PART 4: "Change Machine"
Our first big teamup episode begins with the still great rooftop sequence with Gordon and the Bat Signal. I like how it lingers on Batman for a moment, embracing that classic iconography, then the whole team gathers, and the 4:3 really makes use of their clustering by emphasizing their height and full figures. Again, I'm pleasantly surprised that almost all of my favorite jokes had nothing to do with Whedon as we still get the great bit of Flash being the only one who doesn't know to disappear when Gordon's back is turned. The humor in this film is both present and good, so I'm surprised by Warner was so adamant about lightening the tone. Yes, there's some harsh and violent edges I'd have softened, but that alone would make the humor already present shine brighter. You don't need to heap on more.
Everyone heads to Stryker Island for our first big team fight. Typically, at this midpoint of a team building film, you'd either have everyone stumbling over each other as they showboat or fail to strategize, or you'd see the threads of why they were always meant to be a team start weaving together. We don't really get either one here as, despite some lipservice about working together, nobody really does, and yet their individual roles also don't step on each others' toes nor spoil the scenario in any way. Wonder Woman is a tank, so she takes on Steppenwolf admirably. Batman both gives and takes a ton of hits. Cyborg and Flash feel like the odd men out. Both are sent to free the captives for some reason, with Flash just zipping back and forth not really doing anything but tell people to hurry, and Victor just carries his dad as he also tells everyone to hurry. Flash could have done this himself while Victor, also a heavy hitter, continued the fight, or Victor could have done it while Flash kept Batman from being batted around. The Flash effects are nice, especially clearing the falling rubble, but it does feel like a lack of narrative coordination to not give these two better things to do. Victor's moment with his dad is good, though.
In terms of Zack tonal issues and gratuitous violent, remember that all of these parademons being splattered and bisected and mowed down with machine guns are innocent people mentally enslaved by Darkseid. Yes, like a zombie horde, they're probably too far gone to fix, but nobody pauses for a moment to at least consider that. They just mow through in a gore spree.
The Knightcrawler (named after a worm, not a spider, despite having a spider design) is a very clunky and unnecessary vehicle that doesn't play a significant role in the scene, nor does it come up again later, so it feels very much like the Schumacher era vehicles which are just there for a toy. Though a really bland and blocky toy that I wouldn't see myself getting much play out of. At least Schumacher's glowing, bladed dildos certainly caught one's eye. No, it just ambles around a bit, then allows Bruce to open up with those machine guns (remember, this is a Bruce who uses guns), then breaks. Victor's exchange with Alfred upon taking over the Knightcrawler is fun, but it again doesn't really lead to it doing much in the scene but be a piece of ballast to ride out waves on, a role they could have filled in so many other ways.
Still, it is a fun scene. All the action choreography is nice. Wonder Woman steals the show. The bit of Flash nudging her sword back to her still feels unnecessary and ends with his weird prat fall, but it looks gorgeous. And when Aquaman finally shows up to hold back the flood of water, it's a great show of the extra power he brings to the team.
This cut has way too many repetitive phone calls between Steppenwolf and DeSaad. "Are you done yet?" "Not really." "Are you done yet?" "Getting there." "Are you done yet?" "Fingers crossed." This latest one finally feels necessary as, following Steppenwolf's vision of the Anti-Life Equation, he goes into a fanboi faint as Darkseid finally gets on the line. And Darkseid is... pretty typical. Glowering and growly. Wants the power to destroy everything so he has the power to control everything. Look, we can back and forth Darkseid and Thanos all we want, even going back to their near simultaneous debuts in the comics. They're both chonk bears with huge chins making every world they come cross bend to their ideal, but at least Thanos had that cult leader charisma, that faux compassion which made his machinations even more cruel in its self righteous justification. That's an angle I thought Engame lost a bit, making him less interesting going into the final fight as a result. Here, Darkseid is just in that angry control mode. I'm not interested in him, and continue to not be interested in Steppenwolf. Give me Granny Goodness, dammit! Beyond a fuzzy over-the-shoulder cameo!
The scene between Martha and Lois is mostly nice, with the mother quietly moving on while on trying to nudge the love who hasn't been able to. It's well played between the two. But fuck them for the reveal that Martha was just Martian Manhunter all along. Yeah, it's great seeing J'onn, and tying him to General Swanwick is an evolved fan theory I'm game for. But putting him in this scene is crass. This is a natural Martha/Lois moment, a genuine connection and confrontation between the two most important people in Clark's life. To reveal one is a lie for no real reason is shitty, and you know is going to make for an awkward conversation the next time the two inevitably do meet up again. Just a really confusing choice. Also, they give lipservice to all the memorials and Superman S-symbols around town, but for how long the story is running, they've done little to portray it outside of the single montage of Lois in the opening. Where are the scenes of Martha coming to town, seeing the tributes on every corner, hearing people spout all the opinions? You know, the setup for the reaction she's been bottling up until now. Oh that's right, there aren't any because this Martha is a lie.
