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Having been underwhelmed by the waste of great potential that was 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (not terrible but rather lacklustre) and seeing that critical reception was not particularly good, expectations for 'Justice League' were not very high.
Although it has major problems, 'Justice League' turned out to be better than expected. Contrary to the constant critic bashing, which to be perfectly honest has gotten out of control and extremely annoying fast for a while now, critics get a good deal of respect from me. Even when my opinions differ to theirs, which has happened a fair number of times, their appraisals and criticisms are very understandable and it is easy to see where they are coming from. 'Justice League' is a case of the film being much better than anticipated, considering the word of mouth and 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' being so disappointing. Is 'Justice League' better than that film? Yes, by quite a bit.
'Justice League' does have its problems. Although the CGI is pretty good on the whole, there is an over-reliance of it and it doesn't always add to some of the scenes. The story has its fun and excitingly compelling moments, but a lot of it does feel rushed, which does see too many abrupt tonal and storytelling shifts, and some of the first half has a cobbled together and rambling quality. Am usually not one to carp about plot holes, much of the time it is a lazy criticism to me, but one can fit the Grand Canyon through some of them and some border on the ridiculous.
The rushed pacing does come at the expense of character development, which tends to be rather flimsy. Particularly true to this is the villain, there is nothing menacing or remotely interesting about him, he's basically a very dull just there sort of character. Ciaran Hinds is completely wasted, while Ray Fisher is somewhat dull. Not all the jokes work, some feel out of place, while the final battle could have had more excitement and Danny Elfman's music score is uninspired and forgettable.
On the other hand, most of the acting is very good. Ben Affleck brings a brooding intensity to Batman and he didn't seem that bored to me. Other bright spots in the cast are Jeremy Irons' very amusing Alfred, Amy Adams' feisty if somewhat underused Lois Lane, Jason Momoa's beautifully judged Aquaman and particularly Gal Gadot's positively show-stopping Wonder Woman. Ezra Miller is amusing, if at times slightly too introverted, as Flash and Henry Cavill looks much more comfortable here than he did in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'. Diane Lane and JK Simmons are also welcome presences.
Visually, 'Justice League' is beautifully shot, far more cohesively edited and its boldly dark and gritty look fits very well within the story. The script is less clunky and dreary and lightened by some nice quirky humour and some jokes are amusing, especially the absolute hoot that involves the magic lasso. The action is mostly nicely choreographed and fun to watch, some of the characters are interesting and the chemistry is great.
In summary, could have been much better but to me it wasn't that bad. 5.5-6/10 Bethany Cox
