Justice League (Post-release)

I've pretty much been avoiding all things movie related on the internet for the past week just to make sure I didn't read any spoilers on this movie, but I finally saw it so I figured I'd come and see what everyone on theRPF thought of it, and I was surprised and happy to see more than a few posts from people who genuinely enjoyed it :thumbsup

I saw it late Thursday night in RealD 3D (I'm still disappointed it's only showing in IMAX 2D, not 3D :(), and I'm honestly shocked at all the terrible reviews it seems to be getting! I thought the movie was amazing, especially considering everything that seemed to have happened behind the scenes (Zach Snyder stepping down and Joss Whedon finishing it up, doing reshoots, etc). Of course I may be biased, as I am a massive DC fan (especially anything Superman/Batman related), plus I've enjoyed or outright loved every single one of the DCEU films, yes even Suicide Squad (even though it was nowhere near as good as I'd originally hoped/expected, and I still don't particularly like the Joker's portrayal). Which is why I (re)watched all 4 of the DCEU movies (in release order) before seeing Justice League :popcorn


I did notice the whole mustache thing in the opening scene, but I doubt I would've noticed it after that scene if I hadn't been looking for it. Although even with me looking for it I don't recall noticing it more than maybe 1 other time, so I don't get what all the freaking out about it is (I do hate that it was even necessary for them to CGI it out, but it's nowhere near as big a deal as most are making it out to be). I don't really feel like posting an in depth review just yet, at least not until I see it at least one more time, but there are a few things I feel like mentioning...


The CGI (for Cyborg) was A LOT better than I was expecting it to be, but it definitely wasn't perfect by any means. I'm still not too happy with Jason Momoa as Aquaman (Amber Heard was amazing and beautiful as Mera though), mainly because I just think he looks really odd with those eyes (plus I still wish they had gone with someone like Charlie Hunnam), but other than that I thought he was good (the scene when he sits on the lasso of truth was great). Last but definitely not least, The Flash was awesome and hilarious in almost every scene, but I was not too impressed/happy with some of the Barry Allen scenes (although the only one I can recall is the first scene with him visiting his father in prison, which just felt off/awkward to me, but that may be because I am a huge fan of CW's The Flash). One of my favorite scenes was right after Kal-El was resurrected when he was fighting the League, I was damn near squealing with excitement at that entire scene, especially when Flash tried to run up on him and Kal looks at him through the corner of his eye, Barry's slow motion reaction to realizing he (Kal) is fast enough to perceive him was hilarious!

Oh and probably my favorite scene from the entire movie (visually anyways) was that flashback scene with the Green Lanterns, (Old) Gods, Atlanteans, Amazons, etc fighting off Steppenwolf and the Parademons, that was one of the most amazing scenes I've ever watched in a movie! I so badly wanted to yell "Rewind it and show us that scene again!" in the theater :lol I cannot wait to watch it again in slow-motion on Blu-ray!

Of course I won't be waiting for the BD to watch the movie again, as I'm sure I'll end up seeing Justice League in theaters at least twice the amount of times that I saw Batman v Superman, which was at least 4-5 times if I remember correctly. The only reason I haven't already seen it a second time is because I wasn't able to make it last night like I'd planned. I'm planning to go the late IMAX 2D showtime tonight (in under 2 hours), but if I'm unable to make it I will definitely go to the one tomorrow night, right after I watch episode 5 of The Walking Dead S8 at my local discount theater for free :D
 
I haven't caught the full film yet, but I did pick up on something a bit distracting recently.. Quite a few folks are mentioning Henry's CGI stache problem... but am I the only one who thinks Ben has done something to his face? The change is very noticible in the reshoots and his recent interviews.. his face looks super stiff. Maybe a bit of Botox for the Bat?
 
Haven't had time to read all the comments here, but I'll say, as I've seen mentioned, these actors are on point. I wouldn't have imagined Aquaman almost stealing the movie. Almost, because I even loved the characters I knew nothing about, going in, like Cyborg (got to love casting Joe Morton as the father of a cyborg).

