Am I the Only One Who's Underwhelmed by the Trailer for "Justice League"?
I want to like the DC Cinematic Universe, I really do. While I confess to being more of a Marvel guy who can’t flip past a single one of their films without getting Shawshanked into watching it to the end, I’m honestly pulling for DC to get their shit together after the misfires of Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad. As an unashamed superhero movie geek, I want competition between the franchises. In that way people used to say you don’t want to live in a newspaper town back when newspapers were still a thing. The Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy gave me the Batman I always wanted and three of the ten best films ever in the genre and was a pure good. I want more of that.
Instead, what this trailer everyone is going bananas over looks like more of the three previous failed attempts to get this DC franchise jumpstarted. The same grim mood. Cliches coming out of its ass, including but not limited to, super slo-mo fight scene jumps, guitar power chords, super hero landings, the same lazy “roll call” of characters we got in Suicide Squad. And that DCCU color wheel that consists only of dark gray, electric blue and fire. Not to mention the obvious: That Superman is not dead. Not that anyone thought for one Kryptonian nanosecond that he was. But DC is purposely leaving him out of the early trailers just to they can offer him up later on in a “big reveal” in transparent attempt to create dramatic tension where none exists. I mean, he’s on the fucking IMDb page for Christ.
I mean, it’s not all bad. I do like the Batfleck. I thought he nailed the older, cranky, world-weary Batman. JK Simmons as Commissioner Gordon has potential. Khal Drogo is a good choice to pull off a character who used to wear orange fish scales. What I thought looked like a quick shot of a Catwoman is probably an Amazonian warrior princess, but there’s potential there.
And mostly it has Gal Gadot, who is a gift from the gods. I pride myself on the fact I will go from womb-to-tomb without ever watching 30 seconds of a Fast & Furious movie. So she was not on my radar until Batman v. Superman, but instantly made her way into my 5-woman starting rotation. She’s one of the hottest women in the world. She kicks ass. And her Wonder Woman trailer actually looks like the project that will actually get this DC universe going.
Justice League simply doesn’t. It looks like more of the same. I just hope I’m wrong.