The Snyder Cut is Coming

For the past two and a half years, one of the most talked-about films in recent memory has been the DC Extended Universe’s 2017 outing, Justice League… and not exactly for the best reasons. Simply put, the film that was released to theaters was far from being the version of it that director Zack Snyder had envisioned after he was forced to step away from the production due to deeply tragic circumstances. And because of this, the film was yet another critical flop for the DCEU at a time where they were struggling immensely to match the utterly dominant success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also ended up being a rather notorious financial flop as it was unable to break-even on its hefty $300 million budget. But while the DCEU has since managed to move on from this with more critically and financially successful outings, fans of both the franchise and Zack Snyder immediately began pushing for the release of his version of Justice League, with the hashtag #ReleasetheSnyderCut quickly becoming a staple of modern fandom’s vernacular. Their efforts to get this version of the film released ranged from letter-writing campaigns to earning the full support of several key figures in the industry, including those who worked on the film and, of course, Zack Snyder himself. And after all this time, this fabled cut of the film will finally see the light of day as Snyder recently announced that it will make its official debut on WarnerMedia’s new streaming service, HBO Max, in 2021. However, as genuinely great as it is that Snyder has finally been given the chance to showcase his version of Justice League, today we’re going to delve a bit further into everything that led to this exact moment. In doing so, not only will we reiterate exactly why the DCEU has often struggled to match the quality of the MCU, but we’ll also be addressing how a lot of this movement has been fueled by incredibly toxic fans who have very much paved the way for this current age of toxic fandom.

 

First off, let’s start by going over Zack Snyder’s affiliation with the DCEU, which officially began in 2013 with the Superman reboot Man of Steel. For both DC and Warner Bros, this was their second major attempt at a reboot of the Superman franchise after their previous attempt, 2006’s Superman Returns, was both a critical and financial underperformer. Luckily for them, this was right around the time that Christopher Nolan had just completed working on his trilogy of Batman films, AKA the Dark Knight trilogy, which were easily some of the most critically-acclaimed and financially successful superhero films at the time. Because of this, Nolan was brought on to spearhead Man of Steel’s production, which meant that while he wasn’t going to direct it, he would still be heavily involved with it with the expectation that it would match the overall atmosphere of the Dark Knight trilogy. Nolan reteamed with his Dark Knight trilogy co-writer David S. Goyer to write the film, and after considering filmmakers like Darren Aronofsky, Matt Reeves, and Ben Affleck (who, of course, would factor into the franchise at a later date), Zack Snyder was chosen to direct the film. At this point, Snyder was easily one of the studio’s most prominent filmmakers with hits such as the 2007 adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300 and his incredibly ambitious adaptation of the seminal graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Sure, he had just come off a rather notorious critical and financial flop with 2011’s Sucker Punch, based on his own original concept, but that didn’t stop Snyder in the slightest from taking the helm on the next major incarnation of the Last Son of Krypton.

Man of Steel was easily one of the most anticipated films of 2013, and upon its release… it ended up being arguably the most polarizing film of that year. Critics and audiences were truly split down the middle when it came to their thoughts on the film, namely due to how Snyder (and, by extension, Nolan and Goyer) delivered a radically different take on the title character. For some folks, they were totally fine with this as they felt that it was something that Superman needed for what was meant to be a more modernized take on the character. For others, however, it was a bit too much, especially due to things like the film’s utilization of destruction imagery that felt too similar to 9/11 and the controversial moment where Superman kills the main antagonist, General Zod, by snapping his neck despite his traditional ‘no-killing’ mandate from the comics. Nevertheless, the film was a solid hit at the box-office and grossed over $668 million worldwide, thus paving the way for Warner Bros to immediately begin laying the groundwork for its own cinematic universe to rival the MCU. While it was initially implied that the plan was to do at least one more Superman-centric feature before getting into the whole ‘cinematic universe’ angle, that idea seemed to change when the first details of the film were revealed at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con. After having Harry Lennix (who played General Swanwick in Man of Steel) set the mood by reciting a passage from the iconic miniseries that was Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, it was instantly made clear that the next installment of the DC Extended Universe would be a crossover between Batman and Superman. And since Christian Bale had already completed his turn as Batman in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, this new film would serve as the official debut of the DCEU’s interpretation of the Dark Knight that would be heavily inspired by the grizzled and jaded version of the character from Dark Knight Returns.

After a highly publicized casting search that included names like Josh Brolin and Jon Hamm, Ben Affleck was officially cast as Bruce Wayne AKA Batman. Admittedly, though, Affleck’s casting initially drew an intensely negative response from fans, namely due to his disastrous previous role in a superhero film when he played Marvel’s Daredevil in the 2003 film of the same name. At the same time, though, Affleck was experiencing a major career resurrection thanks to his work as a director on Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and 2012’s Best Picture winner, Argo. Thus, the most exciting aspect of Affleck’s casting was that it immediately led to him being given the opportunity to direct the first solo outing for his version of the character. After that, further announcements then revealed that Batman wasn’t going to be the only new superhero appearing in the film. First, it was announced that the third and final member of DC’s ‘Trinity’, Wonder Woman, would make her debut in the film as well, which would also be the character’s first official appearance in a live-action film. Gal Gadot was cast in the role and, like Affleck, experienced some harshly negative blowback from fans when the initial news broke of her involvement. Soon afterward, it was then revealed that The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) would all make cameos as well to build up hype for their larger roles in the upcoming Justice League film which, of course, Zack Snyder was also slated to direct. Thus, while a lot of the build-up for the film was clearly impacted by the polarizing nature of Man of Steel and how fans reacted to Snyder’s casting choices, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was still widely considered to be one of the most highly anticipated films of 2016. At this point, it was now very much clear that it was meant to be the official kick-starter for Warner Bros and DC’s own, unique spin on a superhero-centric cinematic universe.

The film finally hit theaters on March 25^th, 2016, and if you thought that the reception towards Man of Steel was rough… well, it was about to get a whole lot worse for DC and Warner Bros. Upon its release, Batman v Superman was utterly savaged by critics who felt that the story was incredibly convoluted and that the film itself was far too dour. Simply put, this wasn’t even close to being the same kind of situation that Man of Steel ended up in where there was a genuine 50/50 split between its fans and its critics. When it came to Batman v Superman… most people hated it. This also translated to its run at the box-office where, despite a $166 million opening weekend and a worldwide gross of over $873 million worldwide, it was considered a financial disappointment since it didn’t reach the studio’s projected total of $1 billion. By comparison, the MCU’s big ensemble picture of that year, Captain America: Civil War, instantly outmatched BvS in every conceivable way with a $179 million opening weekend, a worldwide gross of over $1.1 billion, and perhaps most importantly, vastly superior reviews from critics and audiences. However, when it comes to Dawn of Justice’s initial release, it soon became known that some of its biggest shortcomings weren’t exactly Zack Snyder’s fault when it was revealed that he was forced to cut around half an hour of what was originally meant to be a three-hour film. It was reported that the biggest reason for this decision was that the studio was uncertain about the original cut’s box-office potential, especially since it would’ve garnered an R rating instead of the more genre-friendly PG-13 rating. Luckily for Snyder, he was able to make his version available to the public when the ‘Ultimate Edition’ of the film was released on Blu-Ray and digital. And upon its release, many agreed that while it may not have been enough to sway the film’s most vocal critics, it was, at the very least, a far superior cut since many of the sequences that were taken out resulted in the theatrical cut suffering from some significant plot-holes.

Despite this, however, the damage was already done. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was meant to be DC and Warner Bros’ answer to what Marvel Studios had managed to accomplish with the Marvel Cinematic Universe… and it ended up being one of the most despised blockbusters of recent memory. As you might have guessed, this immediately began to impact future installments of the franchise. The other big DCEU release of 2016, Suicide Squad, ended up having a troubled production largely due to the studio’s efforts to try and address many of the issues that critics had with Batman v Superman. And yet, as a result, Suicide Squad yielded the exact same results as BvS; it was commercially successful but critically panned. Luckily for both DC and Warner Bros, they did end up having their first big hit the following year with Wonder Woman. Not only did it manage to avoid any of the issues that BvS and Suicide Squad endured during its production, but it was easily the most well-received installment of the franchise to date as it was widely touted for forgoing the overly grim atmosphere of the franchise’s previous installments. And from the looks of it, it seemed like this would also be the case with the DCEU’s other big 2017 release, especially since this was going to be the biggest one of them all, Justice League. Following all the intense criticism that stemmed from Batman v Superman’s overly dour tone, it was widely reported that Justice League was not going to end up the same way and would be far lighter in tone by comparison. And while later reports noted that the film would have to undergo some major reshoots after early test screenings didn’t go too well, everything seemed to be going all right for the production. But then, of course, as we all know, it all came crumbling down, and unfortunately, it all began with a devastating family tragedy.

