Teaming up: Justice League boasts five superheroes from the DC cinematic universe.

The latest installment in the DC cinematic universe is hampered by its poor scriptwriting as seen in the characters’ corny lines, plot holes and sheer silliness that makes watching this film a complete torment.

The first half of the film will make you want to fall asleep as Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), a drunken billionaire who spends his nights dressing as a bat fighting criminals and hunting down mysterious blood-sucking aliens, tries to recruit several superheroes for his team.

See, Bruce is convinced that after what happened in the previous DC movies, particularly in Batman V Superman (2016), another great invasion from outside is going to take place on Earth. Tortured by his guilt over the death of Superman, Bruce makes it his personal mission to protect the Earth from any potential doomsday in the future.

The recruitment process takes Bruce as far as cold northern Europe, where he becomes acquainted with Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), also known as Aquaman, the king of the Atlanteans, a group of human-mermaids that have been living under the sea for millennia. He also meets Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), whose superhero pseudonym is The Flash, and who is a computer nerd with no fighting skills but is able to fight crime thanks to his lightning speed.

Meanwhile, Bruce also asks his sidekick from the previous film, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), to recruit Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), a tremendous athlete who is supposedly dead, but as a result of his scientist father’s interference is now living as the modern Frankenstein known as Cyborg.

The film jumps from place to place to introduce the main characters. The transition from one to another is chaotic and does not have any coherent narration engaging enough for the audience to maintain interest.

The last hope for Justice League to become somewhat relevant and memorable is in its main villain. Great superhero movies always come with great villains, yet this is not the case in the movie.

The main villain, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), is big and nasty, but he looks like he belongs in the CGI-enhanced action movies of the 1990s instead of 2017. In addition, there is no sort of depth whatsoever behind this character to make him interesting to watch.

The only backstory to Steppenwolf is that he has been destroying planets for thousands of years and in Justice League, he is returning to Earth after his previous attack on the planet was foiled by the union of the Amazonians, Atlanteans, Green Lantern Corps and humans.

On Steppenwolf’s return, he tries to grab these things called mother boxes. There are three of them, each one containing great power.

Justice League feels a little lost from start to finish. It begins with a depressing mood and vibe as it tries to depict a world that has lost all hope following the death of Superman. A depressing and dark atmosphere has always been the trademark of DC superhero film adaptations.

However, after continually falling behind in terms of critical response and commercial success compared to the much more entertaining Marvel Cinematic Universe, Justice League seems to be trying to tone down its depressing and dark narration a little bit, and insert a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy type superhero buddy movie humor, particularly through Flash, the movie’s main comic relief.

However, there is simply no chemistry between the members in Justice League. Their humor feels a little bit forced and the punch lines are dry.

Even significant events in Justice League fail to leave a lasting impression despite the Bruce character trying throughout the film to sell us this idea about Superman being the last hope to face the villain’s armies.

Gadot’s Wonder Woman also comes weaker that her previous appearance in Batman V Superman. While she showed a little bit of attitude and swag in the previous film, here, her only contribution is looking fit and gorgeous.

To be fair, the production of Justice League did not go smoothly.

Director Zack Snyder left the project during the post-production process after the death of his daughter, so Joss Whedon, who directed Marvel’s Avengers films, was given the task to finish the project.

Just like DC’s Suicide Squad last year, Justice League also went through a re-shoot process, which probably provides the reason why it feels so confused about what it wants to be.

With a budget of US$300 million, one of the largest ever in film history, Justice League has definitely not lived up to expectations.

— Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

______________________________________

Justice League

(Warner Bros. Pictures, 120 minutes)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Screenplay by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon

Story by Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Ciarán Hinds

Popular

Power begins to return after outage in Indonesia's Bali island

The fragile promise of pluralism, religious freedom in Southeast Asia

Coffee, gold push up inflation to 1.95 percent in April