Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy.

DC have had a really challenging time establishing their own cinematic universe to match the success of Marvel’s, and despite reasonable box office returns, the critical praise has mostly deserted them (‘Wonder Woman’ aside). My previous reviews for the likes of ‘Suicide Squad’ and ‘Batman v Superman’ have made my thoughts clear on the films to date, and I did think ‘Justice League’ was an improvement, but the bar was so low and this is still far from a good film. The aim of this film is to bring the team of superheroes known as the ‘Justice League’ together and it does achieve this, but it’s all done at the expense of an engaging plot and it’s surrounded by dull visuals and some horrendous action sequences.

I do feel that DC are starting to get there and the casting of the ‘Justice League’ members is well done, with Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher all strong additions to the previously established Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Ezra Miller is a standout as the wise cracking Flash, bringing a nice dose of levity to proceedings, and Gal Gadot continues to completely own the role of ‘Wonder Woman’. The plot of the film focuses on Batman assembling the troops to take on another incredibly dull, CGI laden villain, with the most boring and overused motivation in the comic book canon. That villain is Steppenwolf, played by the completely wasted Ciaran Hinds, and his objective is to steal three boxes that can conquer the earth, all whilst shouting some corny dialogue in a raspy voice. His only redeeming feature is he’s not as bad as ‘Doomsday’, still the worst and most laughable antagonist in a superhero film to date. The fight scenes are almost universally awful, full of CGI and a use of effects that just completely overwhelms you, and I thought the last half hour was incredibly boring and predictable. I did think the lighter tone was an improvement and the scenes of the group together bonding were pretty enjoyable, so I do think there are positive signs moving forward.

After several films, the people behind the DC Movies still don’t seem to have a clue as to what they want these films to be about, both tonally and in terms of narrative. Thankfully, I do think they’ve cast well and now that we’ve met the entire group maybe we can take a step back and allow the characters and their stories to organically grow. I’m sure I said similar after ‘Batman v Superman’ and that led to this, so I won’t hold my breath!

Rating: 2/5

Directed By: Zack Snyder

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons, Amber Heard, Billy Crudup and Ciaran Hinds

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/