So the new trailer for “Justice League” (i.e. the next chapter in Warner Bros./ DC’s laughably pitiful attempt to catch up with Walt Disney Studios/ Marvel Studios’ critically and commercially successful Marvel Cinematic Universe) came out on Saturday March 25th.
And while I wasn’t the biggest fan of Warner Bros./DC’s 2016 efforts “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” or “Suicide Squad”, or the first official trailer for “Justice League” which came out during last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I was actually intrigued (NOT EXCITED, mind you) by this new “Justice League” trailer.
So the trailer opens with Mr. Batfleck himself, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), riding on horseback through a cold, desolate landscape. We hear some non-diegetic dialogue from Bruce, where he makes mention of an upcoming attack “from far away”. Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) responds, non-diegetically, “Not coming, Bruce. It’s already here”. Oooooooooh.
Afterwards, we see a few shots of Silas Stone (the father of Justice League member Cyborg), a box-shaped mechanical device (supposedly the “Mother Box” from the DC Comics universe) and a Parademon (one of those flying creatures from that ridiculously weird dream/vision sequence from “Batman v Superman”) sneaking up behind Silas.
In the next shot, we see Diana Prince asking Bruce Wayne the question a lot of people – myself included – asked 33 seconds into the beginning of this trailer: “The others. Where are they?”. And sure enough, we get our answer. First, we see Arthur Curry a.k.a. Aquaman (Jason Momoa), followed by Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and Barry Allen a.k.a. The Flash (Ezra Miller), who shows off to the viewer (in a few admittedly decent-looking shots) why he’s called “the fastest man alive”.
What follows is primarily a montage of “cool-looking” shots involving the members of the Justice League: Batman squaring off against a laser-blasting Parademon (I assume that’s what that creature was) with an explosive Batarang; Aquaman squaring off against TWO laser-blasting Parademons with his trusty trident; Wonder Woman doing a…. sweep kick on a random human ….inside of what appears to be a high school or some similar educational institution; Cyborg doing the “Superman” thing where he flies past the clouds for God knows why; and Flash battling a gun-toting baddie with his super-speed.
We then get a genuinely humourous moment where Barry Allen asks Bruce Wayne: “What are your superhero powers again?” Batfleck’s response: “I’m rich”. Pure comedic gold.
Afterwards, we see some more intense shots of the Justice League members, as they scowl, scream, shoot, punch and kick in Zack Snyder-patented super slo-mo, all set to a contemporary cover of the classic Beatles song “Come Together”. Oh, and we see Amy Adams a.k.a. Lois Lane, Amber Heard a.k.a. Mera and J.K. Simmons (formerly J. Jonah Jameson of the “Spider-Man” movie trilogy) a.k.a. Commissioner James Gordon.
Closing things off is what I honestly think is the best shot in the entire trailer: Aquaman perched on the side of Batman’s Batmobile saying “YEAH!”. I can literally watch that one shot for hours, not because of Aquaman, but because of how incredibly bad-ass that one shot looks! Check it out for yourself! Don’t worry. I’ll wait for you to come back.
I’ll admit: I was really impressed by what I saw in this trailer. The action scenes were exciting and engaging, the characters looked awesome (except for that one shot of Cyborg where he looks like a CG character from CW’s “Supergirl”, “The Flash” and/or “Legends of Tomorrow”) and, as you would expect from a movie involving a team of superheroes, there were jokes….most of which actually worked.
But I can’t help but shake the fact that “Justice League” may wind up becoming another “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”. And no, I’m not referring to the dark colour palette, the gritty look of the characters and the return of the Man of Steel (Were you really expecting a live-action Justice League movie WITHOUT Superman?!), but to the promise of getting a great superhero movie and instead getting another overlong, over-bloated, dull, disappointing, nonsensical, incoherent mess that initially “looked good” in the trailers.
I, for one, hope that’s not the case. I think Warner Bros./DC has the chance to dig themselves out the dung hole they dug with “Batman v Superman” and “Suicide Squad” with “Justice League” and “Wonder Woman”. And while I have faith that “Wonder Woman” will not only be the better of the two movies, but ultimately a great movie in its own right, I can still see “Justice League” being a decent, if not great, movie.
Maybe “Justice League” will be the film to redeem Zack Snyder in the eyes of comic-book movie fans (“300” and “Watchmen” still remain his masterpieces, in my opinion). Maybe it’ll manage to please both the Marvel and DC fans. Who knows? For now, we’ll just have to wait until November 17th and see for ourselves!
Feel free to share your thoughts on Trailer #2 for “Justice League”, and don’t forget to like and share this article with your fellow superhero-loving comrades!
Watch the “Justice League” second trailer here:
