Amph Justice League

Did Joss Whedon Sneak A Secret Message For DC Fans Into Justice League?

Justice League Was Apparently Micromanaged Even More Than We Thought

And details on the "faces in the crowd" of that epic battle scene featured in certain trailers and promos:

Spoiler

And why saying "I'm Batman" is a mic dropping moment:

Spoiler: NOT a Justice League Spoiler

 

I need an extended cut..

 

Yeah - I really like it too... interestingly it's grown on me over time as there really are some layers in there. It's not perfect.... but it's at least interesting and has some weight to it. I find the entire exploration of how society would actually react to the existence of super beings pretty fascinating.

I suppose I'm in the minority - but I find the MoS-BvS-WW-JL series of films to be far superior to most of what Marvel has put out. Suicide Squad is the only DCEU film I didn't care for. I enjoy the Marvel films, but with a few exceptions most of them are simply popcorn fluff I have no interest in re-watching.

 

I still think it's a quite enjoyable movie, it's just paying for the previous setup and reception.

 

There's alot in the Snyder-verse to enjoy for fanboys it pays service many things like The Dark Knight Returns, The Death of Superman, The 4th World, foreshadowing of Darkseid, etc. Therefore, the DCEU could be considered too "Inside Baseball." So things like the "Knightmare" sequence and whatnot, the general audience didn't pick up on the reference and meaning. Moreover, having Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice being bookend by two funerals was one of the many things that caused the film to feel too dour, which was one of the biggest complaints about the film and thus the tonal shift in Justice League.

Here's a video that examines the production problems of Justice League and speculates and covers the scenes that featured in the trailers and cut from the film. IIRC, the video notes that Justice League was initially to be a two part film with Steppenwolf being a precusor to Darkseid, which maybe why he's lacking.

 

The cut Synder stuff suggest the mother boxes had the essence of I believe Heggra or someone in them, helping Steppenwolf get some sort of edge of Darkseid. The film was meant to end with Darkseid saying he was going to Earth to meet "the Kryptonian".

tbh the Snyder synopsis sounds really damned good.

 

heels1785 -- can mark it down... I liked it! It was "above average" (as would be expected from a tonal issue with two directors and competing visions plus massive studio interference even after that point), but otherwise provides a relatively nice template for moving past the dark (tone and palette) and gritty and with the more hopeful, saving people heroes.

The only true misses were a total third-act drop -- basically the introduction of Superman is like Matt Stover's description of Obi-Wan with a lightsaber: it's easy mode. You never get the sense that Superman can't truck Steppenwolf by himself, magic carpet ride or no, but honestly the Williams theme when he lands on the bridge behind him? Glorious. And then Bruce Wayne / Batman -- there's very little "world's greatest detective" going on here outside of "hey, there are Parademons -- I'm going to lure them out!" and none of the dynamic fight scenes we saw in BvS (as he's in way, way over his head) plus the quasi death wish... though his "I can barely do the job right now!" line to Diana was gold. GOLD, JERRY... GOLD!!!

I actually thought I'd like Momoa more than I did -- he was great, but a little too much of "yeah," "my man!" and offhanded "let's try and racial him up" though its possible we'll learn more in the Aquaman solo movie to expand about his past/Atlantis history -- though the lasso bit was hilarious. Gal Gadot continues to steal scenes, as does Jeremy Irons. Not sure what to make of Ezra Miller yet, as I'm not sure I like what they're doing with this Barry Allen -- but I like that they kept the Flash being his own worst enemy (when you have someone that fast and powerful, that's basically the way to go).

Basically a solid 6 or 7 -- well behind Wonder Woman and well ahead of everything else, and a good soft reboot of the properties.

 

I'd like a Snyder cut to Justice League, because I liked BvS' extended cut. Too Bad.

 

BvS: EE is amazing.

 

I thought it was an OK movie. Nothing earth-shattering, but not as bad as some of the reviews I have read claimed. I definitely did strike me as a movie without a clear, set direction. Maybe I was subconsciously influenced by the fact that I went in knowing the story of the drama with Snyder and Whedon and the entire production so I was looking for things I may not have otherwise noticed.

