Is Justice League Really Worse Than Batman v Superman?

The DCEU’s landmark team-up has finally come out and the results are not pretty; despite seeing Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg unite on the big screen for the first time, Justice League has emerged as yet another mar on the shared universe’s already checkered scoresheet, with scathing reviews and a crushingly disappointing box office opening.

As we begin to unpack what happened, you’d be forgiven for being left with a distinct sense of deja vu; weren’t we here this time 20 months ago? Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice released in March 2016 and while the constructive criticisms and defenses remain strong, there’s no avoiding the general sense of the film as a failure; it too underperformed at the box office (with a record-breaking Friday-to-Friday drop), and assessments skewed heavily negative.

But it would be a mistake to dismiss Justice League as just more of the same. Its failure is really a different story. For one, Wonder Woman adjusted the series’ narrative earlier this year when it won over dissenters and became one of the year’s biggest financial hits, so in its wake League had been pegged as the redemption of the main Zack Snyder series. Beyond that, though, the reason it’s still stumbled is wholly unique.

A LOT CHANGED BETWEEN BATMAN V SUPERMAN AND JUSTICE LEAGUE

It’s worth clarifying that for all the comparisons and cultural connections, we are dealing with two very different movies. This isn’t like The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, where they were distinct films yet still within the same directing ballpark. What we have here is (without a lick of a qualitative statement) more the leap between Batman Returns and Batman Forever; a technical continuation of the story, yet with a tonal and character shift from being a dark product of their director to more fun archetypes.

So whereas Dawn of Justice was a two-and-a-half (or three hours in Ultimate Edition form) continuation of Man of Steel attempting to deconstruct of Batman and Superman, Justice League is a detached, under-two-hour romp following a quintet of super beings (eventually boosted to six) on a knockabout adventure to stop a space monster. Further, the new film is certainly lighter in tone, with its versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman noticeably less brooding than they were in 2016, and visually it’s a tangibly brighter affair, with more daytime scenes and as a result clear color replacing hyper-saturation.

These changes are heavily in part due to the backlash against Batman v Superman; the details are mired in speculation, but after Dawn of Justice got a drubbing from critics and failed to hit that expected $1B mark (something Batman had done for himself solo twice in recent years) a decision was made to change tact. The film Zack Snyder started production on in April 2016 already had some shifts made to the initial plan, then after his assembly cut didn’t land as expected, Joss Whedon was brought in to punch up the dialogue, and once Snyder stepped down under tragic circumstances The Avengers director took over completely. The sum effects of these reshoots and associated changes have already been explored at length, but what needs to be said here is that they were the final step in adjusting the feel – and are the key to the film’s problems.

BATMAN V SUPERMAN AND JUSTICE LEAGUE ARE BAD IN DIFFERENT WAYS

While we’ve established differences in style and construction, that doesn’t really assess the resulting qualities of these films. For Batman v Superman, its position as a divisive property comes from conception, with Zack Snyder was given a great sense of free reign to tell a story with DC’s trinity. His chosen route was a mash-up of The Dark Knight Returns and The Death of Superman, with Lex Luthor as an overarching villain and Wonder Woman introduced, that attempted to examine the fundamentals of the two titular heroes in a frenemy context. The problem many have is the motivation and execution of that vision – it’s confusing (due to Snyder’s propensity to making extra long edits and cutting down), misses much of what makes the heroes so enduring, and is mired in a forced seriousness – yet there is no denying that it clearly has a vision underpinning it.

Justice League, on the other hand, has no such driving ideal. Those reshoots didn’t just alter the tone, they pretty much crippled the film, removing any purpose and leaving behind inconsistencies galore. Aside from the obvious elements like Superman’s mustache and clear green screen, there’s a noticeable jar between the original Snyder ideas and light Whedon additions that only get more pronounced with each leaked deleted scene; we have a complete gulf of thematic weight and associated narrative justification. Of course, what it has in contrast to Batman v Superman is that levity and lightness, with many beats that aim to amuse, yet without clearly defined characters that’s tricky to justify; it’s shallow attempts at a connection that only come across as annoying.

We have no idea what Zack Snyder’s original pitch for the film was – accounts vary from him making something in line with Dawn of Justice to a more consciously sanitized version – but, nevertheless, the finished film is a chopped up version of that which, plainly, doesn’t have any overriding vision.

JUSTICE LEAGUE IS WORSE BECAUSE IT HAS NO PURPOSE

The debate about which film is worse comes down to the distinction in focus and auteur theory. Is it better to try and fail or to never try at all?

At the end of the day, Batman v Superman has a purpose. Whether or not that works doesn’t matter; it comes from a distinct voice. This, for the record, is exactly why it’s proven so enduringly divisive; the discussion is about the logic of that vision and its execution, two essential facets of art. Batman v Superman can be debated on many terms, but it is fundamentally art.

Justice League is nigh-on-impossible to give such a description. There’s no clear vision powering it: Snyder could have offered that, but under Whedon the film has been altered; and while Joss’ influence is thus definitely rampant, it’s not enough to really say he fully overrides Zack’s. What we have is a film where every scene is a battle between two directorial voices, and neither one gels; occasional moments can shine through, but overall it’s a muddle that never even gets as far as presenting ideas, let alone trying to explore them. Sure, it’s not quite as “barely a film” as The Dark Tower or Fantastic Four, but it’s just a rung above.

If Batman v Superman was a car on fire speeding relentlessly down a road at high speeds to terrifying but in the eyes of the drive purposeful effect, Justice League is that car crashed; the driver tried to adjust course but went into a spin, then started taking advice from a backseat driver before they grabbed ahold of the wheel, resulting a still-on-fire mess of metal. Neither is desirable, but one is obviously better for your health. By that logic, Justice League is the worse. It’s not a coherent film and there’s no understandable substance to latch on to. Batman v Superman may have upset, but there was at least a recognizable purpose. Its follow-up has a sense of obligation to every scene, pushed out because the release date was set, and the result is purely disheartening.

SUBJECTIVITY AND THE DCEU

Now, for all that’s been said, we need to conclude with an acknowledgment of the subjectivity of art in general, and specifically how that pertains to the DCEU. Some love Batman v Superman, some hate it. Some enjoy Justice League, others are deeply upset by what was delivered. Complicating matters, there’s no direct correlation between those sides; many who hated BvS found themselves having a good time with Justice League, whereas other long-standing DCEU fans were burned by what was done with Snyder’s original vision. It’s frankly hard to really discuss this topic in anything approaching an objective manner given how wide-ranging and powerful the opinion is on both movies, and how they don’t line up (this is why the oft-used metric of Rotten Tomatoes score hasn’t been used in this discussion – it just doesn’t help matters).

However, getting as granular as is possible with an ultimately subjective medium, there’s evidently one film out of Batman v Superman and Justice League that falls harder on an ideological level. One of these movies tried to do something, for better or ill. The other just exists as a Frankenstein’s monster.

First Page | Next Page

Source: Screen Rant