All in. 
This review contains spoilers. 
"Justice League" is directed by Zack Synder (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 300) with assistance from Joss Whedon (Avengers). The film stars Ben Affleck (Argo) as Batman, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious) as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) as Aquaman, Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg and Henry Cavill (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Superman. "Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy". "Wonder Woman" course corrected the DCEU, is it about to go off the rails again?

"Justice League" is a really unfortunate case; It's overall a pretty mediocre film but the mistakes it makes are in major areas. "Wonder Woman" is one of the best films of this year and the strongest superhero film of 2017; "Justice League" is one of the weakest films I have seen all year and is unquestionably the worst superhero film of 2017. If "Justice League" is what the DCEU has been building up to since its creation in 2013, it's an embarrassingly anticlimactic affair. In contrast to the DCEU's other offerings, "Justice League" is more rewatchable than "Man of Steel" or "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice". Synder should indefinitely exit this franchise as whatever he is doing is just not working. Whedon is also unable to replicate the successful formula of his Marvel films. "The Avengers" did remarkable things for Marvel, the superhero genre and Hollywood, "Justice League" is fails to have anywhere near as big of an impact. 

"Wonder Woman, I'm sorry" was my initial reaction leaving the cinema. Somehow, within the same year, DC have put out two opposing portrayals of Wonder Woman/Diana - I think it's easy to guess which portrayal I'm going to argue was better. Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman" gave an ideal representation of the character; Diana stood for everyone and showed defiance and strength. The male gaze was not employed which is the main factor as to why Diana's representation was unproblematic. With Synder and Whedon behind the lens, the male gaze is heavily applied consequently leading to a representation of Diana far from what audiences enjoyed during "Wonder Woman", a step backwards for the character and female superheroes. After the success of her solo outing, Warner Bros have played up the character of Wonder Woman in the marketing but ironically for a film named "Justice League", the character is not done justice whatsoever; If this film had come out prior to "Wonder Woman", the fears of Wonder Woman fans would have become a reality - this is a sexualised, objectified and problematic representation of arguably the DCEU's most popular hero. When not in armour, Diana wears low cut tops and skin-tight leather trousers; Whedon and Synder exploit this with close ups of Diana's backside. During an action sequence, shortly after Diana has had a moment of strength, The Flash lands on her cleavage and although the moment is brief, it is disgusting how this would be kept in the film as a moment of comic relief. Aquaman is expressing his feelings about each character and all he has to say about Diana is that she is "gorgeous". Bruce Wayne/Batman lays into Diana about how she stands for nothing and only cares about Steve Trevor; Side-note, Steve Trevor's death is the only thing that seems to motivate Snyder's Diana. How does a character go from a strong, empathetic individual to one that's only appreciated for her appearance? I was heart-broken for the character of Diana and how she is portrayed in this film. "Justice League" left me angrier than any film has before. 

Gal Gadot remains excellent with her performance, it's just unfortunate that she was not able to register what was going on with the representation and put a stop to it; especially after how much she seemed to understand and respect the character during the "Wonder Woman" press tour. Diana's action scenes are the most entertaining and enjoyable to watch; I liked how she saved a group of children from a terrorist attack at the start of the film and it was always her who actually confronted and battled Steppenwolf. Although, none of her action scenes have a patch on the poignant and moving ones she fought in during her own movie. Another problem relating to the character is the portrayal of the Amazons- the drastic costume change from "Wonder Woman" to "Justice League" is ridiculous. The Amazons may not have been completely covered up in "Wonder Woman" but that was much better to the bikinis they wear in "Justice League"; They look like a bunch of Victoria's Secret models living on an island; Beauty is definitely emphasised much more than their strength. Another trigger point was when the Amazons started fighting; at no point during their fight with Steppenwolf was an Amazon shown to be succeeding, it was cut after cut of an Amazon being killed and defeated. This was the first of Steppenwolf's battles and I think it was no coincidence that he was shown defeating a bunch of women first. Steppenwolf also tells Queen Hippolyta that she will one day become his wife- a strong female character from "Wonder Woman" is turned into a male accessory. Whilst on the topic of problematic female representations in this film, Lois Lane spends her days writing blogs about kittens while Superman is dead and her 'thirstiness' for the male hero is joked about. Lane is seen as boy-crazy and helpless without her male lover. Martha just cannot be taken seriously after what happened in "Batman v Superman" and Amber Heard's Mera had the tiniest role and the quality of Heard's performance was questionable. DC either need to recruit Patty Jenkins as an execute producer on all of their films or find another like-minded individual who's specific job is to maintain positive representations of female characters. To some, this will be an issue they can look past but for me (someone who applauds "Wonder Woman" for all the good it does), it was something that really affected the viewing experience. This is a problem and it needs to be fixed. 

