Justice League Movie Review (spoiler Free)

So, I was lucky enough to be able to watch Justice League early and here are my spoiler-free thoughts about the movie.

First of all, I am fully aware that there are several people who disliked Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. I thought those movies were ok, nothing great but not the train wrecks that a lot of people thought they were. Following Batman V Superman and the success of Wonder Woman, one would hope that they took those lessons to make changes to this movie to improve it.

Were they successful? Well… yes and no. It’s probably because I know the directing styles of both Snyder and Whedon that I could pick out their work by watching the movie. There wasn’t a time when I thought the transition of styles was really abrupt, however, it was noticeable. One thing from Justice League that was very different from Man of Steel and Batman V Superman was the humor. This movie was fun and had many laugh-out-loud moments. However, the humor missed a couple times and it wasn’t consistent throughout the movie.

One of the areas that the movie really shined, in my opinion, was the cast. Lets get it out of the way; I like Affleck as Batman. He plays the battle-worn aging vigilantly well. Sure he is different than some of the better know Batman iterations, but I believe this performance. Cavill as Superman is good. There were steps taken in the writing of this film to move him away from the brooding emo Superman in the past two films he was in. Gadot continues with a great Wonder Woman performance. She can’t help but be the center of almost every scene she is in. I was impressed with Mamoa as Aquaman, but I thought his dudebro attitude got a little stale. That being said, as the heroes are heading to the final battle he has a great monologue that redeems him in a way. My favorite character was Ezra Miller playing The Flash. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but I believe we have our first superhero who is on the autism spectrum. If this is the case, it was done very well and subtle. In this film, Barry Allen clearly shows a desire to fit in and be a part of something, but at the same time has a hard time understanding and connecting with people. The biggest issue I had with the cast was Cyborg. Don’t get me wrong, Ray Fisher did a good job, but compared to the attention and detail that the other characters got, he just didn’t shine. The villain in this movie was done well other than the fact that we had no information behind his motivation to conquer Earth other than he was the “world conqueror”.

Another aspect of this film that I really liked was the music. The movie had Superman’s theme along with the rock cello from Wonder Woman, and original music that integrated them well.

To wrap it up, I liked Justice League. It’s not a perfect movie. Wonder Woman is still my favorite DC universe film. Justice League took steps to be a better movie than Batman V Superman, but not in every area. The cast worked together and the movie was paced well. Overall, I would recommend seeing this movie. Oh, and don’t forget to stay until after the credits.

Tell me what you thought of the movie, leave a comment but please… no spoilers.