Justice League (2017)

Our Review

Justice League is a Frankenstein production: Zack Snyder left after a family tragedy, Joss Whedon took over, reshot a huge chunk on a rushed schedule, and the studio demanded a two hour runtime. You can see the seams everywhere. Henry Cavill’s digitally scrubbed upper lip in the reshoots became the most mocked special effect of the decade. Steppenwolf serves as the antagonist, a growling video game texture with no plan beyond uniting three boxes, and the color grade was pumped so bright it looks like a sitcom.

And yet the cast is hard to hate. Ezra Miller’s awkward Barry Allen gets real laughs, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman is a rowdy treat, and the Superman rescue beats briefly recapture the right tone. The film runs just under two hours and feels like a trailer for a better movie that never got made.

It made less money than any DC film before it, and the whole mess sparked a fan campaign that eventually produced a different, four hour cut. For historical value it is worth seeing what studio panic looks like at this scale. Our score: 4/10. Curiosity viewing only, and honestly the Snyder cut renders it pointless.