An entertaining film that has all the pieces to become something great, but only manages to be better than average. “Justice League” builds on the best parts of the more recent DC films. Primarily, that means Ben Affleck’s Batman and anything they can cram in from “Wonder Woman.” While this works well for the most part, it makes it more difficult for the new characters to find their groove. Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman are fairly well known characters, but we know very little about these versions and the movie does its best to fill in some of the blanks. Because of this, the joining of these heroes feels less grand than The Avengers coming together, but more momentous than the Guardians of the Galaxy teaming up for the first time. The story is about what you would expect, and tears through a fair amount of cliché’s. For the most part, the action was fine, but lacked many memorable sequences. The villain, Steppenwolf is imposing, but the fully CGI characters looks a bit off at times. The breakout character is The Flash, who adds quite a bit of comedy and quirkiness. Even though he appears in very little of the films advertising, it was never a secret that Superman would return. He’s not in the movie all that much, but all his scenes have the biggest impact and provide the best emotional moments. There’s a mid-credit and a post-credit scene. Both are worth checking out.
*** out of *****