Justice League "Heroes" trailer review
Warner Bros. Pictures
The more trailers offered for Justice League, the less appealing the film looks. Where the poor over-marketing of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice led to way too much being revealed about the movie before its release, the promotional material for Justice League has managed to make it look worse while revealing almost nothing about the plot.
Let us just get one thing straight here. I do not have anything against DC and Wonder Woman is one of the more impressive superhero movies I have seen in quite some time. However, everything in the DCEU's catalog (post Dark Knight trilogy) revolving around Superman and Batman (yes, Suicide Squad, too) has turned out abysmal at best, and I fear that Justice League is going to be more of the same.
The newest trailer begins with Amy Adams having a nightmare about being involved in these low-caliber films. Her Lois Lane dreams of Henry Cavill's Clark Kent standing in a field outside his childhood home as if he never perished in the previous film. What follows is some bland exposition about how the world is full of hopeless violence and terror now that the big S is gone, even though he did not do much but cause destruction in his short two-movie arc thus far.
Everything from this point on is almost impossible to look at without feeling jaded over the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on seemingly nothing but reshoots. Seriously, this CGI is so bad it is almost comparable to last year's Gods of Egypt. It is nothing but an eyesore, with color corrected backgrounds and black-faceless armies galore.
What makes this all the more insulting is the use of a cover version of David Bowie's "Heroes" playing over this catastrophe, as if something actually comprehensible and important is occurring (not that you could tell in this special effects mishmash). Ben Affleck makes a few tired statements about hope and tries his hardest to convince us he "really likes playing Batman." Seriously, his soulless delivery is more threatening to the Justice League than whatever the hell the villain is supposed to be (all I see is an exact replica of the under-rendered attempt at Ares in Wonder Woman).
The rest of the trailer is dedicated to montages of the League kicking some serious CG-winged-creatured butt. Gal Gadot is, of course, always a relief to see in this testosterone fest. Jason Momoa's Aquaman literally says, "My man!" like some kind of brotastic flying mermaid. I do expect Ezra Miller to be the most enjoyable in the gang as his fresh-faced and enthusiastic take on The Flash provides the only comedy that remotely lands. I am not even sure that the movie actually wants Cyborg in it with how useless Ray Fisher's character seems at this point.
Do not get me wrong, I was on board when I saw the first footage for Justice League last summer, and I tried to remain optimistic through the other trailers that began to cause a bit of worry, but this, this is just not good. I kept my mouth shut for most of marketing period for Batman v Superman, and I wish I had been honest with everyone, including myself, all along. That movie was a disaster and I fear we are on the same bland, confusing and misunderstood path as we were then.
