«Justice League: good triumphs over evil

Cinema Wednesdays - Nicolas Jutzet

The film by Zack Snyder presents a motley crew of heroes fighting to save the world. Or at least, to prevent it from sinking into darkness. Faced with Steppenwolf, a.k.a. the “super-villain”, one confrontation follows another. So far, nothing confusing. The usual cast. The enemy and his fighters, who feed on the fear of others, seem unbeatable.

But, as is often the case, and this is perhaps the limit of this type of film, the “good”, embodied by Superman (dead at the start of the film but resurrected to help the mission), Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg, ultimately triumphs over evil. Perhaps unintentionally, the film expresses a series of fashionable clichés. The group beats the individual. The mixed, colorful, open-minded group beats the lone individual, who seems to fight out of selfishness for his own evil interests, while opposite, even the wealthy Bruce Wayne fights for the common good.

These defenders of the good side feel invested with a mission, to look after the rest of the civilians. One passage perfectly illustrates this gentle desire. Flash, a benevolent bungler in the midst of the final confrontation, runs to save a family of “Mr. and Mrs. Everyman”. We also get a glimpse of the idea, ultimately widespread, that an elite must save the people in the face of external threats. Behind the simplicity of the scenario lies a series of leads that make it easy to maximize the time spent watching, with 3D glasses on, heroes each stronger than the last, confronting each other with unheard-of violence, but always cleanly.

In the end, it seems hard to find any real meaning in this umpteenth film featuring familiar heroes, which is, in my humble opinion, tiresome. The quality of the images and the actors is not in question (on the contrary, the cast is remarkable), but the repetition is likely to bore the average viewer, which I am.

Write to the author : nicolas.jutzet@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Comme au cinéma