On March 12^th, 2017, Snyder’s 20-year-old daughter Autumn committed suicide. While Snyder did continue to work on Justice League for the next two months, he and his wife Deborah (his long-time producer) then proceeded to announce that they would be stepping away from the production in the wake of the loss of their daughter. And so, Joss Whedon, who had already been brought on to help work on script re-writes, was put in charge of both the reshoots and post-production. Whedon, of course, was already quite familiar with the superhero genre thanks to his work as the director of the first two Avengers films, and before the film’s release, it was reported that Whedon would be doing his best to maintain the vision that Snyder had for the film. But when the film finally came out… it ended up telling a completely different story. Immediately upon its release, both critics and audiences noted how the film was an absolute mess in terms of its tone. And while it was initially reported that Whedon’s additions to the film would be generally minor at best, it was very much clear that he had re-shot much of the film and that only a few moments in it were leftover from Snyder’s version, resulting in a complete hodge-podge of clashing directorial visions. Thus, Justice League became yet another critical flop for the DCEU, and even worse, this time it was also a financial flop since it wasn’t able to break-even on its $300 million budget, which made it one of the most expensive films of all-time. And because of its failure, the entire franchise was put through a complete reshuffle. Key figures like Geoff Johns and Jon Berg left the studio while plans for a Justice League sequel were canceled in favor of solo films that didn’t rely on the shared universe narrative. And in 2019, after he had already stepped down from directing the next Batman film, Ben Affleck announced that he was officially stepping down from the title role. Thus, Robert Pattinson will now take on the role of Batman for director Matt Reeves in The Batman, which is set to hit theaters on October 1^st, 2021.

Now for the record, today’s post is not going to delve into the specific details of the changes that Whedon made to Justice League and the noteworthy scenes from Snyder’s version that were left out. Simply put, that’s another post for another time. But to sum up everything that we’ve gone through so far, I think it’s safe to say that of the three DC Extended Universe films that Zack Snyder has directed, his first one, Man of Steel, was the only entry where he wasn’t considerably hindered by studio interference. But because Man of Steel was so polarizing due to its radically different take on Superman, I can imagine that Warner Bros began to show some concern over the direction that the franchise was heading in, especially since it wasn’t as financially successful as Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy despite his direct involvement in it. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Batman was brought in for the next film to try and improve its box-office potential even if it came at the cost of not doing a proper follow-up to Man of Steel. But, of course, the biggest story that came out of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s production was how Snyder was forced to cut out a full half-hour of the film. It’s been rumored that another big reason why he had to do this was that, supposedly, he didn’t have the same kind of directorial clout that someone like James Cameron has to make a massive three-hour blockbuster. However, this also meant that the sequences that were being cut were ones that were utterly pivotal to the story, resulting in some incredibly egregious plot-holes. Thankfully, this ended up being one of those cases where this occurred near the end of production, effectively allowing Snyder to release his version of the film on home video without the need for any extensive reworking of the theatrical cut. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Justice League. His version of it was far from finished when he stepped away from production and would’ve required a lot of extra money to finish a film that was already sporting one of the largest budgets in film history. With that in mind, it goes without saying that many of the issues with Justice League are ones that can’t be attributed to Snyder since he had nothing to do with the theatrical cut due to immensely tragic circumstances that were far beyond his control.

However, if you’ll allow me to debunk one of the biggest myths that has been perpetrated by the DCEU fandom, it’s the idea that all the film’s problems were entirely Joss Whedon’s fault. Ever since the theatrical cut’s release, Whedon has been the primary target of the #ReleasetheSnyderCut faithful for ‘destroying’ Snyder’s vision with the new material that he shot. However, what these folks tend to overlook is the fact that, in a scenario that was obviously much different than what happened with Snyder, Whedon was also heavily screwed over by the production. In his case, it primarily stemmed from the fact that the two months of reshoots that he presided over began in July of 2017… just 4 months before the film’s November release date. And so, given all the information that has revealed that Snyder’s contributions to the theatrical cut only amounted to a few select scenes, this means that Whedon had to rework almost all of what was set to be one of Warner Bros’ biggest tent-pole releases in less than half a year. In other words, all those criticisms surrounding the film’s mediocre visual effects suddenly make a lot more sense when you realize that the VFX artists who worked on it had barely any time to finish them. Now to be clear, everything that I just brought up here doesn’t mean that I’m ‘defending’ the changes that Joss Whedon made to the film. While I am a fan of much of Whedon’s work from Firefly and its film adaptation Serenity to, of course, his Avengers films, even I can agree that this is some of his worst material when it comes to the snappy dialogue that he’s well-known for. But at the end of the day, you can’t really blame the theatrical cut of Justice League solely on him since it’s very much clear that time wasn’t on his side.

Ultimately, the failure of Justice League was mainly the result of Warner Bros not recognizing the fact that they were clearly rushing it so that they could compete with the Avengers films that Marvel Studios was making. They were so locked in on that November 2017 release date that it didn’t even matter that the reshoots for it couldn’t happen until July of that year. This, of course, spawned one of the biggest stories that surrounded these reshoots; the fact that it occurred during the production of a different film, Mission Impossible – Fallout, which Superman himself, Henry Cavill, was also starring in. He also notably sported a mustache for that film, and Paramount (the studio behind the Mission Impossible franchise) wasn’t keen on having Cavill shave it off for the Justice League reshoots. Thus, Cavill had to keep his facial hair for the reshoots, resulting in the most widely mocked visual effects in the entire film… the CGI that had to be used to erase it off his face. Clearly, Warner Bros should’ve just pushed the film back to 2018 so that Zack and Deborah Snyder would have enough time to mourn the loss of their daughter and properly return to the production. After all, that’s exactly what happened with both of Snyder’s previous DCEU films so that he and his crew could have more time to work on them. Man of Steel was originally set to come out at the end of 2012 before it was pushed back to June 2013. And as for Batman v Superman, it was originally meant to come out in July 2015 before being pushed back nearly a full year and ultimately settling for its final March 2016 release date. Now admittedly, at the time of Justice League’s release, 2018 was shaping up to be an incredibly packed year for the superhero genre. The MCU had the next Avengers film, Infinity War, along with Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp, the X-Men franchise was set to release its next main installment, Dark Phoenix, along with the sequel to Deadpool and a spin-off, The New Mutants, Sony had the Spider-Man spin-off Venom and even the DCEU had its next big release, Aquaman. And yet, not long into 2018, both Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants were pushed back (Dark Phoenix to 2019, New Mutants… well, we’ll get to that one another time). So yeah… there really wasn’t any kind of excuse at this point as to why Warner Bros didn’t just delay Justice League back a year.

But at the end of the day, these disastrous results were exactly what Warner Bros and DC needed so that they could finally realize that they were foolishly rushing the development of the DC Extended Universe. Instead of efficiently building up the franchise with solo installments that both properly introduced us to its main protagonists and gradually expanded the universe like the MCU did, they decided to just skip ahead to Justice League after only a few films. Thus, when Justice League came out, Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman were the only members of the titular group to have had major roles in previous installments while the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg were basically making their official franchise debuts with almost little to no buildup. Sure, they had all previously appeared in Batman v Superman and Flash had also made an appearance in Suicide Squad, but only as minor (and nearly inconsequential) cameos. In other words, to reiterate a point that I made a few months back in my Top 12 Films of 2019 list when I ranked Shazam at the #7 spot, it was like if Marvel had decided to do the first Avengers film right after Iron Man 2, completely ignoring Thor and Captain America’s first solo features. If that was the case, then the only instances that would’ve hinted at their future appearances would’ve been the prototype of Cap’s shield seen in Tony Stark’s basement and the post-credits scene of Iron Man 2 where Agent Coulson arrives at the crash site of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Thankfully, though, Marvel Studios was smart enough to not do that. Unfortunately, you can’t really say the same for the DCEU since, apparently, they didn’t want to be bogged down by what they perceived to be the increasingly routine nature of traditional superhero origin stories.

But to reiterate a different point that I made in that Top 12 Films of 2019 list, I’d argue that another problem for the DCEU early on was that it tried a bit too hard to ‘not be Marvel’. And for the record, when I say “not be Marvel”, that’s primarily in reference to the long-standing stigma against the MCU films that claims that they’re nothing more than kid-friendly comedies, especially in the wake of Marvel being purchased by Disney in 2009. Now sure, it’s true that MCU films are usually light-hearted affairs that are often dominated by the comedic banter between characters, but if there’s one point that I’ve hopefully gotten across the most these past few years, it’s that they’re much more than just silly comedies. In fact, in the years since this mindset started becoming more common within the DCEU fandom, I believe that films like the culturally relevant Black Panther and the emotionally charged duology of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame have been more than enough proof against the claim that the MCU is ‘just for kids’. Nevertheless, it’s truly astounding how much the hardcore side of the DCEU fandom utterly despises the light-hearted style of the MCU films, almost as if they believe that dark and gritty narratives are the only worthy routes that a superhero film should take instead of being the fun and entertaining blockbusters that they normally are. As you might have guessed, this is one of the biggest reasons why the hardcore DCEU faithful usually prefer Zack Snyder’s DCEU films instead of some of the franchise’s more critically successful outings. In fact, even Snyder has distanced himself from the more light-hearted installments of the superhero genre by stating that it simply isn’t the kind of material that he prefers. And so, with all this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that the time has finally come for me to say something that I know damn well will outright infuriate the #ReleasetheSnyderCut faithful… and yet is very much something that needs to be said at this point. To be clear, what I’m about to say is not meant to be a personal dig against Snyder, especially given the circumstances behind his departure from Justice League. But at the end of the day… Zack Snyder probably wasn’t the best choice to be the director who was meant to spearhead the genesis and future of DC’s brand-new cinematic universe.

