So many headlines are coming out of Justice League, and the picture that they paint isn’t a pretty one.
Before I will get through some of them, I want to point out, that these things happened before in Hollywood and they have ended well, most famous examples are World War Z and Rogue One, which have gone through extensive reshoots and directorial changes.
Here are some of the headlines that surround the movie: Joss Whedon was brought in to do reshoots as Zack Snyder decided to step down after the tragic suicide of his daughter. Then reshoots were deemed extensive and expensive. Snyder removed his support from the movie on Twitter and there are rumors that Whedon will receive a co-director credit in this movie. The real cut of the movie was deemed unwatchable. Ray Fisher, the actor who plays Cyborg says the reshoots and the readjustment to his characters will lighten the tone of the movie.
Basically, this is a PR nightmare and WB and DC have been never good at PR. Why a PR nightmare? Because DC forget that they didn’t fire Zack Snyder, he stepped down under tragic circumstances.
Moreover, tone has never been DCEU’s problem. In fact, tone has been what has set it so wonderfully apart. Marvel was light and funny and DC was dark and gritty. However, dark and gritty requires a good script, something DC struggles with. Wonder Woman had a pretty solider script and it worked in dark themes beautifully. And no, just because it had a few jokes in it doesn’t make it a light and fun movie. It’s a movie with a message, a rare thing these days, and only Winter Soldier is it’s equivalent. They really need to place more importance on the script in all their movies.
When it comes to tone I think they can step it up a notch and go full dystopia. People love original dystopias and the DCEU has the basis with Superman as an indifferent deity, the world they live in is bleak and full of crime. Remember how much money Hunger Games made? How every famous dystopian book is being made into a movie or a tv show? Now is the perfect time to go dark. People love dark. But they love quality dark, not the half produced, rushed through, stuff that the DCEU has been putting out there. But no, they are referring to Superman in the Justice League trailer as the symbol of hope which they never bothered to establish in previous movies.
Then they have the problem of world building. Marvel cleverly built all their movies to build up to one climax. DCEU movies don’t even feel like they exist in the same world. So many movies got green light that we have no idea where these characters are going to be or how they relate to each other. Batgirl, Nightwing, Justice League Dark, what is their role in the DCEU? I don’t think that even Jeff Jones knows. Heck, Jeff Jones shares creative control with Jon Berg, so I am not sure that even he knows. I don’t think that there is an organized plan here, and it shows.
My last point is Joss Whedon is the wrong choice for Justice League. Joss Whedon did a fantastic work on the first Avengers movie, no one can take that away from him. But he left Marvel after the second one basically talking very unkindly about his former boss, and in such a small industry, I’m surprised DC hired him. He could destroy them in interviews. Marvel can do damage control. DC has proven that they cannot. I did not like what he has done with Ultron, he could have turn him into a progressive Skynet instead all we got was an alright movie, which couldn’t live up to its own hype. Good thing that there are no expectations from Justice League.
I would have gone with a director who has a good relationship with WB and has done some cinema magic before. That’s right, I am talking about horror movie god and director of Aquaman, James Wan. He saved Fast and Furious 7 after the tragic death of Paul Walker. Aquaman should have been pushed back in favor of James Wan finishing Justice League. He would have made it the right kind of dark. The one that made him famous. At least we know Aquaman will be a good movie.
Ben Affleck described Justice League as a “hybrid” of two directors. I think Justice League will probably be just another exasperating DCEU movie with a lot of unfulfilled potential.
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