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maltatoday SUNDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2017 This Week 45 gain dominion over the worlds in question. With Superman's death appar- ently allowing for the rip in time that made Steppenwolf's entrance possible, the demon first works through Wonder Woman's own Amazonian enclave, before swim- ming to Aquaman's (Jason Mo- moa) underwater realm of Atlantis to snatch two of the three mother boxes. Earth's remain stashed away... but for how long? Mean- while, Diana and Bruce recruit the super-fast Barry Allen/Flash (Ezra Miller) and the Frankensteined- back-to-life young athlete Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher) to help them on their world-saving quest... with the reluctant Aquaman slow- ly but surely joining their ranks. But with Steppenwolf's army en- croaching through the world with steadfast certainty, one dogged question continues to hang over the team: can they do this without Superman? Snyder, the erstwhile curator of the DC Universe's cinematic realm – a mission he unofficially began back in 2009 with Watchmen – was meant to enjoy something of a culmination of his labours with this big block of a universe-build- ing project. For better or for worse (read: despite the critical and box office drubbing that both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman got) the man was determined to see this juggernaut through. But a heart- breaking family tragedy compelled him to pull out of full directorial duties on Justice League last May, with former Marvel worldbuilder extraordinare Joss Whedon being brought in to pick up the slack and oversee reshoots (Whedon still cedes full directorial credit to Sny- der; he is listed as a co-writer along with Chris Terrio). And it must be said that while there is some clear collateral dam- age in evidence, Whedon's light- hearted touch – which worked wonders for Avengers Assemble (2012) but less so for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – must have been a good influence on the pro- ject all-round. Of course, we can't exactly know where Snyder ends and Whedon begins – though the glaring CGI removal of a certain character's contractually-bound mustache may offer some clues – but it's safe to assume that the minimal presence of Snyder's dark- brown lit world of superhero grit has been tamped down by the pop- ular demands to "be more Marvel". This means there's a tonal incon- sistency that never quite goes away but, coupled with a comparatively lean running time, it also results in a zippy and refreshingly fun take on the DC movieverse. The last- minute rush to complete a project whose director needed to take a sudden leave of absence may have resulted in a movie that feels less coherent to Snyder's "vision", but it also means that the shortcuts give way to a kind of easy silliness that's actually more in tune with the source material than anything Marvel have been churning out. Marvel, riding the crest of a wave of success whose most recent up- grade has been the discovery of comedy, tends to rely on facile irony and undercutting so as to continually appeal to a wide-as- possible audience. This is great in its own way, and Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok is a true blast, and most certainly the superhero mov- ie you should be watching over this one. But in its desire to just get the trains going on time, Justice League serves up the same kind of delight you'd get from the animated ver- sions of these heroes. Yes, the tone is off and yes, flat- tening The Flash's character into simply being a machine for comic relief is a tad disappointing. Yes, the fights are pretty much all un- imaginatively choreographed and Steppenwolf is just a bundle of cheap-looking video game CGI. Yes, Momoa's Aquaman is a non- character. And yes, the plot is just a loosely put-together collage of thumbnail origin stories and a frantic search for MacGuffins. But for all of its attempts to ape the Marvel formula, Justice League is also, paradoxically, the one movie out of the entire recent phenomenon that offers a true counterpoint to the current Mar- vel model. It is a silly superhero film, that doesn't hide its silliness – probably because the production was too troubled and time-pressed to come with creative ways to hide them, but here we are. You can sit back and enjoy this unwittingly nostalgic take on ridiculously cos- tumed and superpowered men and women pitting their fists and wits (mainly their fists) against a lazily- designed supernatural threat. Pro- vided you can see past the tattered seams of the show. Justice League is certainly not the worst film in the DC Comics movie universe so far. But while that may be the very definition of damning with faint praise, nei- ther does it mean it's a waste of your time (though it might just be a waste of your money...). With Whedon brought in for rewrites and reshoots, what we get is a va- nilla concoction that does away with Zack Snyder's excesses... which also means it "robs" it of an- ything remotely distinctive. Take that as you will. Batman returns: Ben Affleck is getting the team together Big bad: Ciarán Hinds is Steppenwolf Likely leaders: Gadot (Diana Prince/Wonder Woman) and Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman)