone to separate the boxes. Superman arrives and assists Allen in evacuating the city, as well as Stone in separating the Mother Boxes. The united heroes manage to defeat Steppenwolf, who, overcome with fear, is attacked by his own Parademons, before they are all taken away by a Boom Tube.
In the aftermath of the battle, Wayne decides to rebuild Wayne Manor as a base of operations for the team and he and Diana agree that more heroes could join. Diana as Wonder Woman begins engaging more with the public. Allen manages to acquire a job in Central City's police department. Stone continues to explore and enhance his abilities with his father in S.T.A.R. Labs. Curry returns to Atlantis. Clark returns as a Daily Planet reporter and resumes his role as Superman.
Now that the story is out of the way, I want to say I genuinely liked this movie. Sure, there were major issues with the story and it felt rushed in some ways, but it was not a failure. It wasn’t as good as DC’s fourth film, Wonder Woman, but it’s one of the better films in my opinion.
Some scenes were left unresolved, or scenes from the trailers were completely omitted from the final cut, and I genuinely think that they could have kept them in. Also, I don’t understand how Clark regains his job after being dead/missing for almost 3 months (I believe. They never specified how long the movies take place after BvS). But, regardless of that, I still genuinely liked the film.
The score, composed by Danny Elfman, was mediocre at best, especially with the classic 1989 Batman theme. Every time I heard that theme, I was giddy inside. He also reused John Williams’s classic theme for the Christopher Reeves Superman, which was a huge trip of nostalgia for many viewers, including myself.
The characters in this film were also nicely written, mainly Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash. Throughout the film, he made me smile constantly. The most lackluster character however, was Steppenwolf himself. He was just another CGI villain. But, I still felt the sense of terror from him whenever the incomplete Justice League fought him and his Parademons.
All in all, it was a great movie. I would give it a higher score, but with all the issues I mentioned, I have to give it a 7/10. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a huge step up from Dawn of Justice, so I hope that you enjoyed my review and I also hope you enjoy the film.