As I sat down in the theater with my extra-buttered popcorn and my blue raspberry Sour Punch straws, I felt a wave of suspense hit me. “Justice League” is the movie I’ve been anticipating since August. With “Wonder Woman’s” success in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU),I was beyond excited for “Justice League.” It isn’t exactly another DCEU flop, but I still left the theater disappointed. Though the movie did better than most of the previous DCEU movies, it still didn’t reach my expectations and left me a bit hoodwinked.

“Justice League,” directed by Zack Snyder, is the first movie in the DCEU to include all the famous superheroes who we’ve read about as kids and seen on TV. With an amazing cast including Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa, the movie got overhyped.

Something Snyder did beautifully was capture the League together as one team. Throughout the movie, we see them warming up and working together. When watching the trailer, I was a bit skeptical because the graphics and CGI looked too artificial, but Snyder came through, and the CGI and graphics looked a lot more realistic. One scene I found particularly stunning was when The Flash (played by Ezra Miller) runs on the side of a sewer, touching Wonder Woman’s (Gal Gadot) sword so it’s pushed back into her hand, instead of falling down the sewer. The 360-degree footage was flawless, and I haven’t seen anything like this unique directing of an all-around scene before. The scene “sparked” magic, unlike the rest of the movie which is very grounded.  

Unfortunately, there are more cons than pros with “Justice League.” The dialogue felt forced throughout the movie, hardly ever feeling natural. For example, Aquaman barely spoke, and when he did, it was an attempt to either sound clever or serious, which led to the lack of his character development. Comedic attempts failed, feeling unnatural and forced into the screenplay. “Justice League” was also predictable. From the trailer, I could tell what was going to happen and I often felt depleted because I wish there was more to those scenes that were also in the trailer. The scenes chosen to give insight on the new members who didn’t have previous movies were poorly chosen. In one scene, Barry Allen -“The Flash”– visits his father in jail for “murder;” however that does nothing for the plot. I would have liked to see Allen’s childhood of how he became “The Flash” and what makes him who he is. Furthermore, Cyborg’s backstory wasn’t dabbled into that much either.  The process of him becoming “Cyborg” is explained, however his past as a quarterback in high school is hardly mentioned. Failing to portray what he was before, a human teenager, dehumanized him, making him seem more alienated. I’ll just have to wait until all of the three superheroes’ solo movies come out in the following years, however I wish I didn’t have to, to get a clearer understanding of the characters.

I was let down by “Justice League,” but hopefully, with this prerequisite out of the way, the members of the League can shine in their own movies. “Justice League” hasn’t discouraged me from the future of the DCEU, but my expectations won’t be as high. If the movies can be as amazing as “Wonder Woman” was, I will be captivated. Overall, I give the movie a B for the cast that I adore, but also for the poor screenplay.