Justice League Movie, Avengers Forever

Justice League

I saw the Justice League movie today.  I was surprised by how much I liked it.  I thought it would be a train wreck though, so it didn’t need to do that much much to surpass my expectations.  

Things I liked:

• Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman remains the best thing about the DC movie universe.  I’m not sure how good of an actress she actually is, but she is perfect for this role.  Her fight scenes are badass, she’s a great foil for the rest of the team, and there’s this one shot where she smiles at the camera that made me swoon inside.  I get a rush of joy whenever she’s on screen, and would be perfectly happy if DC did nothing but Wonder Woman movies for the next 10 years.  

Do not mess with her.

• The Amazon/Steppenwolf fight sequence.  The Amazon catching the arrow-with-Mother-Box was sweet.
• The scenes between Superman, Lois, and Ma Kent were surprisingly emotional.  
• The Flash in action.  In particular, the scene where he realizes Superman is as fast as he is.  Both funny and a well executed sequence.  
• The Flash/Superman race during the credits was cute.
• Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne is actually pretty decent.

Things that didn’t suck, at least.  

• Ben Affleck as Batman was awkward.  He doesn’t look comfortable in the suit.
• Aquaman.  Meh.
• The humor.  They tried so hard.  They succeeded once in a while.  Mostly with the Flash things.  Quippy Superman is really hit and miss.  

Things that sucked.

• Steppenwolf.  Even worse than Marvel’s cookie cutter villains.  So bland.  
• What’s keeping him from coming back?  All he did was teleport away.
• What happened to the Mother Boxes?
• Sigh, another hole in the sky combined with big blobby things as the main threat.
• Cyborg.  I don’t caaaarrrrreeeee.  He’s so boring.

I would actually watch this movie a second time.  It might even be more rewatchable than Wonder Woman, but that remains to be seen.  (As much as I liked WW, there are only three scenes that I need to see again: Amazon/German fight, Diana trying out outfits, and the trench/town fight.)

Regret watching?  No

Would buy on DVD? Maybe (Yes, I still buy movies.  Are you really surprised?  I clearly like collecting things.  And they’re not subject to the whims of Netflix or a strong internet connection)

Would watch again?  Yes

Rating: Fine

Avengers Forever 4-8

I’m spending less and less time paying attention to the words, and more and more time poring over the lovely art.  Continuing on what I wrote about yesterday, I’m developing more of an appreciation of Oliff’s colors.  It really makes the art pop in the right places.  He uses cool blue tones for the backgrounds, so that the characters in the foreground don’t get lost.  At the same time, all of the detail is still there to be enjoyed.  

New-found respect for the colors.

Look at the dynamism on Cap!

Iconic.

Day 2 of my Carlos Pacheco lovefest:

• His Old West looks so good.  I want him drawing a comic with the Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, and all the rest.  
• After that, he needs to do more Captain America.  That cover to issue 6!  The way he draws Cap in action!  Looks like he did a run with Rick Remender.  I may need to check that out.  [I flipped through the Remender issues in the comic shop, and was not impressed. I blame the inkers. No one stomps over a penciller with his own style like Klaus Jansen.]  

Ready to buy this series.