"Justice League" Was Good. COME AT ME, BRO!

'SUP, NERDS?!

I'm not a huge fan of superhero movies. Nu-uh. Batman is the extent of my liking. The rest are... not very enjoyable. I may be harsh on superhero movies, I do like the DC universe. Occasionally I'll pick up the comics. I've had interest in watching all of the films preceding Justice League but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I intended to see a special showing of Howl's Moving Castle a couple weeks ago and invited a friend out... but I lost my marbles and mixed up the day. We ended up seeing Justice League because why not? Initially, I resisted since I haven't seen the recent DC movies, but overall Justice League brought *ahem* justice to both women and those new to the DC movie franchise.

My Beef with "The Avengers"

I'm erecting my flame shield:

I hated The Avengers. I thought it was boring, I didn't know what was happening and I didn't like the heroes. With so many characters, I didn't understand the history of anyone and I felt there wasn't much context of what happened in the previous films. Before I ever saw The Avengers I tried to watch the Iron Man movies a few times and fell asleep on multiple occasions.

Let's not forget that Black Widow sucks as a super heroine in the Marvel movie franchise. She didn't serve any purpose beyond being a hot piece of ass. Can someone tell me if she has any superpowers??? I'm so confused because it seems her superpower is only being the token female.

Character Introduction

Although I love Batman for it's darkness and quirkiness, I expected Justice League to be campy like any superhero movie (which isn't my style) but there was no plot confusion. Going into the movie knowing virtually nothing, it's immediately established that Superman is dead, emphasizing the grief of losing such a paragon.

Negative: not enough
Supermanin this movie.

Batman v. Superman is summarized in the first few minutes. Good. I'm caught up. Wonder Woman is the only other hero with a feature length film. Unfortunately I couldn't really collect what happened during her movie. I can forgive that since I didn't feel lost during her development. The most welcoming aspect of Justice League is the introduction of new characters.

The Flash made a few brief appearances prior to Justice League whereas Cyborg and Aquaman make their official debut. I think Cyborg has the most intriguing story of any of the heroes due to the pressure from his father, who pushes Cyborg's ability and blends the boundaries of humanity and machinery. The Flash is well explained when Batman recruits him. His personality shines as he twitches and fumbles during this exchange. Aquaman is a mysterious character because he refuses recruitment, but I think he is being saved for his own film set to be released in 2018.

Inclusion

I'm tired of the male gaze and the bullshit gender politics of Hollywood. Justice League pleased me because I felt included in superhero culture, which I've always considered to be a boys club. On the surface level, Justice League is not shy when it comes to showcasing handsome men (which is basically the entire movie). Aquaman is definitely the biggest hunk of meat to hit the screen, usually shirtless.

Both costume sets are cool... so why are we arguing over this?

Probably the biggest controversy is the Amazons' costume change between Wonder Woman and Justice League, where they wear skimpier outfits. People are pointing fingers at Zach Snyder for feeding patriarchy-- that the Amazon's are more exposed because a man directed the film. Let's be real, I wasn't a bit distracted by their costumes nor did I feel the women were sexualized in any manner. After comparing the Wonder Women costumes, I thought the Justice League costumes nicely showcased the Amazons' muscles.

There is sexual tension between Batman and Wonder Woman, but I think it played off well. One particular scene I loved was after a battle when Batman is taking off his gear. Wonder Woman enters and you think she's going to help remove it to only grab his arm from behind. She *twists & cracks* his poor back instead.

The two spend a lot of time together out of costume.

I'm not sure how deep their relationship will go in the future of the DC film franchise, but the moments shared between Batman and Wonder Woman were more funny & sweet than they were cringey. I love that Wonder Woman was not used solely as Batman's object of desire. She managed to equally contribute, if not prove herself to be more useful than other members of the Justice League. Wonder Woman even admits she was passive earlier in the film, which she realizes is weakness within the group. She embraces her power and asserts herself more by the time they revive Superman.

Self Awareness

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the awkward duck
of the Justice League.

Justice League is not only a well constructed action film, but self-referential and knows what it is. From the flood of Batman jokes to jabs at Aquaman, Justice League winks at the audience. It knows when to be cool and when to be corny. It is a well balanced movie that never took itself too seriously, but was still intense. That's a big part of why I like it.

It's not a perfect movie, but only a few things bothered me. There was too much blatant product placement, which takes away from almost any film. Nobody likes product placement.

Also, I heard Superman had a mustache?

What are your feelings? Did you enjoy Justice League?

If you were a character in the Justice League, who would you be? Ideally I'd like to consider myself Wonder Woman (my affinity for the Bat plays into this too)... but I'm totally the Flash when it comes to this movie. He's super awkward, dweeby and underestimates himself only to totally save everyone's asses.

LATER, DWEEBS!

Loverly Liz