Justice League

A League Of Their Own. 

Today's model of success for the major movie studios is to build a universe of franchise films, and not create a good film or two. Justice League is the poster child for that unfortunate model, as it spends half of its running time setting up the future films, which is quite a boring ride for a viewer.

It's clear that DC should have collected a few good films before assembling its comic book crown jewel— the collection of A-team heroes that call themselves the Justice League. JL even soils all the goodwill from summer's winning Wonder Woman by turning her (Gal Gadot) into nothing more than a sexist comedian at the expense of a joyless Batman (Ben Affleck), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and that super duper guy we all know comes back.

DC is much better at TV with Greg Berlanti's "Arrowverse." By the time the established and loved B-characters characters from Arrow, Flash and Supergirl assembled for a guest episode, it was breezily exciting.
 
Justice League could use some breeze and excitement, but it's too muddled down in establishing other films (the upcoming Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg) or trying to explain past ones (Man of Steel, Superman v. Batman) to find any rhythm. I didn't expect Justice League to be an award-worthy film such as Logan, but it should definitely be the most exciting movie available to comic book fans.

This hot mess doesn't know what to look like either. Aquaman's world has one look, Superman and Batman another. There is attempt to unify the mess with lightning bolts I guess, but imagine how thrilling this could be with a unified look such as what illustrator Alex Ross created for the pages of DC.

What did work? Flash's character, essentially Quicksilver from the Marvel films, adds much needed comic breaks throughout and I looked forward to every scene with the quick-witted speedster. Those big bug baddies, previously seen in BvS, were a stunning foil for action sequences. All of Bruce Waynes toys and vehicles — and Danny Elfman.

If you're as antsy for something to think about as I was during most of the film, focus on how composer Danny Elfman brilliantly weaved all the current hero themes plus his classic Batman (1989) and John Williams' Superman (1978) themes into a coherent musical tapestry. Maybe he should write and direct the next film.
 
Spoiler alert: In the final act, the bad guy gets big and a hero throws a thing at it to destroy it.
 
Simply put: Gloomy scene. Group shot. Confusing setup scene.Witty retort by Flash. Repeat for two hours. Ugh, go see the Thor movie instead.

Award potential: Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) and Lois Lane's (Amy Adams) dialogue in the corn field and Cavill's stiff acting should garner some super-sized Razzie attention.
 
The ten buck review: Not worth ten bucks.