Now to be clear, I’m not saying that I think Snyder is a terrible director. He’s certainly proven himself to be one of the best visually-driven filmmakers in the business and that is very much apparent in every film that he’s made. And yet, as great as he is as a visual director, he’s been less successful when it comes to story and characters. Some would say that his adaptation of Watchmen is the exception to this, but despite Snyder’s considerable efforts to stay faithful to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal graphic novel, many have argued that this was more from a visual perspective rather than a narrative one. But to go back to what I just mentioned earlier about Snyder’s preferences when it comes to superhero narratives, if he wants to do superhero films that are more like Watchmen, then that’s totally fine. He’s completely within his rights as a filmmaker to do those kinds of films. However, I also feel that this kind of nihilistic philosophy applies better to the likes of niche properties like 300 and Watchmen rather than mainstream characters like Batman and Superman that have appealed to audiences of all ages. This is especially the case with children because, despite what some members of the DCEU fandom may claim, comic-book superheroes are usually marketed towards the younger demographic. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, by way of Snyder’s intended 3-hour cut, is not even close to being geared towards kids. Instead, it’s a dark, dour, and incredibly violent R-rated flick that sees the title characters act in generally unheroic ways. And it all culminates with one of the most idealistic heroes of the entire genre, Superman, dying in an incredibly gruesome manner just so they could pay homage to the infamous storyline from the comics in which he dies after an intense battle with Doomsday. Simply put, that probably wasn’t the best idea for a major studio tentpole release that was being marketed to the widest audience possible.

By comparison, other installments of the DCEU have done a far better job when it comes to developing these characters rather than just being a case of style over substance. Snyder may have been the one who brought Wonder Woman to the screen in Batman v Superman, but it was Patty Jenkins who made her a genuine icon and quite arguably the MVP of the franchise by way of her solo film. And while Snyder may have also set the stage for Aquaman’s franchise debut, it was James Wan who took Jason Momoa’s potentially controversial take on the character and turned him into the full-blown charismatic star of what ended up becoming the DCEU’s highest-grossing installment to date. In fact, I’d argue that the best DCEU film to date is one that Snyder had absolutely nothing to do with, Shazam. Some may refer to Shazam as the closest that the DCEU has ever gotten to replicating the MCU aesthetic, because aside from some incredibly dark moments that feel like they came straight out of a horror film, it’s easily the DCEU’s most light-hearted entry to date. But as I’ve said plenty of times by now, there’s a lot more to this than just colorful visuals and a plethora of jokes, as Shazam also fully succeeds at giving its title character a proper and emotionally cathartic character arc that’s perfectly synced with all the fun superhero escapades that he partakes in. Suffice it to say, this is something that you never really got out of the DCEU films that Snyder directed, and the one character who was hurt by this the most was Superman, thus resulting in his sacrifice at the end of Batman v Superman feeling incredibly hollow. And it’s a shame, really, because Henry Cavill has very much proven himself to be an incredibly charismatic actor thanks to films like The Man from UNCLE and Mission Impossible – Fallout. Thus, given the recent news that revealed that Cavill is set to return to the franchise after quite a few years where it was rumored that he was done playing Superman, I hope that he’ll have better material to work with going forward. Because, really, it’s saying something when his best performance in the role… was in Justice League. Yes, despite all the wonky CGI to remove his mustache and the fact that it contrasted heavily with how the character was portrayed in both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, it is still the closest that Henry Cavill has ever gotten to matching Christopher Reeve’s iconic interpretation of the character.

And so, given everything that I’ve gone through in today’s post, I must admit that the announcement that Zack Snyder’s Justice League will finally see the light of day is one that has left me with mixed feelings overall, and as you might have guessed, this largely has to do with the whole #ReleasetheSnyderCut movement. Now before I continue, let me just point out that I’m well aware that what I’m about to discuss doesn’t represent the entirety of those who were involved in the campaign for the release of Snyder’s version of the film. I know that a lot of people who participated in it simply did so because they wanted to see this version of the film released publicly, especially given all the tragic circumstances that led to Snyder’s departure from the production. On that note, quite arguably the best result to come from this campaign was that over $150,000 was raised for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Unfortunately, as has usually been the case these past few years with incidents that are attributed to internet fandom, the more vocal and incredibly toxic members of the community have ultimately been the ones who have ended up dominating the discussion. Before the announcement that the film was finally going to get released, they attacked anyone who dared to suggest that the idea of releasing Snyder’s version of the film seemed impossible at the time given the status that it was in when he left the production. Many of them have also harassed Warner Bros. employees to the point where the former President of DC Entertainment, Diane Nelson, had to delete her Twitter account. But perhaps the biggest thing to note about this entire movement was how utterly persistent it was at times to the point where that hashtag was being pushed even when talking about things that had nothing to do with Justice League. Thus, as much as some will say that folks like this only represent a small part of the community, I do think that we’re at a point now where crap like this needs to be better addressed. Because at the end of the day, even the actions of a select number of ‘fans’ (a term that, as you might have guessed, I use very loosely here) has the potential to make us all look bad simply by association.

And as I’ve said plenty of times over the past few years, the hardcore faction of the DCEU fandom has become one of the most toxic internet groups in recent memory. If you were to ask me why, I’d say that it’s largely because of how they are fully devoted to what Zack Snyder had envisioned for the franchise. Thus, when anyone dares to come along and suggest that his DCEU films were far from perfect, his fans will come out of the woodwork, get incredibly infuriated about it, and try to pass off the utterly bogus conspiracy that critics of Snyder’s films were paid off by Disney and Marvel to make the MCU look better by comparison. Heck, even when the DC Extended Universe had a genuine hit on its hands, these folks still somehow managed to find something to be upset about. When Wonder Woman became the DCEU’s first critically acclaimed hit, a lot of Snyder fans tried to pin it all on him since he had a story credit instead of, you know, director Patty Jenkins. When Aquaman came out, the hardcore DCEU fandom attacked anyone who had predicted that the film wasn’t going to be a box-office hit and, as you might have guessed, lashed out at anyone who gave it a negative review. And don’t even get me started on how furious they were when Birds of Prey came out earlier this year rather than the films that they wanted like a sequel to Man of Steel or the Snyder Cut. But, of course, the biggest stunt that they’ve pulled (apart from their negative influence on the whole #ReleasetheSnyderCut situation, of course…) was when they tried to shut down Rotten Tomatoes in 2016 after Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad were both savaged by critics. Simply put, these folks haven’t responded well to the idea that the DC Extended Universe has worked a lot better when it isn’t going with the grim aesthetic that Snyder had established during the franchise’s early days.

But now this brings us to what has easily been the most concerning aspect of the announcement for Zack Snyder’s Justice League… the fact that it could potentially pave the way for more instances in the future where overly entitled fans aggressively demand changes to films when they don’t turn out exactly the way they wanted. In fact, I’d argue that, when it comes to films that have left some sort of impact on the film industry, Justice League has been one of the most prevalent examples in recent memory of a film that has left a negative impact because of how it has emboldened certain online crowds to endlessly vent about what could have been. Nowadays, whenever a deleted scene for a film is released, some folks will act like they were ‘robbed’ of a sequence that, 9 times out of 10, was cut for a legitimate reason (e.g. the deleted scene in Avengers: Endgame where the Avengers all take a knee to mourn Tony Stark right after he dies). And it’s all thanks to the film that, until Snyder’s version comes out next year, boasted one of the vastest and eclectic collections of sequences that were ultimately left on the cutting room floor. Sure enough, there have already been quite a few noteworthy examples recently of fans demanding alternate cuts. Staying in the DCEU for a moment, some have been pushing for the version of Suicide Squad that director David Ayer had originally developed before it was heavily compromised by studio interference. A few weeks after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker came out, rumors started floating around that director J.J. Abrams was forced to make some critical changes to the film in the wake of the polarizing reactions to The Last Jedi, resulting in the #ReleasetheJJCut hashtag becoming a thing. And finally, literally just a few days after I started writing this post, the next big fan campaign emerged when Star Wars fans started to push for director George Lucas’ original 4-hour cut of Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

The toxic attitudes of modern film fan culture were directly parodied in 'Batman's Back Man', the fifth episode of the second season of the hit DC Universe animated series 'Harley Quinn'

Simply put, I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last time that we’ll be seeing fans getting this worked up over a film’s mythical alternate cut. And so, in conclusion, I will reiterate what I’ve said before in that when it comes to the announcement that Zack Snyder’s Justice League will finally get released, I am happy for Zack Snyder… and Zack Snyder only (and, by extension, everyone who had worked on the film before the reshoots). Despite my current feelings towards his DCEU films, I’m glad that he was able to find closure on a project that he never got the chance to finish. And yet, I simply can’t say the same for the DCEU fandom because as much as I know that many people who participated in this movement did so out of genuine appreciation for Snyder’s work, said movement was tainted by some utterly toxic jackasses who haven’t been able to fathom the possibility that his takes on these classic characters were inherently flawed. Plus, to be perfectly blunt, folks… I just got so damn tired of hearing about this film all the frigging time for the past two and a half years, especially whenever it threatened to overshadow the instances where the DCEU managed to achieve some genuine success. Now, to be clear, this doesn’t mean that I was ever against the notion of its release. Once it debuts on HBO Max next year, I assure you that I’ll watch it and will then give you a proper review/discussion post on it. However, this doesn’t excuse the fact that everything that surrounded its release is ultimately yet another example of the increasing sense of entitlement that is thoroughly plaguing modern fandom. We now live in an era where, for some inexplicable reason, some believe that the best way to express their disappointment over a film or TV show is to vehemently lash out at the filmmakers and studios who worked on them as if the fact that they didn’t live up to their oddly specific set of expectations is the equivalent of some kind of criminal offense. And yet, this is exactly the kind of deplorable behavior that I’m thoroughly against as a film critic because I believe that it’s a blatant sign of disrespect coming from people who think that they know better than those who work in the industry even though incidents like this very much prove otherwise.