The rebirth of Superman had a lot more symbolism than I thought it would, as the death of him seemed to have significantly softened Bruce Wayne, but it was great to see Superman actually enjoy being alive and enjoy being Superman. On a personal note, being a son who had to see my mom bury a child, the reunion between Clark and Martha was very moving. As soon as I thought "Oh crap, this is Diane Lane that's going to do this scene...." I choked up.

I can't really imagine a better cast for these characters. I'm still laughing about Auquaman spilling his guts when not knowing he was lassoed.

I'm hoping there will be an extended cut.
 
I am already imagining all of the beautiful Blu-rays that will be released for this! I can't wait to see the artwork for the Target Digibook, Best Buy Steelbook, and 3D Combo! I'm also kind of hoping that Amazon continues their trend of releasing statue sets, although if they release 6 different sets that will be quite expensive :lol

Oh and I didn't go see it last night like I'd planned/hoped, but I was reading about it a lot last night, and I found a post on another forum that I frequent containing a supposed list of everything that Whedon changed/added/removed, and the list is quite long.

I'm going to spoiler tag it, mainly because it's very long, but also because it may contain spoilers for any potential Extended Cut (which is why I only read a few from the list)...

Edit: -superman in the cell phone footage is Whedon

- intro with Batman was Whedon, same with Batman in the plane talking to Alfred

- World without Hope montage was Snyder. The Lois bit with the empty bed next to her is actually from a later point in the movie repurposed for this

- Snyder original cut had the World without Hope montage go straight into Batman meeting with Aquaman in the village which went on longer as well. Same with their conversation after as Aquaman swims off

- Deleted Snyder scene with Martha and Lois talking in the apartment.

- Wonder Woman sequence in London is mostly all Snyder but trimmed down as the original had her taking out all the bad guys and additional slow-mo. Snyder loves his close up to convey information as there's a close up of the lead bad guy changing the gun from single to automatic mode after Wonder Woman stops the first bullet. Reshoots did add dialogue between Wonder Woman and lead bad guy before she stops all the bullets. This reshoot had everything finished to get it ready for the movie so I suspect this will be in extended version

- this cuts into the Amazonian which is Snyder and mostly not changed. A scene they removed was an Amazon being turned into a demon during Steppenwolf initial encounter. She kills herself before the transformation finishes. This shot was finished so maybe extended version

- anything with the russian family is Whedon

- Cyborgs dad talking to the janitor at Star Labs was Whedon

- Cyborg intro with his dad is a longer scene as well and Snyder . The scene starts with him looking at the people walking around the streets enjoying their lives as he looks on with envy.

- Wonder Woman meeting up with Batman while he repairs the jet was Snyder, them discussing the nature of the motherboxes on the Lake was Whedon.

- Thousand year battle is mostly the same in Snyder version, there was a back and forth between adding more focus on the Green Lantern or not. Darkseid actually showed up here as a visual stand in for Steppenwolf as one point the model wasn't quite ready yet.

- Flash scene filling out the forms and visiting his dad is Snyder

- Batman meeting Flash was Snyder. Whedon added 'people are slow, I'll try to keep up' bit

- Aquaman saving the man out in the sea was originally the end montage footage repurposed to here and it was Snyder. I believe the bits of him dumping the guy at the bar is Snyder as well

- Aquaman coming back as Steppenwolf tries and succeed in taking the motherbox is Snyder still. The only real change up is when Aquaman and Mera have a discussion which again went on longer and was a mix of both Snyder, Whedon and Wan as Aquaman was filming at the time

The discussion between Mera and Aquaman was deleted at some point and I believe someone fought hard for this to come back in the edit which I'm glad they kept in.

