Justice League (2017)

Having several superheroes in the same movie can be problematic for several reasons.  First off, you have to write a story for all of them rather than a story for each of them.  Try to showcase them individually, and the story suffers.  The second problem tends to show up in superhero movies.  You might have a movie that might rely on several other movies for backstory.  One of the things keeping me from seeing some of the Marvel movies is that you have to have seen maybe 5 or  6 other movies, and not all of those movies are going to be available streaming.

Justice League calls upon at least three prior movies:  Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman.  I had seen Man of Steel and Wonder Woman, but not Batman v Superman.  I went into Justice League knowing this might be a problem, and it was, but not as much as I would have expected.

The movie starts with a threat by the name of Steppenwolf.  He had attacked Earth thousands of years ago, but was defeated through the efforts of several groups, including The Green Lantern Corps and the Atlanteans.  His power source is split up and hidden, but he’s back now and it will take another combined effort to defeat him.

Diana (Wonder Woman) and Bruce Wayne (Batman) team up to recruit other superheroes.  Wayne is able to make contact with Arthur Curry (Aquaman) and Barry Allen (The Flash).  Meanwhile, Diana tries to make contact with Victor Stone (Cyborg).  The Flash is eager to join the team whereas Aquaman and Cyborg need some convincing.  Those that have seen the movie poster may wonder what Superman’s logo is doing there.  Yes, he does play a part in the Justice League.  (And yes, this is where my confusion came from.)

Part of the problem with a movie like this is finding balance.  We’ve already seen the origin story for several of the superheroes with several more standalone movies coming over the next several years.  While I knew I missed out on some of that, it also sort of feels like I missed out on the origin stories for The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg.  (Speaking of which, I didn’t get the impression that this movie shared continuity with the Flash TV series.)

It also seemed to have a good balance of action to story.  It’s tempting to focus on uniting the main characters and save the action for the last 20-30 minutes.  Here, we get a few scenes of Steppenwolf trying to get what he wants scattered throughout the movie.

The plot was fairly even and entertaining.  The only thing I took issue with was a key item being left unattended when several of the heroes were nearby.  Yes, they knew the importance.  You’d think someone would have kept an eye on it.  Those not familiar with the comics may be lost, especially if you haven’t seen the previous movies.  There are a few throwaway jokes that play to familiarity with the characters, such as Barry Allen needing to eat a lot.

Being a superhero movie, you know there’s a good chance the bad guy will be sent packing.  The movie even ends with the heroes talking of setting up a building with a desk to accommodate several more heroes.  And yes, you do get a post-credits scene hinting at a possible future storyline.  Although IMDb doesn’t have a year next to the second part’s listing,  I’d say that there’s a pretty good chance we’ll be seeing a coming attraction for DCEU movie in the near future.

IMDb page

Daredevil (2003)

Note:   This review was originally posted to my Epionions account.

Movies and TV series based on comic books are nothing new.  There have been all sorts of animated features throughout the years.  It seems like over the past decade, there have been a few live-action big-budget movies made starring big names.  Many were good.  Some, not so much.

In 2003, Ben Affleck stared as Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil.  Matt’s story starts early; as a child, he was blinded by toxic waste.  The up side is that his other senses are heightened.   He can use his other senses to ‘see’ the world in a Matrix-style way.  He’s also able to leap off of tall buildings and land safely on the ground.  As an adult, Murdock serves as a defense lawyer during the day, helping those that need it most.  Daredevil comes out at night to fight crime in Hell’s Kitchen.  (He seems to pick criminals that the court system lets go.)

In the movie, Daredevil is trying to work against The Kingpin, who runs the area’s organized crime.  Enter Elektra Natchios, the daughter of Nikolas Natchios.  Unbeknownst to Matt, Nikolas has ties to The Kingpin.  Unbeknownst to Elektra, Matt is Daredevil.  Things get complicated when Nikolas wants out.  Enter Bullseye, who is hired by The Kingpin to kill Nikolas.

I don’t want to ruin the entire movie for you, so I’ll stop here.  I did have a few problems, all of which don’t require me to give anything else away.  First, it seemed like the movie went slow, then was rushed.  There were three main story lines to the movie.  One was Daredevil vs. The Kingpin.  Two was Daredevil vs. Bullseye.  Three was Matt becoming romantically involved with Elektra.