That concludes this extensive discussion on the history behind Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League. Since this single post ultimately proved to be nearly as long as either of the lengthy write-ups that I did for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Avengers: Endgame in my Top 12 Films of 2019 list from a few months back, I’d like to thank all of you for sticking it out with me when it comes to this incredibly daunting beast of an editorial.

Top 10 WORST Films of 2017: Part 1 (#10-6)

Well, folks, we’re nearing the end of 2017, and in the world of film, that means one thing. Yes, the time has come to look back upon the past year and list both our favorite and least favorite films from 2017. But while most critics have already posted their Top 10 Best Films of the Year lists (some of whom even did it before they saw a certain film set in a galaxy far, far away… the nerve…), I do things a little differently here on Rhode Island Movie Corner. You see, most critics tend to release their ‘Best of the Year’ lists first before their ‘Worst of the Year’ lists. As such, the ‘Worst of’ lists always end up attracting more attention. Why? Well, that’s because here on the internet, people love to hear others rag on films a lot more than when they praise them. But as for me, I do my ‘Worst of the Year’ list first simply because I like to end the year on a good note instead of a bad one. With that in mind, don’t expect a lot of anger in these next two posts because, to be perfectly frank, I rarely get that angry at bad films nowadays. To be clear, however, this doesn’t mean that I’ll be going soft on any of the films that I’m about to discuss. And so, without further ado, the time has come for me to list my picks for the Top 10 WORST films of 2017. This is the first half of a two-part series, and today I’ll be listing films #10-6. Also, it’s worth noting that while these two posts may contain some major spoilers from the following films, I won’t be posting any Spoiler Warnings because, simply put, these aren’t films that I can recommend in any capacity.

Before we get started, however, I have one Dishonorable Mention

DISHONORABLE MENTION – CHiPS

CHiPS was a buddy cop TV series that aired on NBC from 1977 to 1983. Running for a span of 139 episodes over the course of 6 seasons (plus a made-for-television film in 1998, CHiPS ‘99), the show followed the adventures of Jon Baker (Larry Wilcox) and Francis Llewellyn Poncherello AKA Ponch (Erik Estrada), a pair of officers who worked for the California Highway Patrol. This year, the classic series was revitalized for the big-screen by writer/director Dax Shepard, who also starred in the film as Baker alongside Michael Pena as Ponch. And at the very least, the two of them do have solid chemistry when it comes to their comedic banter… it’s a shame, then, that the film boasts a rather mediocre hit-miss ratio when it comes to its humor. Granted, I don’t think that it’s as bad as another film from this year that was based off a retro TV series (which, SPOILERS, will be appearing later on in this list), but that doesn’t mean that it’s that good either. To his credit, Shepard isn’t a bad director when it comes to action sequences, as this film does boast some decent car chases; he is a noted car enthusiast after all. However, it’s clear that he’s much better off working with other writers because as is, the film is just a mediocre adaptation of an old TV series that tries a bit too hard to be a raunchy R-rated comedy. Now, for the record, I’ve never watched the original series before, but I’m pretty sure that its humor was far tamer by comparison. And on that note, believe me when I say that I’ve seen quite a lot of fans of the show be quite furious about this film due to all of the changes that it made to its source material. Heck, even my uncle was one of those people.

And now it’s time to move on to the main list… and boy, are we starting things off on a controversial note with the worst superhero film that came out of what has otherwise been one of the genre’s greatest years.

10. JUSTICE LEAGUE

I say that this is a controversial stance because, obviously, this film does have its loyal fans. But I’m sorry DCEU fans, there’s no mincing words here… they seriously dropped the ball on this one. With that said, however, let me assure you, folks, that this wasn’t like the time when I was quite hesitant about Batman v. Superman a few years prior to its release when it started to add in more characters to try and build things up to where we are now. Despite the general skepticism that was surrounding it due to the critical disdain directed towards the series’ past installments, I was genuinely rooting for this film to succeed. When I was walking out of the theater, my initial rating for this film was somewhere around 3.5/5. Sadly, though, as I was writing my review, I slowly started to realize that this rating was beginning to drop rapidly. And thus, here we are now with Justice League, hands down one of the most disappointing superhero films to come out in recent memory. The main reason why is simple… it is basically the DC equivalent of Fan4stic. Now, for the record, don’t misconstrue this as me saying that it’s as bad as Fan4stic because it really isn’t. I mean, let’s be honest folks, 99.9% of all superhero films released since 2008 are better than Fan4stic. With that said, though, both films are clearly the result of a studio trying to salvage a reportedly ‘unwatchable’ first cut of their big blockbuster release only to make things even worse because of all the boneheaded alterations that they made.

As many of you know, this was primarily the result of when director Zack Snyder was forced to step away from the film’s post-production cycle back in May after his daughter Autumn committed suicide. Thus, Joss Whedon (who, of course, is no stranger to the genre having written and directed the first two Avengers films) was brought in to supervise reshoots. However, despite numerous claims from the studio that Whedon was making a dedicated effort to match Snyder’s original directorial vision, you can clearly tell what parts of the film were handled by Whedon. This results in some severely awkward tonal shifts that try to balance humor with the more serious aspects of the plot. And while I do appreciate the effort that was made to make the film more light-hearted compared to Snyder’s previous DCEU films, most of the humor in this film is, for lack of a better word… awful. Simply put, it just isn’t as well-handled as it is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films (and yes, I’m saying this while being fully aware of the fact that quite a lot of people have been highly critical of the MCU films for their humor). Really, if you ask me, the only two great things to come out of this film are A.) That all of the main leads do solid jobs in their respective roles while working quite well off each other and B.) Henry Cavill was finally allowed to ‘act’ like Superman even with all the shoddy CG work that was done to hide the mustache that he had grown prior to reshoots. Aside from them, however, none of the DCEU’s major supporting characters (e.g. Amy Adams’ Lois Lane and Connie Nielsen’s Queen Hippolyta) get any decent material to work with and the main villain Steppenwolf is one of the weakest villains in the history of the genre.

To be clear, though, this is not primarily Whedon’s fault. At the moment, DCEU fanboys are currently burning Whedon an effigy for all of the changes that he made to the film; and yet, may I remind you that Whedon was forced to do all of this in less than half a year! Seriously, DCEU fanboys, you try and rework a major tent-pole release in that timeframe… ain’t that easy. And, of course, it wasn’t Zack Snyder’s fault because he was waylaid by a devastating personal tragedy. In short, it was Warner Bros. who screwed up with this one by rushing it so that it could be released this year. Clearly, they should’ve pushed it back to 2018 once Snyder had to leave; and yeah, I’m well-aware that 2018 is already heavily packed when it comes to the superhero genre. Marvel’s got the next Avengers as well as Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp, Fox has sequels to both X-Men and Deadpool along with The New Mutants, Sony has its Spider-Man spinoff Venom (plus an animated Spider-Man film), and DC will have Aquaman’s solo film. But even with that in mind… it still would’ve frigging helped. I mean, say what you will about Batman v Superman but when that film had to be pushed back from its original 2015 release date, it got pushed back! And as for Snyder… well, I’d hate to say it but I think that the time has come for him to step down from directing DCEU films. I’m not saying this out of spite, for the record; it’s just that, at this point, it’s clear that he’s not being given the respect from the studio that he deserves. He had to take out a whole half-hour of footage from Batman v. Superman because ‘he didn’t have James Cameron-level clout’, resulting in the film’s inferior theatrical cut, and now we have this whole debacle. And unlike BvS, it seems highly doubtful that we’ll ever see a version of this film that was more in line with Snyder’s original vision.

And if that wasn’t enough, this film is just further proof of how the DC Extended Universe’s hardcore fans make up one of the most toxic fan-bases in all of pop culture. Many of you are no doubt aware of their past incidents, namely when they tried to shut down Rotten Tomatoes after Suicide Squad was savaged by critics; needless to say, their antics have only continued since this film was released. They’ve basically become the successors to Christopher Nolan’s hardcore fans. In other words, they are completely unwavering when it comes to viewing the DCEU films as perfect masterpieces (even when they’re clearly not) while vehemently disagreeing with anyone who doesn’t think highly of these films. Now, granted, I know that I’m certainly one to talk given how big of a fan I am of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But, at the risk of starting another fanboy war… there is a reason why Marvel Studios hasn’t hit this kind of low point yet with their film output. While they are under the Disney banner, Disney has never interfered with their film productions in the way that Warner Bros. did with Justice League. And even though there are new MCU films every year, none of them ever feel rushed. Whereas this film came out just one year after BvS, the first DCEU film to officially start establishing its franchise’s interconnectivity, the MCU didn’t get into The Avengers until five years into its run. And after that, there has always been a three-year gap between Avengers films. Most importantly, though, is the fact that while I will openly admit that I often give glowing reviews to MCU films, that doesn’t mean that I view them all as masterpieces. Still, it really is saying something when the first two-minute trailer for Avengers: Infinity War is far superior to this two-hour mess of a film.

We have another fairly disappointing release at the Number 9 spot. It’s a film that just couldn’t live up to its potential despite the involvement of one of my favorite filmmakers.

