It wasn't terrible, and it's a decent amount of fun, but it just felt so half-assed overall. Like...
that's what we've been building to after 16 months of marketing? I can't believe I'm defending
Batman v Superman, but it at least felt big and consequential and like an effort worthy of these characters. They tried, but just got it way wrong. This, though, almost felt like an
episode of
Justice League. None of it came across as
bad, necessarily, just irreverent and inconsequential and rushed - like everyone was simply going through the motions.
As for specifics...
- The effects were jaw-droppingly terrible. There seriously wasn't a single exterior scene that wasn't green-screened, and everything from Steppenwolf to Themyscira to Cavill's mustache job were unbelievably distracting in their visual execution (or lack there of). Nothing about this movie felt even remotely real or weighted. Even the Bat Cave looked terrible in that scene where the team first arrived there - all green screen and just so cheap looking. I don't understand how this happens in 2017, with this kind of budget.
- I have to disagree with the comment above about them doing a great job with Superman. I thought the exact opposite. Everything about how he was handled felt awkward to me, especially that whole sequence where he woke up and they all fought - smack dab in the middle of the city, with hardly anyone else around? It was just... off. And way too easy for the team to bring him back, for him to finish off Steppenwolf, etc.
- The Flash was... fine. I chuckled at a couple of his lines, but overall his humor felt a bit too forced. I thought his "speed" effects were kind of lame, too. I get wanting to go a different route with the lightning and what not, but his running looked weird and something about him never really felt "fast."
- I actually kind of liked Cyborg. He was super bland, and after this there's not a chance in hell he gets a solo film, but within the context of the movie, I guess I enjoyed his story (what little there was of it).
- Aquaman accidentally sitting on Wonder Woman's lasso was, by far, the best bit in the entire movie.
- These characters absolutely needed their own respective movies before this one. The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman each had such lame, expositional exchanges with their one relative, or whoever, that basically summed up what their origin movies would have been. They probably could have kept Cyborg just for this movie, but The Flash and Aquaman definitely needed proper set-ups.
Overall, I hate to sound like a broken record, but I really hope this is the beginning of the end for the DCEU. Considering Affleck's attitude as of late, and the fact that this is bombing, all but ensures that he's not coming back, not even for a solo movie. And I just can't imagine caring about another solo Superman movie at this point, especially considering how unceremonious he felt here. WB will of course shift all their focus to Wonder Woman now, and Aquaman is still coming next year, but I have a feeling that in addition to Affleck's Batman, this is the last time we ever see these iterations of Superman, The Flash, and Cyborg. Surely those later two solo movies are canned after this. I guess Shazam will still go forward, since it's reportedly on track to shoot early next year, but beyond that, I have no clue what's going to happen. The rumor mill could get very interesting next week...
