Justice League (2017): written by Joss Whedon, Chris Terrio, and Zack Snyder; directed by Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon; based story-wise on works by James Robinson, Gardner Fox, Nicola Scott, Mike Sekowsky, Geoff Johns, and Jim Lee; starring Ben Affleck (Batman), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Ezra Miller (The Flash), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), Jeremy Irons (Alfred), Ciaran Hinds (Voice of Steppenwolf), Amber Heard (Mera), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), and Henry Cavill (Superman):
A partial list of mainstream superhero movies to which the hilariously maligned Justice League is clearly superior:
- Batman Forever
- Batman & Robin
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Hulk
- The Incredible Hulk
- Iron Man 2
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Thor
- Thor: The Dark World
- Dr. Strange
- Man of Steel
- Suicide Squad
- Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
- Superman III
- Superman IV
- Superman Returns
- X-Men: The Last Stand
- X-Men: Apocalypse
- Wolverine: Origins
- The Wolverine
- Spider-man 3
- The Amazing Spider-man 2
- Fantastic Four
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
- Fantastic Four reboot...
I liked Justice League more on re-watching on TV, where the humour stands out more than the CGI bombast. I'm guessing 95% of that humour comes from Joss Whedon's frantic work to make Zack Snyder's scenes lighter, funnier, and less Ayn-Randish. Would I have gone with Jack Kirby's least interesting New Gods villain as the big bad, especially given that he shares a name with both a cult novel and a 1970's rock band? Probably not. Recommended.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: adapted from the TV series created by Sam Rolfe by Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram, Jeff Kleeman, and David C. Wilson; directed by Guy Ritchie; starring Henry Cavill (Napoleon Solo), Armie Hammer (Illya Kuriakin), Alicia Vikander (Gaby), Hugh Grant (Waverly), and Jared Harris (Sanders) (2015): Enjoyable spy romp set in the early 1960's would probably have been better served had the producers gone with another title. Not many people remember the TV series from the 1960's. Heck, the movie itself doesn't bother explaining the title until the last five minutes.
Nonetheless, Guy Ritchie seems to have a lot of fun with period detail and European settings -- it's more like a James Bond movie from the 1960's than any Bond film has been since that time. Henry Cavill as American spy/super-thief Napoleon Solo plays suave/smarmy very well, and Armie Hammer is surprisingly good playing stolid, occasionally psychotic KGB strongman Illya Kuriakin. The plot involves a nuclear threat to both the Soviet Union and the United States, so the spies have to team up. Yes, it's a origin story for a TV series almost no one remembers. The eternal quest for a tent-pole series based on a property a studio already owns continues. I'm pretty sure tepid box office ensures this series won't continue, but it's far from being a disaster. Recommended.
Captain America: Civil War: based on characters and situations created by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Mark Millar, Stan Lee, and others; written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely; directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (2016): Fast-moving, crowded film pits lots of Marvel super-heroes against lots of other Marvel super-heroes. The movie stays moderately zippy as it leaps from location to location. It also manages to bring Spider-man into the main Marvel Cinematic Universe in fairly rousing fashion.
Things go on about one super-hero battle too long, in part because the best part of the whole movie occurs during that second-to-last battle as the movie goes all-out comic book. Boy, though, the Vision's costume is terrible. If nothing else, the film suggests that Marvel's Damage Control comic, in which super-powered cleaners clean up the aftermaths of super-battles, should be turned into a movie franchise. Stat. Recommended.
Man of Steel: written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan; based on characters created by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and others; directed by Zack Snyder; starring Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Russell Crowe (Jor-El), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Ayelet Zurer (Lara), Christopher Meloni (Colonel Hardy), Antje Traue (Faora), and Laurence Fishburne (Perry White) (2013):
The sequel to Man of Steel is more interesting to think about than Man of Steel. The North American opening weekend and the international take will guarantee that sequel; the massive North American second-weekend box-office drop and the often-terrible reviews may mean some sort of shake-up in the trio (Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, and Zack Snyder) primarily responsible for Man of Steel. Let the betting begin. I'd put money on Nolan's brother Jonathan being brought on in some writing capacity while Goyer and Snyder may be pushed into executive producer credits.
Man of Steel manages to be both heavy-handed, especially in its Superman-as-Christ imagery, and remarkably slapdash in its execution. The plot and mythology are complicated in that off-putting Green Lantern way, with ideas from 75 years of Superman stories shovelled into what should be a relatively simple origin story, along with some truly wonky additions by the film-makers.