9. THE BELKO EXPERIMENT

The Belko Experiment is the brainchild of Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who wrote and produced it. Obviously, he didn’t direct it given his commitment to Marvel so instead, it was directed by Greg McLean. And really… this probably would’ve worked a lot better if Gunn had directed it. Under McLean’s direction, the film ends up feeling rather generic, which is a shame because it did have an interesting premise. The plot revolves around the employees of the titular Belko Industries, who find themselves trapped within their office building by a mysterious figure who demands that they kill several of their employees or else run the risk of being randomly executed by the explosives contained within the tracking devices that they’ve been implanted with. This could’ve led to an entertaining Battle Royale/Hunger Games-ish squabble in which the employees begin to turn on one another in order to survive; not to mention all the fun ways in which they could’ve used their office supplies to kill each other. However, this premise ends up being somewhat squandered as most of the deaths in this film occur by way of those in charge of the ‘experiment’ detonating the implants. And while the film’s ensemble cast is quite stacked with the likes of John Gallagher Jr, Tony Goldwyn, John C. McGinley, Michael Rooker, and Sean Gunn (the film’s biggest standout as the building’s pot-smoking cafeteria worker Marty), the large amount of characters in this film get little to no character development. Granted, you could say that this isn’t really something that you need in a film like this, but that also means that you don’t care about any of these characters in the slightest. And thus, while The Belko Experiment is by no means the worst film of this year, like Justice League it could’ve been a heck of a lot better given all of the talent that was involved.

At Number 8, we have the next installment of a series that has previously appeared on this site’s annual ‘Worst of’ list.

8. THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE

In January 2014, an animated film titled The Nut Job was released in theaters. Developed in part by a Korean animation company and based off a 2005 short titled Surly Squirrel made by its director, former Disney/Pixar animator Peter Lepeniotis, it revolved around a squirrel named Surly who tries to raid a nut store in order to find him and his friends enough food to last through the winter. For an animated film released in January, The Nut Job did decently at the box-office; however, that didn’t translate to the film’s critical reception as it was straight-up savaged by most critics. And to be perfectly frank… they weren’t wrong in that regard. I mean, at its worst, it was just a mediocre animated film with a bland and often mean-spirited narrative, an odd fascination for nut-based innuendos, and repeated uses of the song ‘Gangnam Style’ (remember that viral video from 2012?). Ultimately, though, the one thing that truly killed the film was that it featured one of the most unlikable protagonists ever seen in an animated film. Despite being voiced by the talented Will Arnett, Surly the Squirrel was an inconsiderate jerk who always cared more about himself than his friends and family. Because of this terrible character, the film proved to be quite the chore to sit through, hence why it ended up taking the #6 spot in the ‘Worst of the Year’ list that I did for that year. And yet, like I said before, it did do well enough at the box-office to give its distributors enough confidence to fast-track a sequel in the form of this year’s The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature.

Now, surprisingly, this film proved to be a lot more tolerable compared to its predecessor. While I wouldn’t say that the film fully succeeds at it, the character of Surly isn’t as unlikable as he was in the first film. With that said, though, all of the film’s characters are still flat and one-note, and that’s even after the film’s truly random attempt at trying to have an emotional moment by delving into the origins of Surly’s friendship with his mute rat sidekick Buddy. As for the plot, it’s a lot more streamlined than it was in the first film... meaning that this film is incredibly predictable as it sees Surly and company trying to save their home from a greedy mayor who plans to turn it into an amusement park. And yes, despite the finale being set within an amusement park that proceeds to get completely destroyed by the end of it, The Nut Job 2 ends up being one of the most forgettable animated films in recent memory. Technically, it’s better than the first film due to it not being as mean-spirited, but obviously, that isn’t saying much. Really, the only good thing that I can say about this film is the fact that, at the very least, Will Arnett could fall back on his role as LEGO Batman in far superior animated films that came out during the same years as these Nut Job films. Back in 2014, we were treated to The LEGO Movie just one month after the release of the original Nut Job. And as for this year’s sequel, we already got The LEGO Batman Movie back in February. So… there’s that, at least…

The word ‘disappointing’ is going to be a key descriptor when it comes to a lot of the films that will be appearing on this list. That includes my Number 7 pick, which was arguably the most disappointing release of the summer…

7. THE MUMMY

When it comes to Universal’s Mummy films, most of my generation is primarily familiar with the trilogy of films starring Brendan Fraser that ran from 1999 to 2008. Sure, they were mostly just mindless action-adventure re-imaginings of old-school horror films from the 30’s but at the very least, they were still decently entertaining popcorn flicks (The first two, at least; the third… not so much…). But now we cut to 2017, where Universal is ready to revitalize their most famous horror franchises. How so, you ask? Why by going the Marvel route and creating its own Cinematic Universe. And while I know that some may have groaned at the fact that another attempt at a Marvel-esque Cinematic Universe was being made, it at least made sense to attempt to base it on the Universal Monsters franchises given how Universal has technically been doing this for years. Just look at films like 1943’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and 1944’s House of Frankenstein; as weird as it may sound, the Universal Monsters were basically the original Cinematic Universe. And while I personally don’t have a lot of experience with the original Universal Monsters franchises, the fact that this new Mummy film would be starring one of the film industry’s top action stars, Tom Cruise, under the direction of Alex Kurtzman, co-writer of the 2009 Star Trek reboot, at least made me interested in seeing how it would turn out. However, if there’s one thing that a Tom Cruise Mummy film shouldn’t be, that would be ‘boring’… sadly, that is exactly what this film is. Overall, it attempts to be a mix between the more atmospheric horror narrative of the original 1932 Mummy film starring Boris Karloff and the more action-oriented escapades of the 1999 remake and its sequels. But while Kurtzman does do a decent job with the action sequences, the film drags for the most part due to its sluggish pacing.

And when it comes to the film’s efforts to establish its own cinematic universe (designated as the ‘Dark Universe’), that just ends up bringing along even more problems. Somehow, the film makes so much of an effort to establish this new cinematic universe and yet makes little to no progress in actually doing so, and in the process, this ends up taking greater precedence over the main plot. In other words, this film is a ‘Dark Universe’ film first and a Mummy film second. Because of this, none of the film’s characters get any sort of decent character development and the main antagonist, Princess Ahmanet, ends up being a mediocre threat, effectively stranding a cast that includes the likes of Cruise, Russell Crowe (the most engaging member of the cast as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde), and Sofia Boutella (Ahmanet) with subpar material. By comparison, the first MCU film, Iron Man, was more focused on establishing its titular main character, and it didn’t really get into anything regarding the franchise’s future until the ‘I’m here to talk about the Avengers Initiative’ post-credits scene. This is one of the primary reasons why the Marvel Cinematic Universe has managed to flourish in the way that it did unlike other recent attempts at a Cinematic Universe; it established its characters first before putting them all together in a single film (looking at you, DCEU). And because this new reboot of The Mummy fails to follow Iron Man’s example, it was unable to kick off its prospective franchise on a good note.

To make matters worse, now it seems unlikely that this franchise will even be continuing at all because of how bad this film did with critics and audiences (though, contrary to what several reports have stated, it doesn’t feel like the film was that big of a commercial flop with over $409 million grossed at the box-office). It was supposed to be followed up by a remake of Bride of Frankenstein that was going to be directed by Bill Condon. However, that film ended up getting ‘postponed’ back in October so that more time could be spent on the script, and it’s currently unclear at the moment if the film will be made at all. It’s a shame, really, because I was genuinely optimistic about its chances of redeeming the franchise. After all, Condon is certainly no stranger to the material having directed the 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters about James Whale, director of the original Bride of Frankenstein. But alas, it seems as if the ‘Dark Universe’ has ended before it even truly began. Not too long after Bride’s postponement, Kurtzman and producer Chris Morgan decided to step away from the franchise in order to move onto other projects. It’s a sad development, for sure, because like I said before, unlike a few other proposed Cinematic Universes, a Cinematic Universe featuring the Universal Monsters did have the potential to succeed given the characters’ previous crossovers with one another. Unfortunately, though, it ultimately crashed and burned thanks to the mediocre re-imagining that was this year’s The Mummy. Suffice it to say, you’re much better off with the Brendan Fraser Mummy films.

Don’t act like you didn’t see this one coming…

6. THE EMOJI MOVIE

Yeah… some of you probably guessed that this film would end up on this list. Ever since it was first announced, The Emoji Movie immediately established itself as one of the most despised films in recent memory. And before I go any further, let me answer the one question that many of you no doubt have right now… yes, they made a film based on the colorful symbols that many of us use on our phones to send text messages, emails, etc. Whereas most people lamented the arrival of this film as a sign of Hollywood truly scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to new ideas, I basically just ignored this film for the most part even after the trailers started to come out. Eventually, the film came out and it subsequently became one of the worst-reviewed films of the year. And after finally watching it for myself… well, yes, I will agree that it isn’t much to talk about. It’s basically just a knockoff of Inside Out as both films focus around characters that live inside something owned by a human; instead of the characters residing inside the person’s brain, this film focuses on the emoji’s who reside inside a young teenager’s phone. The main character Gene, a ‘Meh’ emoji who finds that he’s capable of expressing multiple emotions beyond ‘meh’, then proceeds to get into some major trouble which starts to have a negative effect on his owner’s life to the point where the world of the phone is put into jeopardy. I mean, the animation isn’t terrible… if anything, it’s colorful and there aren’t really any other options when it comes to making these emoji’s sentient beings. Plus, I can even sympathize with how the director connected with this story of an emoji who breaks from the norms of society because he himself is gay. Still, the story is woefully generic as are all of its characters.

