Director: Zack Snyder
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 2.5
Greatly fatigued Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) has to "put a team together" when Gotham - hell, the rest of the planet - is being threatened by formidable Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciarán Hinds), who starts collecting the three "Mother Boxes" (sources of incredible energy) to transform Earth into a replica of his home world ... and at some point Wayne realizes he has to resurrect Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill) to lend critical assistance. One thing I always liked about the DC movies is how they embrace the darkness of the scenario - violent street crime, the threat of extinction - and don't try to make it 'cheery' or 'quirky' like many of the Marvel pictures do - sure, there's comic relief in The Flash (Ezra Miller!), but there's always a cloud-filled sky, and it's usually taking place at night. Where it does go wrong is following a bland formula (Batman, one by one, "recruiting" the League ... sigh) and trying to make monstrous fight scenes more "human" (what is with the Russian family?). Oddly, Affleck's grunting bothered me less here than in the past: maybe I'm just getting used to it, maybe it's the sound of actual exhaustion.
