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Having low expectations about a movie--in fact, everything--is a useful policy in life to prevent disappointment and its partner, anger. A secondary benefit is that occasionally one is surprised on the upside. So I'm happy to report that I liked the movie. Its opening action sequences were great; the blend of CGI and live actors was seamless, and a few seconds on each character were sufficient background to allow the audience to move on to the story.
Justice League of America was one of my favorite comic books in the 60's. For 10 cents one could get a story with seven heroes (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter) instead of buying the separate books. Given the changes to the DC Universe, it was remarkable that the Justice League was largely intact a half-century after the original comic; for the movie Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter were subtracted and Cyborg was added.
Ben Affleck's Batman is the glue that holds the team together. He persuades the other recruits to join forces against the planet-destroying Steppenwolf. To these eyes the weakness of the film was the plot-obviousness of the MacGuffin: the three separated Mother Boxes that, if united, would destroy the world.
One of the film's pluses was the late introduction of Superman, whose presence usually shifts the balance of power to the good guys. (Superman is always a problem for comics writers because he's too mighty; they either have to get him out of the picture with some personal problem or weaken him with Kryptonite, which used to be exceedingly rare but now shows up in nearly every story.) Encouraged by Justice League, I'll put the DC Universe back on the follow list.
Netflix's blu-ray service levels. |
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