…and that’s all that I’m going to say about this film. A very short review, wouldn’t you say? Well, that’s because I feel that this film isn’t worth getting too upset about. The same can’t be said for how the internet reacted to it, however, as this is one of the prime examples in which the film fan community got incredibly worked up over a film that honestly wasn’t worth all the hubbub. I mean, really, this film’s abysmal 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes should’ve been a clear-cut sign for most people to just ignore it. And you know what? That is exactly what I did on its opening weekend; I went to go see the film Atomic Blonde instead and, suffice it to say, it was a far better film by comparison. And that’s another thing… I swear that at times, it was almost as if the internet acted like this was the only film that was out at the time. Obviously, that wasn’t even remotely true, which then begs this question… why didn’t people just go to see other films instead? Clearly, they would’ve gotten a heck of a lot more out of films like Wonder Woman, Dunkirk, or Baby Driver (even though those films had already been out for a few weeks by the time that this came out) instead of this. And heck, despite this sole hiccup in their lineup, Sony’s film division actually had a decent 2017 thanks to the trio of hits that were Baby Driver, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Thus, that’s The Emoji Movie in a nutshell for me; the reason why it’s only at the #6 spot on this list is simple. When it comes to 2017 both in and out of the world of film… quite frankly, I’ve seen worse.  

And that’s the end of Part 1 of my Top 10 Worst Films of 2017 list. Thanks for following along and be sure to check back in the next few days for Part 2, in which I’ll be listing my picks for the Top 5 worst films from this past year. What dreaded film will land the #1 spot? Stay tuned…

Justice League (2017) review

For the past decade, Marvel Studios has dominated the superhero film genre thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was an unprecedented success story as nothing like it had ever been done before in the context of live-action films. After starting out strong with a series of solo outings that slowly but surely began to lay down the foundation for a larger universe, the MCU truly hit it big in 2012 when it brought all of its main heroes together in what ultimately became one of the landmark entries of the genre, The Avengers. But while the Avengers have undoubtedly become one of the most famous squads in the world of film, there is another superhero team that is arguably more iconic than them. I’m, of course, referring to DC Comics’ own legendary superhero group, the Justice League. Ever since the group’s initial creation in 1960 as a revamp of DC’s Justice Society of America, the Justice League, made up of several of the company’s most legendary heroes including the Holy Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, has become a staple of the DC universe. Aside from their various runs in the comics, the team has also left its mark on other facets of pop culture, including several video games (e.g. the Injustice fighting games) and a bunch of hit TV shows, most notably the Justice League cartoons from the early 2000’s that were created by the team behind the iconic Batman: The Animated Series. And now almost six decades after their initial comic debut, the Justice League has finally hit the big-screen in DC’s highly-anticipated crossover event.

However, the journey that this film has gone on to make it to this point has been rather rocky, to say the least. A full decade prior to its release, a different iteration of Justice League was in the works under the direction of Mad Max creator George Miller. Ultimately, though, this version ended up falling by the wayside due in large part to the 2007-08 Writers’ Strike. It wouldn’t be until after Warner Bros and DC managed to successfully resurrect the Superman franchise in 2013 with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel that the idea of a Justice League film was once again put into motion. And thus, the DC Extended Universe, DC and Warner Bros.’ answer to the MCU, was born; but again, things haven’t exactly gone smoothly for this franchise since its inception. While both Man of Steel and its 2016 follow-up Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (which introduced Ben Affleck’s rendition of the titular Dark Knight) did perform solidly at the box-office, they also yielded an extremely polarizing response from both critics and audiences. Simply put, these films have had as many extremely devoted fans as they’ve had their extremely vocal critics. Thankfully, though, the franchise did manage to rebound a bit this year thanks to the long-awaited solo outing for DC’s legendary heroine, Wonder Woman, a well-deserved success story for everyone involved on that production, especially director Patty Jenkins and lead actress Gal Gadot. But now we turn our attention to director Zack Snyder’s third entry in the DCEU, Justice League, which… is once again proving to be quite controversial amongst critics. And to be perfectly blunt… this time I can see exactly where they’re coming from when it comes to this film’s biggest issues.

At the end of Batman v. Superman, Bruce Wayne AKA the Gotham City vigilante Batman (Ben Affleck) saw his faith in humanity restored following the noble sacrifice of his ‘nemesis’ turned ally Superman (Henry Cavill) against the monstrous creature known as Doomsday. Despite this, however, the world finds itself plunging into greater chaos following Superman’s death, effectively leaving it open for an invasion by the god-like being known as Steppenwolf (portrayed by Ciaran Hinds via motion-capture). Backed by his army of extraterrestrial creatures known as Parademons, Steppenwolf seeks to reclaim the three mysterious devices hidden on Earth known as ‘Mother Boxes’ that grant unparalleled power to those that use them. To deal with the invasion, Bruce and Diana Prince AKA the Amazonian warrior Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) begin to recruit those who are just like them (referred to in the DC universe as ‘metahumans’) in order to form a team that’s powerful enough to take on Steppenwolf and his army in light of Superman’s absence. In the process, the two end up recruiting Arthur Curry AKA Aquaman, the ruler of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis (Jason Momoa), college student Barry Allen AKA the speedster known as ‘the Flash’ (Ezra Miller), and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), a former football star who was turned into a cyborg after a near-fatal car accident.

Simply put, when this film focuses on what audiences came to see (namely, the Justice League in action), it does deliver on that front. There are tons of great character moments here and there to satisfy the DC Comics faithful who have been waiting to see these characters together onscreen for years. However... that doesn’t mean that this film is devoid of some major flaws. For one thing, it’s all over the place when it comes to its tone. This aspect of the DCEU has been a primary source of contention amongst critics as both Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman were heavily criticized for being too dour. Thankfully with this film, an attempt was at least made for it to be more light-hearted compared to its predecessors; and yet, despite this, its attempts at humor are hit and miss at best. It also tries to balance said humor with some of the more serious aspects of the plot, something that it doesn’t necessarily succeed at doing. Overall, it seems as if a lot of this film’s tonal issues were a direct result of the biggest moment that occurred during its production, when Snyder was forced to step away from the film due to the death of his daughter and Joss Whedon (who, of course, is no stranger to this genre) was brought in to oversee rewrites and reshoots. However, while watching this film, it becomes abundantly clear that Whedon was forcibly rushed when it came to the process of finishing it, resulting in not only those aforementioned tonal issues but also some dodgy CGI as well (e.g. the now-infamous attempts that were made to digitally remove the mustache that Henry Cavill had grown prior to reshoots that he had to keep for the upcoming Mission Impossible 6).

Among other things, this film is primarily tasked with serving as the proper ‘introduction’ of three new main characters to the DCEU; Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Although the three of them had already technically been introduced in Batman v Superman via a series of brief cameos, this film serves as the first instance where they were each given a lead role. And overall, the film does do a decent job of establishing the DCEU’s iterations of these classic characters, as each main protagonist (both new and returning) does manage to get his or her own standout moment. Despite what I said before about the film’s humor being rather spotty, Ezra Miller’s Flash does get a lot of the best lines in the film as the inexperienced rookie who’s brought in to help deal with a daunting ‘save the world’ scenario. As for Aquaman, while it seems like a lot of his character development is being saved for his upcoming solo film next year, Jason Momoa does, at least, make a good first impression as DC’s often mocked aquatic-based superhero. Finally, with Cyborg, Ray Fisher does a good job of conveying the character’s inner turmoil given his tragic backstory. As for the returning heroes, both Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck are solid once again as Wonder Woman and Batman, respectively. Gadot continues to shine as the DCEU’s best protagonist, even amidst all of this film’s shortcomings, and Affleck still stands strong as the DCEU’s grizzled interpretation of the Dark Knight. And for those who weren’t too big on how Batman was portrayed in BvS, namely via his tendency to kill bad guys, you’ll be pleased to know that they do dial back on that characterization here.

Now, at the risk of delving into spoiler territory (though, really, everyone basically knew this already going in)… yes, Superman returns in this film after the character’s death in BvS. I won’t be getting into the exact specifics of how he’s brought back but I will say that, with this film, Henry Cavill has thankfully been given the chance to, shall we say, ‘act’ like Superman. Granted, I did think that he did a solid job in the previous two films that he appeared in but, at the same time, those films didn’t exactly give him the best material to work with, either. With Justice League, though, we finally get a Superman reminiscent of Christopher Reeve’s iconic iteration of the character from the original Superman films. But while all of the main leads get a solid amount of material to work with in this film, the same can’t be said for its supporting characters as they are all basically limited to ‘cameo’ appearances a la Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg in BvS. This applies to not only returning DCEU players like Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Connie Nielsen as Diana’s mother Queen Hippolyta but also newcomers like Mera, Queen of Atlantis (Amber Heard), and J.K. Simmons’ version of Commissioner Jim Gordon, characters that are clearly being intended to have more substantial roles in future films. And as for the main villain, Steppenwolf… he’s practically a non-existent threat. Despite Ciaran Hinds’ best efforts in the role, the character gets nothing of value to work with here; no backstory, no sense of what he’s trying to accomplish, no indication of his relationship to another famous DC comics antagonist (and future big bad of the DCEU) Darkseid, etc.  In other words, he’s one of the genre’s weakest villains ever.