One of these additions is worth mentioning because it's a great example of how bad writers create problems for themselves and then try to solve them with more bad writing. Here, for the first time in Superman's history, he's depowered by exposure to Krypton's atmosphere. As the movie had earlier established, quasi-canonically*, that his powers derive from Earth's lower-than-Krypton gravity and its yellow sun, this seems like gilding the lily.
But Snyder and company have put Lois Lane on the Kryptonian ship, a decision that apparently made it difficult for them to figure out how NOT to have Lois crushed by artificial Kryptonian gravity. But adding 'atmosphere' to Superman's list of weaknesses and putting a breathing mask on her -- that's easy. If you're stupid that day, anyway. Would Superman have gotten his powers back if he'd held his breath?
They've also given us a Pa Kent who's apparently a sociopath, another new twist, and such a great idea. Kevin Costner is mostly wasted as Pa Kent, and when he's not wasted, he's morally odious. Diane Lane has one good scene and then plays a spokesmodel for Sears. International House of Pancakes also plays a supporting role, as does Budweiser and, in a nod to Superman's Canadian origins, Alexander Keith's Pale Ale.
Michael Shannon and Russell Crowe might have been better switching roles -- Crowe, as Superman's father Jor-El, can act big even in this vacuum, while Shannon seems too reserved and weirdly shrill for a world-threatening villain. He's not going to make anyone forget Terence Stamp as Zod in Superman 2, anyway. Crowe, meanwhile, occasionally seems to be playing Jor-El as he's been written: as Obi-Wan Kenobi, young and old. Mostly he's dead and giving advice, but he even gets a Kenobi-esque swimming sequence that quotes directly from Revenge of the Sith. What is up with that?
As a director, Snyder has exactly one stylistic touch that seems to be his -- a love of visual effects in which people and objects are floated into the air and then smashed into the ground. He did it in Watchmen and he does it here in the Metropolis-smashing finale. I can only see this as symbolic of what he does to an audience.
The rest of the time, we get a lot of Superman-as-Christ poses, along with visual quotes from Avatar, Alien, The Matrix trilogy, and even Apocalypse Now. The destruction of Smallville and Metropolis during the interminably action-packed final hour make me think Snyder would probably make a good Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla director. But he really shouldn't be allowed near movies with people in them. Nor should (credited) lead writer Goyer, though on a project this big, there may have been many, many script doctors. Recommended if you're a masochist.
* Quasi-canonically in the sense that Siegel and Shuster originally posited that all Kryptonians had superpowers wherever they were, including Krypton, because they were 'more evolved' than humans.
Immortals: written by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides; directed by Tarsem Singh; starring Henry Cavill (Theseus), Mickey Rourke (King Hyperion), Stephen Dorff (Stavros), Freida Pinto (Phaedra), John Hurt (Old Man), and Luke Evans (Zeus) (2011): Depending on your POV, Tarsem Singh (The Cell) is either a visionary filmmaker who conjures up striking visuals or a guy who can turn any movie into a Chanel Number 5 advertisement. I think he's sorta both.
There are striking moments in Immortals, and there are moments of pure hooey from a visual standpoint. Note that I don't talk about characterization or plot. While the story makes marginally more sense than the remake of Clash of the Titans, the emphasis is on 'marginally.' And God help you if you try to learn Greek mythology from this movie, much less Greek history.
Theseus (Henry Cavill, practicing to play Superman in next year's Man of Steel) gets charged by Zeus with saving humanity (or maybe just Greece) from King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke, hilariously miscast in a period piece). There's a magic bow with which Hyperion can raise the Titans, who will then destroy the gods and humanity both. Or something. Why someone didn't just destroy this bow (or destroy the Titans, for that matter) is one of those questions that will occur to you as you watch the film. There won't be an answer.
The Titans are caged under Mount Tartarus, the interior of which seems to have been designed by the people who brought you Gotham City in Batman Returns. Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) plays Phaedra, a virgin Oracle who's seen a terrible future. At one point, Phaedra and her fellow oracles dress in what appear to lampshades. Mickey Rourke chews the scenery. The battle between Theseus and the Minotaur -- the one that pretty much defines him in actual mythology -- is treated here as something of a throwaway. So why call him Theseus? I don't know.
Nothing bears much relation to actual mythology, and the gods wear some pretty funny-looking hats. There's violence and some nudity. There's slow-motion fighting. I don't think this is in any way a good movie, but I stayed interested most of the time, for all its absurdities and missteps. Lightly recommended.
