Justice League (2017) * *

Directed by:  Zack Snyder

Starring:  Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Ciaran Hinds, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, JK Simmons, Connie Nielsen

If the Justice League and Avengers keep this up, there will be no more places left on Earth to annihilate.    They will have to start fighting evil on the moon or Mars.    Maybe Mark Watney from The Martian can help out if he's still on Mars when the next battle ultimately befalls the Red Planet.    I hope I didn't give anyone any ideas with that offhand comment.   

So, we have Justice League, the latest entry in the superhero movie universe, which whether DC or Marvel keeps recycling the same formula.     The plots are interchangeable.    An ultimate evil being invades Earth and needs some sort of box, or weapon, or item to fulfill their destiny of ruling the universe.    Poor Earth.   The universe is ever-expanding and one would assume may have intelligent life somewhere other than this planet, but all of the baddies keep trekking from wherever to wreak havoc here.     If these villains were as smart as they were ruthless, they would pick a planet where the Justice League or Avengers do not hang out.

As Justice League begins, Superman is still dead and Bruce Wayne/Batman (Affleck) recruits other heroes to fight impending doom in the form of Steppenwolf (voiced by Hinds), a total CGI villain who traveled to Earth to gather up three boxes with powers which would allow him to take over the universe.    He has other CGI minions which act as thingies for the Justice League to battle before taking on Steppenwolf in the main event.    If Steppenwolf will gather enough power to rule the universe, why does he need thugs?    What good are these thugs when Aquaman can kill one with when poke of his trident?   

The heroes are Wonder Woman (Gadot), The Flash (Miller)-who can whoosh through time and space faster than the speed of light, Aquaman (Momoa)-who rules the oceans, but is apparently amphibious too and has lots of tattoos, and Cyborg (Fisher)-a part human, part robot being who can....well, I'm not quite sure what he does.    I won't even pretend to explain.    But, he is there and Superman will make his eventual comeback in the most interesting subplot of the movie.     The movie at least slows down long enough for Superman/Clark Kent (Cavill) to have a tender moment with Lois Lane (Adams) and his mother Martha (Lane) and I mean one fleeting moment. 

Because Justice League crowds in all of these characters, there isn't a lot of time to care for anyone as an individual.    We are introduced to newcomers Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman, but they are quickly sucked into the fray.    I admired the actors for at least trying to punctuate their characters with a spark of humanity.    Maybe a standalone movie will flesh them out, but I may get exactly what I deserve by suggesting this and I may regret it.   

Justice League is a CGI frenzy with things blowing up and bodies flying around.    How exactly the Justice League figures out how to thwart Steppenwolf is anyone's guess.     One of the points I admired about Batman v. Superman (2016) is how it took time to be about something instead of mindless violence (except for the final 30 minutes).    Justice League ignores any of the dilemmas brought up by that film and doubles down on the mind-numbing noise and chaos.     We have a remote, abandoned nuclear power plant in Russia with only one family seemingly in danger from collateral damage, so the heroes and villains can plunder and destroy with mostly reckless abandon.  

My advice for superhero movies is to dial down on CGI, violence, fights, and try to be about something.    I enjoyed this summer's Spider-Man: Homecoming because it didn't think big and chose people over violence.    I'm at the age now where I've seen more than my fair share of movie action.    There isn't much more which can be done to make it fresh or interesting, while my mind goes on shutdown after overload.