So before any of the hardcore DCEU fans out there get on my case because of what I’ve said in this review, let me be perfectly clear; I didn’t outright ‘dislike’ Justice League. As I said before, when it focuses on its titular squad of superheroes, it does lead to some great character moments between them. At the same time, though, the overall execution is quite sloppy. While I do appreciate the efforts that were made by Zack Snyder and company to avoid delving into the dour tone that many felt plagued Batman v Superman, the film still suffers from having a rather inconsistent tone. And while the main leads are all solid in their respective roles, the plot is basic, the humor is hit or miss, and the main villain is pathetically weak. In short, a lot of this feels rushed, which arguably isn’t that surprising seeing how this came out only one year after Batman v Superman. And while both Snyder and Joss Whedon tried their best to fix some of the most glaring issues that people have had with previous DCEU installments (save for Wonder Woman), it just wasn’t enough to overcome the immense time crunch that they were both clearly under. With that said, though, if you’re a long-time fan of DC and these characters, I bet that you’ll probably be satisfied with this long-awaited live-action adaptation of arguably the most famous superhero team in all of pop culture… who, quite frankly, deserved a hell of a lot better than what is practically the DC equivalent of Fan4stic. I wish I was kidding about that comparison, but I’m not; granted, it’s nowhere near as bad as Fan4stic, but it too is a case of a studio trying to salvage a reportedly disastrous cut of their tent-pole release only to make things worse in the process.

Rating: 2.5/5 (So yeah, my streak of giving every major superhero film this year a 5/5 rating officially ends here. Still, despite my issues with Justice League, this has been one of the genre’s greatest years ever, which is something that will certainly be emphasized in my impending ‘Best Films of the Year’ list. But as for this film… well, as much as I hate to say it, it is most likely going to end up appearing on… the other list…)

Top 20 Most Anticipated Films of 2017: Part 1 (#20-11)

Well, folks, since we’re getting closer and closer to the end of the year, I figured that it was a good enough time for me to do my annual ‘Most Anticipated Films of Next Year’ list. I’ll admit that I’m always unsure about when I should post this because some of the films that I discuss in these lists tend to get pushed back a year. Some past examples of this happening to me included my 2014 list, when Tomorrowland was apparently still intended to be released that year, and 2015 when I put Jon Favreau’s remake of The Jungle Book as an Honorable Mention… and then it was pushed back to April of this year. Thankfully no instances of rescheduling have happened with any of the films that I put in last year’s list (yet…) but anyway, now it’s time to look ahead to 2017. And let me tell you… there’s quite a lot of exciting new films coming out next year. Heck, 2017’s film lineup is even more exciting than 2016’s lineup. And with that said, yes, as I’ve gone over before, there have been quite a few people on the internet who have been expressing disappointment towards a lot of this year’s film releases… but that’s another story. It’s time to look ahead at 2017 and like last year, I’ve managed to come up with not just a Top 10 but a full Top 20 list of my most anticipated films of 2017. From the newest superhero films to some very intriguing sequels, and yes even some original films are in there, you can bet that I’m excited for many of the films that will be hitting theaters next year. So, without further ado, this is Part 1 of my 2-part list of my Top 20 most anticipated films of 2017. Today I’ll be going over #20-11 but first, here are my Honorable Mentions…

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Instead of giving each of these five films their own heading, I’m just going to rattle them off here quickly. First, there’s the new reboot of Power Rangers (March 24^th). Not being a big fan of the Power Rangers franchise, despite technically being part of the generation that grew up with it, I don’t have much personal stake in this new film but I am generally curious as to how it’ll turn out. Will it be able to appeal to both long-time fans and newcomers to the franchise? Next up is the reboot of The Mummy (June 9^th), the recently-designated ‘first’ entry in Universal’s new line of monster films. It’s unclear at the moment as to how this planned ‘Cinematic Universe’ will pan out but this new take on The Mummy does sound interesting, especially considering the talent involved, including Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, and Sofia Boutella in the title role. Another reboot that I’m quite intrigued about is Jumanji (December 22^nd). For the record, this isn’t a remake of the 1995 film starring Robin Williams but is instead a sequel. I’m genuinely curious as to how it’ll connect with the original and if you ask me, you can’t go wrong with a film that stars people like Dwayne Johnson and Karen Gillan. Going into the horror genre for a moment, we have Alien: Covenant (May 19^th). Ridley Scott returns for another installment of the franchise that he helped start back in 1979 with this sequel to 2012’s Prometheus, which in turn was a prequel to the original Alien. While it will be centering on a new cast that includes the likes of Katherine Waterston and Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace will be reprising their roles from the previous film. Will this new film answer some of the unanswered questions that people had after watching Prometheus? We’ll just have to wait and see. And finally, there’s The Greatest Showman (December 25^th). Hugh Jackman will star as P.T. Barnum, who was a co-founder of what would eventually become the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus. As someone who has many fond memories of going to see this circus as a kid whenever it came to Rhode Island, I’m definitely interested in seeing its origins represented on film. The film will also star Zac Efron, Rebecca Ferguson, and Michelle Williams.

And now we move on to the Top 20 and boy do we have a rather controversial film to start things off at #20.

20. TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT (JUNE 23^RD)

Yes, folks, you’re reading this right… I’m genuinely looking forward to the fifth entry in the highly maligned live-action Transformers franchise. I’m not afraid to admit that I am a big fan of all four of the previous films in the series. I still argue that the first one is actually really good even after everything that happened with its sequels. And yes, I still like the much critically derided sequels, including the second and fourth films which were some of the worst-reviewed films of their respective years. Sure they’re really nothing more than mindless CGI-heavy action films but I still find them to be really entertaining popcorn flicks nevertheless. So with that in mind, I’m still interested in seeing this franchise continue, which it will do so next year with Transformers: The Last Knight. Michael Bay, of course, returns to direct and this will supposedly be his last Transformers film. Though with that said, he said the exact same thing after the third film and yet he ended up doing a fourth one so who knows? Mark Wahlberg will be returning as Cade Yeager along with Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce, both of whom made their series debuts in the fourth film, Age of Extinction. The film will also see Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson return to the franchise as Lennox and Epps, who appeared in the original trilogy but were both absent from Age of Extinction. Like I said before, I’m very much well aware that this will probably be just as mindless as the other Transformers films. But with that said, if it is anything like those films, I’m probably going to like it anyway. Plus, I’m just curious about some of the recent reveals surrounding the film, like how it’s apparently going to involve King Arthur and even Nazis. Yes, you read that right… this new Transformers film is going to include King Arthur and Nazis. I won’t lie, folks… at this point, I’m just eagerly curious to see just what the hell they’re going to do with all of this. The only question, though, is this; will those who aren’t fans of the franchise finally get the damn hint and not go see this new film if they don’t like this series that much?  

Thought #20 was controversial? Wait until you see #19.

19. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES (MAY 26^TH)

And now we move on to another franchise that hasn’t really fared well critically when it comes to its most recent installments; Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Still, I’ll admit that I’m looking forward to the upcoming fifth installment, Dead Men Tell No Tales. Johnny Depp, of course, returns as the eccentric pirate Jack Sparrow as he tries to find the Trident of Poseidon to combat an old foe, the ghostly pirate Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem). Geoffrey Rush returns as Hector Barbossa while Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario debut as new characters named Henry and Carina. But perhaps the most interesting development of this new film in terms of its cast will be the return of Orlando Bloom as Will Turner, who was last seen as the new captain of the Flying Dutchman at the end of the third film, At World’s End. Sadly, Keira Knightley won’t be returning alongside him as Elizabeth. So, as I noted before, the recent Pirates films haven’t fared as well critically with both critics and audiences when compared to the first film back in 2003, one of the surprise critical/commercial hits of that year. Basically, the main reason why has been due to the common criticism that the series tends to get really overcomplicated at times with its plots. Will this be the case with the new film? Who knows? But, with a new screenwriter and a new pair of directors in Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, directors of 2012’s Norwegian Oscar-nominated Kon-Tiki, perhaps this one will change things up a bit. The recently released first trailer does grab your attention by way of its excellent visuals and rather a dark atmosphere. Ultimately, though, it’s unclear if this will be as big of a box-office hit as the previous Pirates films given that this is the fifth installment of the series. But, at the same time, considering that two of the four films have grossed over a billion, I have the feeling that this one will still be another sizable commercial hit for the franchise.

With the next two films on this list, we have the one-two punch that is Pixar’s next two animated features. The first is the one that’ll be released later in the year but it is still shaping up to be an excellent entry in the studio’s filmography.

18. COCO (NOVEMBER 22^ND)

Of the two Pixar films that are coming out in 2017, I have the feeling that the one that most fans are looking forward to more is the one with an original story. That film is Coco, a story that takes inspiration from Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebration. Not much is known about this one yet other than the fact that it’ll revolve around a young boy named Miguel who uncovers a mystery involving his family that’s been unsolved for a century. In the director’s chair is Lee Unkrich, who’s been involved with Pixar since the original Toy Story. He helped co-direct Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo before he was promoted to the position of primary director for 2010’s Toy Story 3, and we all know how that turned out for him. The film grossed over a billion at the box-office, won another Best Animated Feature Oscar for the studio, and was also the third animated film after Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Pixar’s own Up to be nominated for Best Picture. So clearly Pixar’s got one heck of a talented team working on this film, one that is 100% certain to produce some absolutely gorgeous visuals based around Day of the Dead. So, with all of that said, why then is it only at number 18 on this list? Well like I said before, it’s only because we haven’t seen any form of ‘footage’ yet and don’t know much else about it aside from the aforementioned synopsis. After all, we are still more than a year away from its release. Trust me though when I say that I am super excited to see this film, as I’ve always been for Pixar films. It’s just that I’m not one of those folks on the internet who is constantly pressuring the studio to do more original films after they did a few sequels. Speaking of Pixar sequels…

Oh boy, I’m going to get so much flak for putting this above Coco…

17. CARS 3 (JUNE 16^TH)

So why is this film, a Pixar sequel, ranked above an original story Pixar film, you ask? Well, like I said before, it’s only because we haven’t seen much from Coco yet. Granted, we haven’t seen much from Cars 3 either (aside from a recently released teaser that I’ll talk about in a bit) but being that it’s the third entry of that franchise and it’s coming out earlier in the year, we do know a bit more about it than we do with Coco at this moment. Anyway, the Cars franchise has been more of a commercial success for Pixar than it has been a critical one. It’s definitely been one of Disney’s biggest franchises in terms of merchandising, having amassed over $10 billion in sales. As for the films, though, critical reception has been a bit more mixed. The first Cars film, at the very least, did fine with critics. Granted it wasn’t as critically acclaimed as the studio’s other films but it still did fairly well at around a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The second film, however… was the company’s first negatively received film. It got to the point where some people treated it like it was a criminal offense. How dare Pixar make an animated film that wasn’t a complete 15/10 masterpiece? I’m not kidding, people actually made that analogy online. And now as a result, whenever a Pixar film doesn’t get at least a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (e.g. Brave, Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur), it’s immediately seen as a disappointment. But in Pixar’s defense, from what I’ve heard the second Cars film was a bit rushed because of the pressure to be finished by its planned release date. And while I’ve only seen it once, I remember liking it okay.

