I wasn’t cheering with the audience when the DC opening logo showed up. I was silently praying to any comic-book movie god that would listen (mainly Joss Whedon) that even if Justice League didn’t turn out to be fantastic (I wasn’t hoping for a miracle), it would at least be good. My prayers weren’t exactly answered, because the film wasn’t really “good”, but it was much better than what DC has served up in the past — with the exception of Wonder Woman. More importantly, the film gave me “S”. Geddit? No? Hope, I mean hope! For what? I’ll get to that in a bit, but watch out for the other “S”, if you haven’t watched the movie already. I am talking about spoilers.

THE GOOD THAT IS BAD

Every DC fan knows that Zack Snyder had to step away from the film after initial shoots were over due to a personal tragedy and geek god Joss Whedon took over (he is credited for screenplay). And some of the best moments of the film, very visibly, have the Whedon touch — the one-line quips, the comic book Easter eggs, even the end scene. Even if you’ve watched nothing Whedon other than the Avenger movies, you’ll know his touch when you see it. 

But it is the same good thing that is also one of the worst things about the film because it is really jarring. One moment you are in the middle of a Watchmen-like scene, broody, dreamy, panoramic that is signature Snyder — and there is a lot of that in this film from the opening credits sequence to the Bat (Ben Affleck) perched high on a building — and suddenly someone is being quippy and you can’t hold back your chuckle. It’s quite confusing. Unfortunately for the film, it doesn’t find the right balance until the mid and post-credit scenes really. 

THE BAD THAT IS VERY BAD

The moment the Justice League was hinted at in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in the form of some thumbnail size clips of the Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa), it seemed like a very, very bad idea. I mean who tries to fit in three movies worth of story into three measly clippings?!

The same holds true for JL. The film feels like four movies crammed into one. Shoddy editing and lots of jumps make it worse. Especially in the first half where we are introduced to the main players. One moment we see the effects of a world without Henry Cavill’s Superman (though why people were mourning his loss is questionable since neither Man of Steel nor BvS had any inkling that he was very loved by the masses), the next we see Batman doing his vigilante thing and looking for the other members of the team. Then we shift to Diana (Gal Gadot) stopping some nameless political terrorist organisation in London but never follow up on who they were (I loved the action sequence though). 

The worst is the introduction of the new guys as we move from Barry Allen aka the Flash to Arthur Curry aka Aquaman to Victor Stone aka Cyborg. It feels extremely disjointed and not quite explanatory, despite the expositions. What kind of lightning was Barry struck by? What is the extent of his powers? What is the deal between Mera (Amber Heard) and Arthur Curry? What kind of explosion was Victor Stone brought back from? What the hell is Star Labs? Of course I know the answers to most of this, but do non-DC fans know? Is this film just for DC fans then? How presumptuous!

A lot of this is the victim of the brutal chop, chop, chop that must have happened to fit the film into its two-hour runtime, and that’s a shame.

DC had the perfect opportunity to use Superman’s death as an overarching trigger to exploring the individual storylines, but they were in a hurry for the box office ka-ching. 

And then there is the villain, Steppenwolf. Not one of Jack Kirby’s best creations, the screen version is so non-threatening that one never questions who is going to win the battle. What a waste! 

Also, the movie lost so much of its good punchlines and stand-out moments because they were ALL THERE IN THE TRAILERS! 

THE GOOD THAT IS THE BEST

Fortunately, it is the same characters who are given a short shrift that save the film from being a complete disaster.

The best of the new characters is definitely the one I was most ansty about — the Flash. Being a Grant Gustin (Barry Allen from the TV series) fan, I couldn’t imagine liking Miller’s version, but thank god I was wrong! Miller’s version of the Flash is pretty different from Gustin’s. In fact Miller’s Flash seems to be a younger, less confident and bumbling one, closer in tone to the comic book Wally West version. He has some of the funniest moments and quips, a lot of which seem to have the Whedon touch. 

Arthur Curry is cool too (never thought I would say this about Aquaman!), though pretty underdeveloped. He does have the funniest and best moment of the film that has to do with him sitting on Diana’s Lasso of Truth and pouring his soul out, ahem.

Cyborg is the least developed character but even he leaves you interested to learn more. 

It doesn’t feel natural to see the Man of Steel chatting with kids or smiling (man, the smiling feels so weird!) since we haven’t really seen him be nice in the last two films. The Batfleck is still as broody as ever, sometimes without justified cause, and his attempts at humour feel weird too. But both are positive developments. And Wonder Woman still steals the show. Every. Single. Time.

The characters mesh well with each other, bantering, motivating, fighting. In fact, the film is the funnest to watch when these guys are fighting together.

THE GOOD THAT IS SPOILERY

There are a lot of Easter eggs in the movie that the geek in me got really excited about. Like that exploding wind-up penguins comment by Alfred (Jeremy Irons), referring to Batman villain Penguin. Like the hand-touching-through-glass moment between Barry and his incarcerated father Henry, just like in the TV series. Like the newspapers reporting Superman’s death linking it to the deaths of David Bowie and Prince that happened in the same year. Like the Green Lanterns in the flashback. Like the fact that the Flash and Superman race each other in the mid-credits as they have often done in the comic books. Like that end credit scene where Lex Luthor (Jess Eisenberg, gah!) escapes and is hinting at a supervillain team-up with Deathstroke (yay!), played by Joe Manganiello. Is that what the League is going up against in the next JL film?! I certainly hope so.

THE GOOD THAT IS HOPEFUL

This film is my “S” (for those who still didn’t get it, it is the symbol of hope in Kryptonian) because while Wonder Woman is the best thing about the film, again — and may be DC should stick to making Wonder Woman films — but I definitely wouldn’t say no to watching Flashpoint, the Aquaman movie or the Cyborg movie based on what I saw of the characters.

Messiness aside, the shift in tone, though jarring in this film, seems to be headed in the right direction. And may be, just may be, Joss Whedon will play a bigger role in the universe.