 

I think it actually helped knowing the problems beforehand, because I was expecting them all to be really bad. So I was pleasantly surprised that the critics had been overexadurating (as usual). Then on the second viewing they bothered me even less.

 

Yeah, I expected the Flash-on-boobs to be much worse than what was actually a fairly workable joke, given how they played Barry Allen in the film. The change to the Amazons armor was inexplicable however, though contained to a few of them rather than all of them.

 

Just got back from seeing JL and really do not see what all the BS is about saying it's not good.

10/10.

 

saw this last night .

well it was fine , nice tight running time , Cyborg and Flash were introduced quite well ( altho Flash does rather sound like Peter Griffin's son at times ) WonderWoman looked very nice and was super-fast ( she seemed as fast as the Flash tho which was odd ) .
Batfleck was very good , action scenes pretty good , some nice gags .

Spoiler

Superman - I kinda wonder if there's bits missing here , he seems to get de-zombied rather too quickly once Lois turns up , seemed like there shoulda been a bit more time for that .Plus - he still hasn't found his underpants .

Were there re-shoots ? were things changed ?

So good , but of course one can't help but compare this sorta movie with the Avengers movies and really it's nowhere near as good , its better than that last X-men effort tho .

 

couple of questions :

what did the bank heist at the start have to do with the story ?

the Themyscirians had one box , the Atlanteans had another , where was the third ? was it supposed to be in England and did we see Stepp finding it ?

 

I read something or saw a YouTube video where it stated something to the effect that the Mother Boxes had the essence of Steppenwolf's mom, which why he talks to them and calls them "Mother." They probably edited this tidbit out of the film because it has been revealed that Steppenwolf's mom's name is Martha.

I have no doubt that Snyder can pitch a film and concepts. However, it would appear that he couldn't translate those ideas into a palatable film for critics and the general audiences to generate outstanding box office numbers.

I'm glad fans are enjoying this film. That the seeing the characters on the silver screen doing their thing is pure enjoyment.

For me, Justice League was a disappointment.

Like the X-Men, I hold the Justice League in the highest of regards as they were my first introduction to superheroes and I grew up watching them in various incarnations, such as Super Friends, Challenge of the Super Friends and whatnot and loved all of it; including "Wendy and Marvin" and "the Wonder Twins." So, I wanted Justice League to be more than an average/mediocre comic book film. And to have Justice League be mediocre at best is a disappointment.

The plot, script/structure, dialogue and editing are certainly not the strengths of this film. The plot is the standard superhero trope with heroes needing to band together to fight a seemingly unstoppable thread, so there's nothing really creative or out of the norm. The script and structure of the film reminded me lot of Suicide Squad in that there are numerous character backstory scenes for exposition that are pasted together in a thin narrative. The script notes that Batman needs warriors, but recruits the Flash which doesn't know his power set and is admittedly never been in a fight; yet their is a island filled with warriors that Diana is a princess of. Moreover, that an underwater city that has warriors. As I mentioned before, there's a Fellowship of the Ring type of deal in the backstory that Diana tells (which is featured in the trailers) of earth's armies fighting Steppenwolf. And for some unknown reason (or perhaps I didn't catch it in the film)...

Spoiler

the Amazons and Atlanteans don't offer to an explanation as to why they won't find against a common enemy, Steppenwolf, that threatens the planet they live on, especially when he wrecked shop on their them to reclaim the Mother Boxes.

That's a major point to leave out of the script. I'm going to watch Justice League for a second tonight to see if this was covered in the film.

Other things in the script that weren't great are (1) the method used return of a certain character...

Spoiler

Superman. Sure, the "Pet Sematary" were funny and were foreshadowing of the event to take place, but I found it an odd choice to do some "grave robbing" and then use the nearly same method that Lex Luthor used in the previous film, when there were numerous other ways to bring back Superman and incorporate with other films. I mean, at the end of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, there's that instance where dirt was raising off of Clark's coffin strongly foreshadowing the return of Superman in a self regenerating way. But it would appear that was scrubbed for some "Pet Sematary" jokes and for Superman to fight the Justice League, which still could have been done in another way, with Amanda Waller/Argus and whatnot. So, for me, it was an inglorious return for Superman and was later subdued with the Smallville scene, which slowed the pace of the film down like the farm house scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

and (2) the ending was unsatisfying in that...

