RETRO MOVIE REVIEW: JUSTICE LEAGUE TV MOVIE (1997)

Oh The Injustice

You know when something is so bad, it“s good?

This isn“t like that.

Also do you know when a cosplayer absolutely nails a costume of their favourite character and you think wow they actually look the part?

This isn“t like that either.

I“m talking about The Justice League movie and no not the “What the hell happened to Superman“s mouth?”“ Justice League movie.

Oh no friends I am referring to the 1997 made for tv Justice League of America movie, that little nugget of superhero viewing that may have passed you by. It“s weird because I jest but I actually remember seeing this film when it first came out so it must have made some form of impact on me.

The one thing that I never got about this film though was the interviews that were dotted randomly in and around the actual storyline”¦”“Hey let“s take our MASKED heroes and interview them openly while they“re in their normal identities while putting their SUPERHERO names on the screen!”“

May as well just forget the masks and start calling yourself Bruceman or Superkent”¦or Carter Hawk, okay that last one is pretty cool but still. The interviews were just weird and felt out of place, this is a superhero movie, I know their secret identities but I don“t want you to know them or know that I know you know them”¦am I right?

Then there“s the “special effects”“ in other superhero films we have seen heroic and iconic moments like the hulk punch a Chitauri Leviathan in the face or Superman fly faster than a speeding bullet and its looks amazing, in this film we get to see The Atom push a cat out from under a porch. Yeah.

Or The Flash moving like you“ve just sat on the remote and your butt cheek found fast forward, it doesn“t look great but I get it, it“s a low budget made for TV movie so you can forgive SOME of these moments”¦some.

Then there“s the villain; The Weatherman, an evil criminal mastermind who uses his high tech weather altering machine to bring destruction to ”˜Metro City“ and even sending his threats via untraceable high tech means, which must have cost most of his budget because he“s wearing sun glasses and a head scarf!

What“s a saving grace for this film is some of the cast attached to this film, there“s some talented people in this film!

There“s the late great Miguel Ferrer who I loved in films like Robocop and Hotshots Part Deux as well as his extensive voice acting in things like Mulan and Justice League: The New Frontier (His second shot at the JLA was much better).

Then there“s David Krumholtz, who was in Addams Family Values, The Santa Clause and Serenity. Another David in the form of the late David Ogden Stiers from the awesome M*A*S*H television show and The Perry Mason films, so as you can see there is some serious heavy hitters in this film.

It“s then strange because that“s a high calibre of talent right there and I am a fan of indie or lower budget movies AND I“m obviously a huge comic book fan so this should be right up my street so it“s a shame that this fell short of what I loved.

Will I rate this film highly? Not really no.

Will I watch it again? No”¦..probably not”¦..doubtful”¦..at least not right now.