Just so it’s off my chest, fuck I hate how the flashbacks are done in this movie. One scene might take place in the future, next present, next past, next future, next past again, with barely any visual way of showing it, and even if you ignore that, it’s so utterly needless that I have no idea why they did it like that.
Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine are great here, Scarlett Johansson is a great supporting actress, and Christian bale sure is... there. The plot is fantastic and the twist and turns, while very weirdly delivered, are always surprising.
What a waste of intriguing ideas and compelling characters. Despite the strong cinematography, engaging setting, memorable music, and initially interesting cast, it all devolves into yet another dull vampire film that could have been set in any era. The vampire genre is incredibly overdone at this point. While this hasn't affected my rating, it's worth noting: if the racial dynamics were reversed, a film like this wouldn’t get made yet it's still somehow acceptable to portray things this way.
I just had my my second attempt to get through this having tried months ago and only lasting about an hour with failed plans to go back to it. I haven't seen Justice League since it came out, so I don't remember it well enough to say exactly what extra scenes this has/has omitted, but damn, it's way too long. I mean, you don't see Superman until 2hrs 40min into it. However, given its extra running time, it does allow it to include more scenes from everyone, particularly The Flash and Cyborg, so it doesn't feel as rushed as the original cut.
Batman feels out of place and useless in this unrealistic world with these amazingly powerful friends and foes. He still does some important acts to assist his League, but he doesn't feel required apart from the act of helping them get together in the first place.
The main issue with this is that the fighting scenes aren't very interesting, the villains are boring, and the CGI/green screen is overdone and seems incredibly cheap. The movie just isn't very good to look at because of this. Why does it look so ugly? This version does nothing to rectify those issues. For such a long film, the Justice League members never get very close or build much of a relationship apart from the odd quips. Aquaman feels like he was tacked on in a rewrite.
[Spoilers] An intriguing, unique and well acted movie that in a way says a lot about today's cancel culture where the protagonist does nothing wrong but is castigated. I really didn't feel this needed the final act though. It didn't fit in with the rest of the movie in my opinion. After breaking the school teacher's hand on the door and getting held down, that should've pretty much been the end. Instead we kind of get a more positive ending that wasn't needed.
This definitely could have gone deeper in to the subject Matt is pushing, but it's still astounding to see how far these race-baiting,self-important grifters go to push their own bigoted and often racist views. I read a comment about someone being unhappy with these people being labelled as grifters. How can you see how those women act at the dinner table and think that what they are doing is anything but? They get paid extremely well for telling people bullshit. They are no better than mediums.