Daredevil vs. The Kingpin didn’t really seem that developed, mostly because Daredevil was fighting with Bullseye most of the time.  Both of these relationships seemed like something you’d use over the course of a TV series.  If there is a sequel, Kingpin will most likely be back.

However, Bullseye definitely seemed rushed.  Even though the pacing seemed appropriate, it seemed like Bullseye was used too much too quickly.  He seems like someone that would make a good archenemy.  Even the relationship between Daredevil and Elektra was rushed.  It’s almost like they weren’t planning on a sequel.

Overall, the movie was very dark.  Not only was much of it action, but much of it took place at night.  It seemed like the movie was driven by the fight scenes with the dialogue there only to string the fights together or give them context.  I think one of the overriding themes in the movie was revenge, which really adds to the darkness of the movie.  It’s definitely not something for small children to watch.  I don’t think they’d understand most of the themes.

I don’t read comic books, so I don’t know how the movie holds up to the source material.  However, it seemed like the movie relied on a superhero formula.  Give a hero strength (or at least ability) and give him a weakness.  Fill in the history as needed and you have a superhero.  In this case, Daredevil had most of his senses heightened, but was blind and could be incapacitated by loud noises.  Even Superman had his kryptonite.

What I remember, the coming attractions were a little misleading.  I thought that Elektra’s story would turn out much differently than it did.  It would be interesting to see how they pull one out of this, as most of Daredevil’s relationships in this movie could very well have come to an end.  (Actually, a few did.)  Overall, I really didn’t like Daredevil.  I think if this had been the first comic-book based movie I had seen, I probably wouldn’t have seen many others. 

IMDb page

Argo (2012)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions page.

The movie starts in November of 1979.  Protesters are outside the American embassy’s compound and those inside are worried.  The former Iranian shah is in America for medical reasons and the Iranians want him back.  Six of the embassy workers manage to escape, but everyone else is taken hostage.  Those six manage to find refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador.  The U. S. State Department wants to get them out, but there’s no really plausible way to do that.  Tony Mendez, played by Ben Affleck, finds reasons that each proposal might fail.

One night, while watching one of the Planet of the Apes movies, he realizes that movies will occasionally need to film on location.  This gives him the idea of posing as a studio employee meeting some ‘Canadian’ counterparts in Iran.  After a few days of ‘scouting’ for a location, they’ll all catch a flight back to North America.  Not only does Mendez have to train six people to learn their cover stories, but they’re operating under a deadline.  (It won’t take long for the hostage takers to realize that they’re short six hostages.)

There are also a lot of technical details to worry about.  Mendez brings in some Hollywood people to help sell the cover story.  They buy an actual script to use, hire real actors and go through the process of pretending to make a movie.  The even set up an office for Iranian officials to call when the need arises.  There are also bureaucratic problems that they just have to hope will resolve themselves.

Part of the problem with movies based in history is that you may have some sense of how it ends.  Argo tells part of what went on with the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which took place when I was only a few years old.  I saw the movie with my brother, who was only a few months old at the time.  There were a few references that he missed, like to Rock Hudson.  I’m sure that I missed one or two, myself.  (I have no memory of Carter as president.)

Most of the movie focuses on the rescue attempt.  We get to see the hostages a little before they meet Mendez, but it’s mostly to show that they’re getting cabin fever.  They can’t leave the ambassador’s residence for fear of someone recognizing them.  Once they’re out ‘scouting’ for a location, they have to stay in character the whole time.  (On that note, I’m not sure how much of the film was done for dramatic effect.  There were a few tense scenes where the six ‘houseguests’ were out and almost caught.)

One thing I thought about was the screenwriter whose film was purchased to use for the project.  I felt a little bad that it was purchased with the intent of not really making it.  My brother pointed out that it did help to save lives, but the mission was classified.  Mendez, who came up with the idea, was awarded the Intelligence Star, but couldn’t actually take it home.  This is how classified it was.  I don’t imagine that the State Department was going to let some screenwriter in on their little secret.  I’m sure projects fall through all the time, but it must be so weird to find something like that out years later.

I do recommend seeing the movie.  I liked seeing it in theaters.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to posting it until after it came out on DVD.  Another thing I noticed is that the Canadian government did a lot to help us, even jyst by letting the six Americans stay there.  I’m not sure how much that affected their relationship with the Iranians.  Definitely rent this movie if you get the chance.