I am so disappointed! Firstly the performances in this film definitely vary quite a bit but they all seem to stride towards the "less good" side. Even Henry Cavill (who is a terrific actor) couldn't seem to jump on the beat the story was going for. My main complaint with the performances, however, is Gal Gadot. She has absolutely no talent whatsoever and whenever she tries to convey any sign of real human emotion I just want to die and take her with me. The only reason she probably got the role in the first place is because she looks like Wonder Woman but nonetheless she isn't convincing at all as the heroin and instead presents the character as an annoying person who doesn't seem to have a grip on how humans work. Now although most of the performances were mediocre (to say the least) some people really shines through, my main example being Joe Manganiello who was an amazing choice as deathstroke (a character were the casting could've easily been messed up). The same also applies to (surprisingly) Jared Leto, I hated his portrayal of the joker in suicide squad but somehow going forward a more subtly insane and limitless version of the clown Prince of crime has given him a new level of understanding to the character, which I think has allowed him to embody the joker in a not perfect but also not disappointing way.
Secondly I want to talk about the story. All I can say about the story is why is it so long! Most of the film I had already seen in the original Whedon Justice League with the only differences being more blood, a darker colour palate and the occasional f-bomb. There were some scenes which could have easily been cut away and it wouldn't have affected the story in any way, shape or form and I can see how Snyder really wanted to go full out with this film because of all the buzz around it but it just flies to close to the sun and just like Icarus falls to its doom. However, even though it was 4 hours I can safely say that even if I didn't necessarily love a scene I was never properly bored, I always had an ear listening even if I was trying to focus on something else. I also loved the the involvement of Darkseid, which wasn't much but was enough to fulfil my fanboy needs. Unfortunately the story was muddled for most of the time and it didn't seem like it had a clear outline of where it wanted the story to go, this clearly affected the other aspects just as much as not really knowing where it can go really limited the acting and the writing. Speaking of the writing it wasn't too good, with the dialogue I got what I would expect from any big budget superhero flick; cheesy jokes, "look at me I'm cool" lines and things that actually moved the story forwards.
And finally I did actually like the style Snyder went with here. The dark palate did compliment the cinematography, which made sure that each frame actually looked phenomenal for a comic book film and almost symbolised a painting of sorts. That being said the frames where all that was existent was decent cgi really looked rather off putting and yes I did still enjoy the action but it just didn't look like it was done with a lot of care. Also I kinda have to include just how wholesome the film and Zack Snyder's involvement are because instead of just being a cool story about a film you could really sense the passion Snyder tried to apply to this, he did it all and although it wasn't really for me I think he achieved what he set out to do and truly did it for the fans. The soundtrack was pretty damn good as well but why did they feel it was fine for there to be a scream/chant every time Wonder Woman did even the smallest thing. Coming in with a bang, there is no denying, that the action sequences were terrific, they were thrilling and exciting to watch and kind of swept me away for a moment before I remembered all the cons of the film.
My final rating
4/10.