- janitor being taken by the demon is Snyder

- Woman on tv about her missing husband, Lois/Martha at the daily planet is Whedon

- Cyborg calling out to meet Wonder Woman and their meeting on the streets is mostly Snyder. There may be some minor bits with Cyborg as a reshoot but unsure. Alfred line about date night may have been ADR later

- Cyborg dad being kidnapped by demon to Gordon in the station to the gang meeting up on the roof and then heading to the sewers is Snyder but trimmed by a few seconds.

- Wonder Woman talking about 'doing this together as a team' and Cyborg 'didn't think you were real' were cut

- Flash panicking and Batman encouraging him to save one person is Whedon

- Cyborg saving his dad is mostly the same so Snyder.

- Wonder Woman openly taunts Steppenwolf was cut before shoving him through the wall. The fight is Snyder with added Whedon dialogue as Wonder Woman looks pissed Steppenwolf mentioned his axe having amazon blood on it.

- Flash interrupts Batman as he fights the demons, this is where the dodge sequence occurred and later cut. There was an attempt to keep it in for many versions with even a reshoot element of Flash saying 'I thought we were suppose to do this together!' Flash pushing the demon through the wall was later repurposed as Cyborg doing it. Most likely will not be extended version

- I believe Batman yells at Flash to ensure the Star Labs people are out with Cyborgs help as a demon starts to overpower Batman

- Scene with Cyborg getting people out as Flash looks on is cut

- the Flash getting people out one at a time is Whedon as is Cyborg dad explaining to him that they're after the box as Cyborg shoots a demon (repurposed from earlier)

- Batman fighting the demon on the higher level is Snyder with the WW fight still the same.

- Steppenwolf throws WW to the wall and then charges his axe at her which she dodges, this attack causes a chain reaction in which the building starts to crumble on the outside and there's now falling debris which leds towards a cut of the Star Labs people outside with the Flash. He see the debris falling so he uses his speed to punch the debris out of the way from the people but somehow misses the last big piece in which Cyborg shoots it out of the way. This was cut and in the original trailer:

https://youtu.be/3cxixDgHUYw?t=47

This sequence had mostly finished VFX but I doubt you will see this in extended

- Batman saying 'my turn' is Snyder and is cut replaced with 'I didn't bring a sword' and 'he's tall' is Whedon.

- Cyborg asking Flash to go check on the others is cut. VFX was finished as well

- Flash helping WW with her sword is Snyder. Face plant joke after is Whedon

- Whedon reshoot of Flash replying with 'does he mean me?' when Steppenwolf mentions the Old Gods blood is cut

- WW doing her arm thing, Flash being taken by the demons, Cyborg taking over the vehicle and shooting at Steppenwolf and the flood is Snyder

- Reshot element from Wan of Aquaman emerging from the water to kick Steppenwolf before turning back to try to help slow down the flooding.

- 'did he just bail?' is ADR in, not part of Snyder original cut.

- Meeting up with Gordon and Cyborg coming back with the box is Snyder. Some scenes trimmed down

- Steppenwolf speech about finding the last box is mostly the same in Snyder.

- The gang going to the Batcave is Whedon, there was an extended scene with Flash and Alfred and Flash hugs Alfred some reason.

- The gang talking about the nature of the boxes and bringing back Superman is Whedon. Gal was not available during this time as she was doing press tour for Wonder Woman so her double was her stand in and even did some acting and that bit with her hitting Batman. In the wide shots if you look carefully you can still see that it's not Gal.

The footage of Gal was shot on a later date with green screen and composited in

- Batman talking to Alfred about Superman was Whedon

- Batman overlooking the ship is Snyder. Batman talking to Wonder Woman about the plan overlooking the kryptonian ship is Whedon

- the Lois shot from earlier in the opening montage movie was a part of this sequence as Alfred attempts to call her as well. Snyder

- break into the kryptonian ship was a longer, Cyborgs dad fakes a code red to get everyone out of the lab so the gang can get in without any major issues. There was some more additional dialogue with Flash and Aquaman. Snyder with a small chance that this may be in the extended

- preparing Superman body for the ship is Snyder.

- deleted scene - Cyborg having a premonition during his countdown. During the count of 'one' he starts to see things of possibly future events such as the end of the League, knightmare world and more importantly Darkseid.

- Superman resurrection and battle with the league members is mostly Snyder with bits trimmed down.

- Flash mentioning 'pet semenetary' is Whedon

- Flash actively tries to kick Superman during their fight which was cut

- Anytime Superman is talking during this is Whedon, even 'do you bleed?'

- Batman making a quip about if he's bleeding is Whedon

- Steppenwolf stealing the last box is the same in all versions

- Superman coming home to his farm with Lois is Snyder.

- Gang discussing their plan of attack now is Whedon

- Batman and Wonder Woman talking about leadership and her fixing his arm is all Whedon

- Superman talking about the ring is Snyder and cut. Superman talking to Lois in the field is Whedon. Not sure if Martha showing up to meet her son is Whedon or Snyder

- Steppenwolf preparing the unification is the same in all versions

- Cyborg finding the location is Whedon which leads to the gang getting on the ship is Snyder

- deleted scene of Superman coming back to the kryptonian ship and getting his suit back. VFX was finished so maybe extended version

- Aquaman with the lasso of Truth is all Whedon, Gal again wasn't here so body double in the wide shot with Gal elements being shot later

- Batman taking down the shield and the league helping each other out to reach Steppenwolf is Snyder. Close up of Wonder Woman smiling is a Whedon as well Batman making quips during this scene

- Deleted scenes - showing various people around the worlds reacting to the unification process as red skies and lightening start to happen (Martha/Lois, Cyborg Dad, Gordon, Aquaman village at the beginning, london and so forth)

- Trailer scene with Wonder Woman saying 'shall we?' with Aquaman and Cyborg was adjusted. 'Shall we' was cut and replaced with the new Whedon line

- Cyborg and Flash stuff here is mostly now all Whedon

- Batman telling Flash to get people to safety is Whedon

- lots of Wonder Woman and Aquaman fighting are adjusted or reordered but still Snyder

- Superman coming back is all Whedon. There was a wide shot of Superman during the 'I like truth' which was removed but the final edit of how it plays out is better in my opinion

- Superman with the slow mo punch dodge is Snyder. As before anything with Superman talking is Whedon during this finale

- Original previs was Wonder Woman cutting off Steppenwolf head but later changed. Steppenwolf demise was reworked a few times

- Steppenwolf fear demise through the boomtube is Whedon

- there was concept art showing the trinity looking through the end of the boomtube revealing Darkseid. Unsure if this element was ever filmed as the movie itself never had it in any version I saw.

- The slow mo shot of all of them with Flash fist bumping Cyborg is Snyder

- close up with the trinity is three different elements composited together as the actors were not available at the same time.

- the end montage is Snyder (yes, even that weird run Flash does) with Whedon element being Wonder Woman stopping the robbery in London

THE END

Flash doing the race with Superman = Whedon
Lex discussing forming their own league = Snyder

My main thought which was a better version:

- I believe that Snyder original version was more leading towards a UC style edit like BvS as I felt there was a lot of moments for the movie to breath but with some wtf ness in characters moments (flash basically standing around and doing nothing when he could do stuff) where as I feel Whedon had a lot more character beats and dialogue between them to punch it up.

- I'm not too sure if there will be an extended version but if there was I can easily see an additional 10-20 minutes.




I have no idea if it's real or not, and like I said I only read a few of them, but I figured I'd post it here in case anyone is curious :)

Oh and here's a link to the place the OP on the other forum found the list = Community Spotlight: DCEU Era |OT| Crisis on Infinite Forums (the link should take you right to the relevant post, #6479). I definitely wouldn't put money on it being legit, but the few that I read seemed to make sense to me so who knows.
 
