WASHINGTON — This time last year, the DC Extended Universe was on the ropes, unable to match the success of Marvel’s “Avengers” franchise after a critically-panned trifecta of “Man of Steel” (2013), “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016) and “Suicide Squad” (2016).
However, it mounted a comeback this summer with the blockbuster smash “Wonder Woman,” in which director Patty Jenkins and actress Gal Gadot created an instant classic for the genre.
So, can DC Comics keep the momentum going with “Justice League” this weekend? Meh.
Inspired by the ultimate sacrifice of Clark Kent a.k.a Superman (Henry Cavill), Bruce Wayne a.k.a Batman (Ben Affleck) recruits a team of superheroes to take on the evil Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), who seeks three magical Mother Boxes to unleash destruction on Earth.
By all accounts, it wasn’t an easy production. Director Zack Snyder had to step down after his daughter’s death, causing “Avengers” writer/director Joss Whedon to reportedly reshoot 15-20 percent of the movie. Working with cinematographer Fabian Wagner (“Game of Thrones”) and composer Danny Elfman (“Batman”), the dark palette has welcome pops of color for a change.
Whedon’s involvement didn’t come out of nowhere; Snyder had already asked him to write scenes for the reshoots. Thus, Whedon and co-writer Chris Terrio (“Argo”) juggle the dark overtones of Superman’s death with brief glimmers of hope. With the exception of “Wonder Woman,” it may be the most lighthearted film of a franchise steeped in doom and gloom.
That vibe often comes by way of banter, as Ezra Miller brings the comic relief as Barry Allen a.k.a. The Flash; Jason Momoa swims to “Icky Thump” as Arthur Curry a.k.a. Aquaman; Ray Fisher grapples with his biomechanics as Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg; and Gal Gadot dazzles as Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman, using her wristbands, shield, sword and Lasso of Truth.
While Gadot is once again magnetic, it’s way too soon. We just saw her five months ago. Can’t we wait a year or two in between to give us a chance to miss her? Not only does this dilute her appearance in “Justice League,” it undercuts “Wonder Woman” as an Oscar contender by giving us too much of a good thing. If you count her debut in “Batman v. Superman,” that’s three Wonder Woman movies in the past year and a half. Junkie XL just became Junkie XXXL.
It’s just one of the many head-scratching decisions in the rushed rollout of the DC Universe. Why not follow the proven Marvel model? Just as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk got individual origin stories before teaming up in “The Avengers,” we should have gotten standalones of The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg before teaming them in “Justice League.”
Instead, we get jam-packed mediocrity when we could have gotten so much more mileage out of a reunion. There’s simply not enough screentime to build character arcs for three new leading characters in the same film. We may get flashes of their trusty sidekicks — Amber Heard as Aquaman’s wife Mera, Ben Morton as Cyborg’s father Silas Stone, and Billy Crudup as The Flash’s father Henry Allen — but they all come and go so quickly to even register.
By contrast, we feel more emotionally invested in the other supporting characters introduced in past movies. From “Wonder Woman” we get Connie Nielsen’s Hippolyta; from “Man of Steel” we get Amy Adams’ Lois Lane and Diane Lane’s Martha Kent; and from “Batman” we get Jeremy Irons’ Alfred Pennyworth (with J.K. Simmons debuting as James Gordon). There’s a reason we care about them; they were given their own previous films for us to fall for them.
Fans of the comics may also yearn for supervillain Darkseid, who seems like the logical “big baddie” for such a team-up flick. Instead, we get second-tier villain Steppenwolf, played by Ciarán Hinds, who reportedly got motion-capture tips from Liam Neeson’s “A Monster Calls” (2016). It doesn’t work nearly as well, as Steppenwolf and his shrieking Parademons are so CGI-heavy that they drag down the movie each and every time they appear on screen.
Once this hits streaming and home video, you’ll fastforward the scenes with Steppenwolf, who’s born to be mild, and instead take a magic-carpet ride on the superhero team-up scenes. It’s here that the film soars, from callbacks (“Do you bleed?”) to pop-culture references (“Pet Sematary!”). Thus, we hold out hope for DC’s future installments. As one character says, “Hope is like your car key. It’s easy to lose, but if you look close enough, it’s usually close by.”