Moving on to the new characters - Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg. The tone of Aquaman is slightly convoluted; For the first half of the film he is serious and then for the second half, he essentially becomes Maui from "Moana". I suspect this identity mismatch is down to reshoots and conflicting portrayals from Whedon and Snyder. The visual effects involving Aquaman were quite cool; It was refreshingly different to see water as a superpower and it was realistically created. The scenes that occurred under the water sometimes looked good but the use of green screen was often obvious. Hopefully, for the film, "Aquaman", a lot of effort is put into making the visuals seamless. Jason Momoa shows promise but the tonal shift of the character takes away the enjoyment of his performance. Personally, I preferred the first halve's portrayal of the character and hope James Wan chooses that route for Aquaman's solo film. Momoa certainly looks like a good Aquaman but I need to see more from him performance-wise to make a judgement on his acting. After first watching, I found Ezra Miller's Flash immature, childish and intolerable. However, after second viewing, he was still all of those things but did develop some likability. Flash definitely delivers the most jokes...whether they land will depend on your sense of humour; The comedy within "Justice League" really is targeted to the teen-boy audience. I'm not sure I would be able to deal with a whole film of Miller's Flash, he would become incredibly irritating. The character still needs some development so Miller's performance was the only thing adding some dimension to Flash. Cyborg similarly lacks development but out of the three new members, he gets the most screen-time. Without-a-doubt, Cyborg has interesting skills and is a valuable member of the team yet his scenes were some of the film's dullest. The character comes off as moody and a little too serious; However, this is needed to balance out the light-hearted attitudes of Flash and Aquaman. Ray Fisher holds his own among all of the other actors; He doesn't stand out as someone who hasn't starred in a Hollywood film before. That being said, the dull character consequently leads to a dull performance. 

Two members of the league left; The two that got an overlong and poorly received movie of their own last year: Batman and Superman. Before this film, I've always leaned more towards Batman's side. However, "Justice League" turns things around for Superman and he may be my new favourite of the two. Batman/Bruce Wayne is even more arrogant and self-indulged than Tony Stark. The scene that was a turning point for my feelings towards Bruce Wayne was when he started laying into Diana and saying things he knew would hurt her; This didn't come across as back-handed motivation but straight-up nastiness. Ben Affleck doesn't seem to bring anything exciting to the character- Affleck has either lost his excitement after his past appearance being a critical dud or had nothing great to work with. I'm starting to question if Affleck is even the right fit for this character or the DCEU. On the other hand, even though his appearance is quite brief, Henry Cavill's Superman returns better than ever. I thought the film did a really nice job of establishing the world without Superman- the moving sequence showing the world full of depression, poverty and hatred exhibited why Superman is needed. When he returns, his suit seems to be brighter than ever and he really comes across as the saviour and represents hope. I also enjoyed the scene where Superman is first brought back to life and all members of the team are grabbed on to him at once, it showed his strength and power. The only moment I didn't like was when he started blowing ice...I remember finding some of his powers quite odd in "Man of Steel"- some do not translate well to screen. Once I was team Batman, now I think I'm team Superman.

"Justice League"'s story is a simplified version of what Marvel have been building up to for years with "Infinity War". I think it would have been a smarter move to drop hints about the mother boxes in the prior films. For example, a post-credit scene in "Wonder Woman" of the Amazons' mother box starting to activate? Warner Bros. demanded the running time for this film to be below 2 hours and although the pacing may be the best thing about it, there seems to be a lot of story missing. This apocalypse-like story fails to have any stakes as there is not enough development into what implications Steppenwolf's plan will have. I am more than sure that there are lots of scenes left on the editing room floor and although the story still functions without those scenes, they could add some needed development to the characters and the story. Steppenwolf may be one of the worst developed villains to appear in a modern superhero film. The only background information the audience are given is through a brief flashback told by Diana (including an exciting Green Lantern cameo!). Weirdly. the actual finale of "Justice League" never amounts to the greatness of the battle told in the flashback. Steppenwolf's lines are very cliche which some will love and others find cheesy; The villain has never been referenced in the DCEU prior to this film which also didn't make much sense- He is possibly one of the most forgettable villains whose masterplan is simple but motivation is unclear. Similarly to "Suicide Squad", "Justice League"'s plot does not have any layers- the characters have to form and defeat the villain. If DC spent a few years developing their characters, they could spend more time on the story and less on establishing the team members. The final battle also has serious problems- it is ridiculous how an apocalypse-style event only seems to put the lives of four civilians in danger; There are supposedly civilians in the houses but the area feels deserted and derelict. "Justice League" should have hired a few more extras and had them running around in fear. I do not understand the point of this film- it adds nothing to the story, introduces a forgettable villain and does not seem to have any stakes.

Admittedly, I do enjoy the DCEU and the world it takes place in...much more than the Marvel films. This film demonstrates it really well by venturing to Themyscira and to Atlantis. I also like (the idea of) all of the characters, there's a reason Superman and Batman were comic-book icons before their film adaptions and the likes of Iron Man, Thor and Ant-Man were not. "Wonder Woman" acted as a stepping stone into the world of comedy with a handful of effective jokes incorporated within the film. "Justice League" takes the comedy to another level and is certainly DC's lightest film to date. Although the comedy rarely lands and detracts from DC's more serious tone which set it apart. This is definitely a more family friendly film and could be a smart move when it comes to the box office. The visual effects are mixed- some scenes very obviously use green screen and Steppenwolf is realised like a video game character.

"Justice League" is mediocre and forgettable but a film featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg should be anything but those things; This should be an event, the crown jewel of the DCEU. For now, "Wonder Woman" retains that title. What stops this film from being harmlessly average is the way it handles female characters; This film emphasises how well Patty Jenkins portrayed Diana and is a devastating follow up film for the character. She still has the best action moments though and is the most likeable. As expected, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg feel underdeveloped and that they should have been explored already in previous films. The villain is thinly written without a clear motivation. There are no stakes in the final battle making this whole thing feel anticlimactic in retrospect. "Justice League" doesn't go 'all in' as the tagline promises- it's a half-hearted effort with chunks of the film being left in post. It definitely falls at the bottom of the pile of 2017 superhero films. It's time for James Wan to save the day with "Aquaman" and once gain, I am so sorry Diana.