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Unfortunately it looks like it didn't hit the numbers that they thought it would at the box office. We're either gonna see more DC films ruined by WB or they're finally gonna let the directors have their way. The way I see it, the public cares more about Marvel than DC because Marvel is so passionate about the movies that they're making and they took their time to build their movies. I feel like DC is passionate about their movies but Warner Bros only saw them as a cash grabber and forced them to put the movies out as soon as possible to take in all the cash.
 
Saw it with my wife and boys today and we all loved it. We enjoyed all the characters. Loved seeing Superman really be the Superman I’ve been waiting to see. Wonder Woman lit up the screen and Batman was fantastic. I liked Flash and Cyborg much more than I thought I would. Overall, this was an absolute touchdown with my family.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
The cinemascore for this movie is a B+. The audience score on RT is at 85%, the critics 37%. That's an almost 50% disparity between the two. Pretty good indication that the critics are out of touch with theatergoers, cuz this has happened with every DC movie, albeit not to the same degree as JL.
 
Is it me or do all Ares, Steppenwolf and enchatess's brother all wear similar type costumes? It just seems like these villans are forgettable and don't have great costumes that stand out.

The same thing goes for Guardians of the Galaxy Ronan and X-Men Apocalypse looked very similar.
 
I got to see it last night and I went in with pretty low expectations, I wasn't expecting a hot mess exactly but I was expecting a "meh" kind of movie, not great but not bad either. Instead, I found myself really enjoying it, a lot more than I expected to and I was one of those who Superman, BvS, and Suicide Squad were all rather, meh. I still think that the costumes are too busy but not as bad onscreen as they appeared in stills, all except Baman's costume in the last fight, I liked the design but the construction seemed rather poor since Affleck didn't seem like he could move very well in that thing.

I thought that all of the characters were done pretty well, I even liked Aquman a bit even though I'm not the biggest Jason Momoa fan out there, and this is despite me being a big Stargate fan. My favorite character, by far, was the Flash, I really enjoyed Ezra Miller's performance and he really stole the show, for me. However, some of his running scenes were kind of weird though, I don't know if they were Whedon or Snyder scenes but in some of them, Miller looked more like he waving his arms around wildly than like he was actually running.

I forgot all about the Caville mustache, so I can say that without know about it I didn't notice anything funky about his face at any time. What I did notice is Batman/Bruce Wayne's beard grows out really fast. In the scene where Bruce goes to recruit Barry we see that he shaves his stubble off and his nice and very clean shaven. As far as I can recall, he's still that way by the time his plane lands and he and Barry meet Diane and see the Bat Signal. But by the time he's suited up and meets Gordon on top of the police HQ his stubble has already grown back to where it was before he shaved it off. Does his beard really grow that fast or is there some sort of tech built into his suit to make his beard grow out once he puts the cowl on?
 
Good action, good humor, typical villain, typical plot. It was what it needed to be for a team-building movie. (Avengers was better, admittedly.)

Flash realizing that Supes could see him during the fight was perfect.
 
I'm still torn as to whether I want to plunk down the $$$ to see it in theaters or just wait and pick it up on home-video, since nothing going forward will be built on this film because DC/WB are idiots with their world-building. I don't want ot like this film more than their other offerings so far only to not have it go anywhere as they carry the characters forward in their own isolated pocket universes.

--Jonah
 
Guess I'm in the minority here, but I didn't like it. The uncanny valley effect going on with Cavill's face made so many of Supes' scenes just too creepy. My wife, who had never read any of the articles about the mustache CGI noticed it immediately, and asked why Supes' face looked so wierd. I mean, they build up for years to this movie and we end up with bad CGI on the main character's face in almost every scene he's in? Unforgivable.

The villian was less than one-dimensional, and the CGI for him was just bad. The overall CGI quality trailed far behind the original Transformers, and doesn't even approach films like Pacific Rim.

The contrived way they brought Supes back was just one problem I had with the story. I could go on and on, but that's all I have the heart for at the moment.
 
