MOVIE: Justice League movie results in a draw

FOOTBALL leagues contain teams of differing abilities. No doubt if the producers of this movie had their choice, they would hope to reproduce the form of a Manchester City or a Barcelona. 

But is this new release from the DC Comic universe more of a Crystal Palace than a contender for top honours?

At first glance, the talent involved looks impressive. Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Amy Adams. Characters like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Directed by Zack Snyder who gave us ‘300’ and ‘Watchmen’, and written by the man behind ‘Buffy’ and countless cinematic hits, what could go wrong?

The movie picks up following the death of Superman and the arrival of a new and powerful evil force who is hell bent on unleashing his wicked wrath on the world. 

Batman must assemble a team to try and stop him, and sets about rounding up all the superhero talent he can find (in the DC Universe of course). Any of this sound familiar? As well as the characters named above, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg are recruited to help in the effort, and from here the movie kicks into full blown action mode. 

This really is a game of two halves, first hour assemble the team, second hour use all available powers to defeat your opponent. 

The danger with these type of superhero movies is that it has all been done before. The recent successes that stand out, such as ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Thor Ragnarok’, triumph because of their originality and heart in the first instance, and the use of humour in the second. 

This film lacks in both departments and if producers insist solely on making the explosions louder and the fight scenes longer, audiences will eventually turn away. 

Sometimes less is more and this definitely applies here, especially with Aquaman, who in the final scene, seems to be standing around searching for some water to use. 

As to where this film comes in the league, it may not face relegation, but it’s not going to Europe either. We score it a mid table, 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Paul O’Rourke