Spoiler

they really didn't need to form the Justice League, but rather bring Superman back to life. Seriously, Superman singled handed wiped the floor with Steppenwolf and rescued the an entire village in a single building. Moreover, the Justice League really didn't defeat Steppenwolf in a glory manner, Superman just made him stink of fear and the parademons did the rest. So, aside from Cyborg, it was a one man show with Superman doing everything making the Justice League kind of a moot point. In short, it didn't feel like a satisfying collective effort. I felt the villain and teamwork was much stronger in Batman v. Superman. With the arrival of Superman, the defeat of Steppenwolf was all too easy, when earlier in the film Steppenwolf was fighting armies, gods, a Green Lantern and whatnot.

The backstory of Steppenwolf fighting the armies of earth and Steppenwolf fighting the Amazons to take back a Mother Box was more thrilling, engaging and satisfying then the final battle with the Justice League.

The script didn't have a plot twist or a revelation that changed the perception of the audience or characters. It was a flat and predictable story.

As for dialogue, I'll sum it up with this: "You smell good."

There are some blunt editing cuts to certain scenes that seemingly ran longer. For example, that scene when...

Spoiler

At the end of the first fight between the Justice League and Steppenwolf, the everyone is holding onto the Nightcrawler making it's way up and suddenly, IIRC, cuts to that scene in the trailer where Batman is standing next to Gordon and Aquaman says, "Dress like a bat. I dig it."

another scene that felt like there was more to it was when Aquaman...

Spoiler

tells Mera he need something for her and there was another hard editing cut. I think it's safe to assume it was the battle armor that he wears, but I feel there that scene played out longer.

It's known the William Defoe as Vulko scene was cut from the film.

Watch this video. It covers pretty much everything.

That's another problem with the script and structure of the film. It wasn't a bank heist, it was a terrorist attack that didn't have any substance. It was just to give Wonder Woman a character/badass moment. Which I did appreciate.

According to some internet Nerds, the third Mother Box was given to King Author. There's a bonus clip in the Wonder Woman home video release about a mission to recover it. It ends up with Star Labs and creates Cyborg.

EDIT: Here's the Bonus Clip with Etta Candy's mission regarding the Mother Box:




EDIT 2: The "Big Guns"

That's guns, meaning plural. I believe one of the other big guns is...

Spoiler

Martha. But they can't play that card again.

 

I can accept all of what you're saying cause you make good points.

Just was not the cluster-**** I was reading about online before I got to see it.

 

Yeah, I don't think Justice League is a very bad film, it's pretty average and to say Justice League is just average or even slightly above average is a big disappoint for me as I really hoped for it to be outstanding and a top tier comic book film. I really wanted this film to be a satisfying celebration of the team, but the film manage to take that away from me with the final battle between the Justice League and Steppenwolf; it's like the Martha resolution in Batman v. Superman.

 

Marvel managed to establish their characters very well before they put them together in the Avengers , DC have just had too many mis-steps .

I don't get why Affleck is dragging his feet on doing a Batman movie , he seems well accepted in the role it seems to me .

 

I agree that DC has a some missteps, but it's not enough to trash the entire DCEU like some fanboys are crying about. I mean, the X-Men franchise has quite a few missteps but they've course corrected and are moved forward very well with films like Days of Future Past, Deadpool and Logan.

There are unconfirmed reports that Ben Affleck has already left the role as Batman. Recently, there were reports that the director of the upcoming Batman movies was meeting with various actors, namely Jake Gyllenhaal, to take the role.

 

100% correct.

Sadly.

That opening scene in JL I felt was an outstanding short example of a great presentation of Batman on screen.

 

Which is straight out of the New52 Justice League issue one comic book:

Spoiler

where Batman is hunting a parademon.

What I love about that run in Justice League was the chemistry between the character and how Batman shows why he's just not some rich guy in a batsuit.

Spoiler