The heroes gathering around their Mother Box is nice, and I love how Cyborg illustrates its history, casually walking in his letterman jacket through Nazi germany, to STAR labs, to his father's cobbled together workshop with the remains of his son hanging on the wall. I'm not always loving Ray Fischer's overly arch and cryptic delivery of almost every line, as it plays more to the machine than it does the man trapped within one, but that moment of Victor looking himself in the eye is nicely done. Even as we see our team pull together (despite Aquaman being more of a cranky dick than in the "My man!" theatrical cut), I like how this group plays off one another, how well Affleck's Batman does with his calm leadership, and everyone's reaction to their plot to resurrect Superman and the risk of turning on the box when it'll lead the enemy right to them. The Mother Boxes don't just feel like an empty fetch-quest MacGuffin in this cut, but as actual parts in the story, with relationships to characters, revelations of their own, and more meaning to their changing of hands.
PART 5: All the King's Horses
The exhuming of Clark is an odd scene. I like Aquaman and Diana finding a tiny bond, even if their Atlanean/Amazonian banter is way too dwarve/elf without the broader nuances of their characterization, even as it tries to pay lipservice to that nuance. Which is also true of Flash and Cyborg acknowledging they could dig up the grave in an instant... yet don't. As if there's something more reverential about taking their time to dig a hole while Flash wonders if Diana will date him? Better handled is the scene where Alfred accuses Bruce of being driven by his guilt. As I said earlier, I like that Batman is now more at ease and ready to believe in others instead of the gruff control freak. He speaks about faith, but I think that's Zack equating faith with trust.
You know what would have been a great way to bring Martian Mahunter into things? Him being the Secretary of Defense right when the heroes need to access STAR labs and the Superman spaceship. But nah, who needs that when they can hack in, have Flash fumble in disguise, then cause a high security evacuation that would still be heavily monitored. Even as shit goes down, there never seems to be any freakout from the staff, they just gather and gawk in the parking lot.
We have our big resurrection sequence, and it is still well played, with nice touches like the ship recognizing Kal-El's body and acknowledging Lex's mess from the last film. We see additional pods of dead Kryptonians, and I have to wonder if there was ever a plan for this action to resurrect others for future Superman/Supergirl films to play with. If so, that thread doesn't play out here. Aquaman continues to be a dick to everyone, so I am starting to argue that I prefer his characterization in the theatrical cut. Momoa is so much more fun when he's allowed to be rowdy instead of broody. Plus a guy wearing that fashionable purple scarf a few scenes back wouldn't be a brooder.
Flash's light speed zap is still well done. I like Victor's vision of the Knightmare, with it's Apokalyptic invasion, fallen heroes, and a corrupted Superman. You just know Zack would make an entire film of this if he coule [EDIT: Apparently, that WAS the plan]. The quick glimpse of Darkseid's angular Omega Beams is interesting, if overly chaotic instead of coldly efficient. When Victor suddenly protests the resurrection, it's a bummer that Bruce is growling back into his petulant angry child mode again. We don't need that Batman back, please.
Superman returns, and what I said earlier about a scene where the team keeps screwing up as an example of how far they have yet to go? That's this scene as they confront the amnesiac Superman and he turns on them. I get this scene, but Zack definitely revels in both the humiliation of everyone trying to go toe-to-toe with Clark, as well as his obsession with portraying an angry, scowling Superman with angry laser eyes beating the shit out of everyone. We've been down this road before. This is what half his screentime in BvS was. As for the devastation he's capable of, yeah, that was conveyed by the army of Kryptonians tearing everything to pieces in Man of Steel. Yes, this illustrates that, as formidable as everyone else on the team is, they don't hold a candle to the power of Superman, but this is just drawn out cruelty and character assassination. Though I do still love the moment when Flash realizes Superman can keep up with him.
It would have been great if the Martha and Lois scene, alongside actually being Martha, happened earlier in the film, so we could see Lois have a chance to step out, to try moving on and moving forward, so it would hit even stronger when the very death she's trying to escape is resurrected right before her eyes. Of course it's perfect that she's the one to get him to snap back to attention, especially after Clark unleashes all his rage on Batman (ah THAT's what the gauntlets are for!), but it doesn't give her enough of an extended arc for this to be the culmination of.
I strongly dislike the absolutely needless death of Silas Stone. They try to frame it as a noble sacrifice, but it's not. The heroes don't need to mark the location of the Mother Box when there's a gigantic dome of alien composition covering the town Steppenwolf took over, which if they can't spot, then Bruce's 6 satellites aren't really worth a damn. Not to mention they could just hone in on the Mother Box energy Victor is HIMSELF COMPOSED OF. But no, Zack just needs to rehash Watchmen imagery to cause Victor more pain. Choices like these are starting to grate on me the further in we get. Not to the point of outweighing the good, but it's definitely remaining an uneven work for me.
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