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I don't know how it could have been much better (minor nitpicks aside). I was thoroughly entertained! Some off-the-cuff thoughts:

Affleck is the greatest version of the Bat ever to appear on-screen, I hope they can keep him. I'm also really digging the digital voice-manipulation tech, as opposed to the Bale-growl thing.

I totally dig the updated [barbarian] Arthur Curry/Aqua-man character. I always found him super-lame in the comics. Would've liked to have seen more of the Amber Heard/Mera character, but I'm assuming that's forthcoming.

Barry Allen/Flash was the standout of the film for me. I loved how he was written (sort of neurotic, maybe?), & the SFX of him tapping into the speed-force was perfect. I liked how they included the notion that he has to eat constantly. Also dug the explanation of how he'd cobbled his suit together from various "pilfered" materials.

Gal Gadot was awesome, & they really upped her game to show that she can truly go toe-to-toe with Superman if needed. AND she is ASTONISHINGLY beautiful. #captainobvious

Cavill did great (but I've liked every time he's played the character so far). The only place I found the CGI 'stache removal "distracting", was in the cellphone vid at the beginning.

Cyborg CGI was done better than I'd hoped, Fisher did a great job playing the tormented persona. Nice job.

-------------------------------------------
Favorite moments (for me):

The beginning sequence where Batman uses the burglar as bait, is QUINTESSENTIAL Dark Knight. PERFECT.

When Wonder Woman is trying to reach out to the newly-resurrected Superman, & she calls him "Kal-El, the last son of Krypton", I got head-to-toe chills. CHILLS, I says.

When Batman calls for the big guns, & it's Lois. :D

The scenes where Clark is reunited with Lois, & then Martha. Very touching, right in the feels.

The Bruce/Diana "You can't do this forever" scene. :)

Loved the scene where Superman sees Flash trying to flank him, & Barry's reaction is like "WTdoubleF???"

The ancient battle was awesome, & the presence of the Green Lantern Corp was RIGHTEOUS. If they can get Nathan Fillion to play Hal Jordan in one of these films, I swear to frak, I will officially fan-boi supernova. \m/ :eek \m/

The Barry/Victor fist-bump shtick.

"Pet Sematary Superman" :lol
-------------------------------------------

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I can recall at the moment. Again, very pleased, will see again, & purchase the BD when released.
 
Everything felt really disjointed tonally and narratively, but at least is wasn't as drab as the other movies and I wasn't actively wishing I wasn't watching it.

The preamble to the team up felt like the individual "character trailers" that video games do, and overall the whole movie felt like a really great video game cinematic. I could very easily imagine breaks in the story where fighting gameplay like Injustice would be injected.

Seems like they don't know what to do with Batman, and they shoot his action very lazily, he always looks like he's lumbering around and barely getting by, especially in contrast to the hyperkinetic nature of Barry and Diana's fighting styles. Also playing him for laughs more times than not.

Overall I just found myself not caring where the story went, and I honestly think this crop of DC movies is going to continually feel derivative of things that came before, be they MCU, Fox's Marvel movies, or even DC's own movies outside the DCEU.
 
The preamble to the team up felt like the individual "character trailers" that video games do, and overall the whole movie felt like a really great video game cinematic. I could very easily imagine breaks in the story where fighting gameplay like Injustice would be injected.

There's a reason for that and it's actually mentioned in the movie and that's Batman is starting to get old and beginning to slow down. You have to remember in the DCEU Batman is a veteran and seasoned super hero and even though we never saw an origin story movie showing a young Batman he has been at this for the past 10 - 20 years and is, presumably, around the same age as Ben Affleck is which is in his mid 40s. In most sports you're considered old and beginning to go over the hills in your 30s, in your 40s you're an old man and Bruce/Batman is doing the equivalent of what top athletes do but every day, while maintaining a day job, he has no off season, he doesn't have buy days. So imagine doing that for 10 - 20 years, it's a miracle he can keep up with the rest of the League, esp. since he's the only member of the team with no super powers.-
 
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