So, with that said, I do believe that Cars 3 does have the potential to redeem the film franchise. After Cars 2 took a major detour story-wise by going on a world tour and having a rather random subplot involving secret agents, Cars 3 is set to return to the series’ roots of celebrating small-town Americana. The film is being directed by Brian Fee and while this is his first film as a director, he’s been involved with Pixar, and most importantly the Cars franchise, for quite a long time as a storyboard artist. Many of the main characters of the franchise will no doubt be returning in this film, including main protagonist Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson). Per the film’s currently released premise, at this point, McQueen is now a racing veteran who must now contend with a new generation of racers to prove that he’s still one of the best. You can most certainly sense that from the film’s first teaser, which strikes an effective emotional chord by showcasing what will surely be a devastating crash that Lightning is involved in. So, in short, as I stated earlier, the Cars franchise isn’t as well-liked as some of Pixar’s other franchises, especially after Cars 2 was so critically derided. But, also like I said before, I think that this new Cars film does have the potential to at least be an improvement over the previous film, especially since, from a story perspective, it’s going to be more like the first film, which I do think is underrated. And while I do have the feeling that Coco will probably be the better-received of Pixar’s two 2017 releases, I’m still very much looking forward to the continuing adventures of Lightning McQueen and company.

Ride or die…

16. FAST 8 (APRIL 14^TH)

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that the Fast and Furious franchise will soon be releasing its eighth (!) installment. Who’d thought that a franchise that originally started all the way back in 2001 would still be going strong today more than one and a half decades later? Not only that, but this is one of the rare cases in which the sequels increasingly got better and better, namely the ones directed by Justin Lin. Fast Five and Fast and Furious 6 were the first installments of the franchise to perform solidly with critics and both films were huge hits at the box-office. And then there was Furious 7. James Wan took over as director and the film managed to become the first of the franchise to gross over a billion. Though of course, part of that was no doubt due to the film being the send-off of star Paul Walker, who tragically passed away in a car accident before filming was complete. But this series isn’t over yet and now we’ve got Fast 8, which will take Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his crew to New York. Once again they’ll contend with Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw as well as a new villain played by Charlize Theron. Once again there’s a change in director but the new director is quite promising; F. Gary Gray, who’s coming off of 2015’s hit biopic Straight Outta Compton. And from what I hear, this new film is going to shift focus in terms of ‘genre’. While the first few Fast and Furious films were simple street-racing stories, Fast Five shifted gears (no pun intended) and became a heist film. But as for this new film, it will apparently be more along the lines of a spy caper. And for the record, yes, you never go into these films for the plot but still, it’s going to be interesting to see what they’re going to do next in terms of action. Pair that with the always excellent camaraderie of the main cast and you’ve got what is sure to be another big hit for the franchise.

The one and only Edgar Wright will have a new film out next year. And it lands the #15 spot on this list.

15. BABY DRIVER (AUGUST 11^TH)

Edgar Wright is a filmmaker who needs no introduction. He’s given us some of the funniest comedies of the past few years, namely his Cornetto Trilogy; 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, 2007’s Hot Fuzz, and 2013’s The World’s End. While all three films are different in terms of genre, with the only real ‘connection’ between them being the appearance of Cornetto ice cream in one way or another, they’re all excellent send-ups of their respective genres; zombie films, buddy cop action films, and sci-fi films. Of course, as we all know he almost directed Ant-Man for Marvel Studios last year but he ended up dropping out due to creative differences. And you know what? I think that it’s actually a good thing that this happened. It allows Wright to have full creative control over his work instead of having to deal with a ‘creative committee’, which was still in effect at Marvel Studios at the time. And this will certainly be the case with his new film, Baby Driver. Described as a crime drama that was apparently inspired by an old music video that Wright made back in 2003 for the band Mint Royale, the film will center around a young, silent getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) as he ends up partaking in a heist gone wrong. The film will also star Lily James as the driver’s girlfriend, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm as members of a gang of bank robbers, and Kevin Spacey as a crime boss. Music will also no doubt play a huge part in the film as the main character Baby is being described as ‘music-obsessed’ and I’m excited to see what kind of soundtrack Wright comes up with for the film. But of course, at the end of the day, the main selling point of the film is the fact that it’ll be another film from the master of ‘visual’ comedy, Edgar Wright.

As Harry Hart once said, “Manners. Maketh. Man”.

14. KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (OCTOBER 6^TH)

Matthew Vaughn gave us one of the most entertaining films of 2015 in the form of Kingsman: The Secret Service. Based on the comic series of the same name by Mark Millar about a young delinquent who is recruited into a spy organization, the film was a stylish ode to the classic spy films of the 60’s (e.g. the Bond films) complete with awesome action and a great cast. And next year will see the release of a sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Matthew Vaughn returns to direct and the major players of the first film will return to reprise their roles, including Taron Egerton as ‘Eggsy’, Mark Strong as ‘Merlin’, and… Colin Firth as Harry Hart? Yes, despite being (SPOILERS!) killed off by Samuel L. Jackson’s Valentine in the previous film, Firth will be back for this film in some as-of-yet unknown form. Did he fake his death? After all, one of the teaser posters (featured above) is an image of a pair of glasses that Hart wore in the first film (with one of the lenses taken out) that are positioned in front of a quote saying that “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” At this point, who knows? Anyway, the film will see Eggsy and co. heading to America, where they’ll be teaming up with their US counterparts, the Statesmen. New additions to the cast include Halle Berry and Channing Tatum as Statesman agents, Jeff Bridges as the head of Statesman, and Julianne Moore as the new main villain. I absolutely loved Kingsman: The Secret Service so you can bet that I’m excited to see another installment of this stylish spy thriller franchise.

My #13 pick is one of the biggest question marks of 2017’s film lineup. However, I’m still rooting for it to succeed despite the odds that are currently against it.

13. JUSTICE LEAGUE (NOVEMBER 17^TH)

I still have hope, folks, which I know is something that’s rather questionable at the moment for many people after DC’s two 2016 releases, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, both performed horribly with critics and were generally polarizing amongst audiences as well. However, I’m confident that their 2017 output will fare much better, especially now that Geoff Johns has taken over control of the franchise. In other words, he’s become DC’s ‘Kevin Feige’ and that will no doubt help the DC Extended Universe moving forward. And sure, Zack Snyder is still back as the director but I have faith in him to succeed with this long-awaited adaptation of DC’s iconic superhero team, the Justice League. The first ‘trailer’ that was released during Comic-Con showed off a different kind of film compared to Batman v Superman. Instead of being a generally serious/dark superhero flick, this new film looks much more light-hearted in tone as primarily seen in some of the interactions between characters, like when Batman and Wonder Woman discuss the former’s rather failed attempt to recruit Aquaman and with Bruce Wayne’s first encounter with Barry Allen AKA The Flash. Newcomers Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller (though I use the term ‘newcomers’ loosely because they both cameoed in BvS) are also shaping up to be excellent new additions to the cast as Aquaman and the Flash, respectively. Granted this change in tone doesn’t mean that this new film is trying to be exactly like the films of Marvel Studios but it certainly looks like the filmmakers are, at the very least, aware of the problems that people had with BvS (the theatrical cut, at least). It may be unclear at the moment if DC will be able to turn their luck around with both this and their other 2017 film (which, spoilers, will be appearing in Part 2 of this list) but I’m still confident that they’ll be able to make it work with Justice League. I may be a bigger fan of the MCU but I genuinely want Justice League to succeed just as much as everyone else.   

One of the most iconic castings of the superhero film genre will be back for one last go in this, my #12 pick.

12. LOGAN (MARCH 3^RD)

Hugh Jackman is Wolverine; no doubt about it. Ever since he was first cast in the original X-Men film back in 2000, he’s become one of the most successful superhero casting choices of all-time. He quickly became the most popular character in the franchise, even if it did come at the occasional expense of other characters’ development, and has appeared in every X-Men film to date, even if it was just for an awesome cameo like in First Class and Apocalypse. But with his next X-Men film and the third Wolverine spin-off, Logan, this will be Jackman’s final turn in the title role. James Mangold returns to direct this film after helming the second spin-off, 2013’s The Wolverine. And just like how that film was based on an iconic Wolverine storyline of the same name from the comics, this one will also be inspired by another big Wolverine-centered storyline, one that I bet a lot of fans have been waiting to see done on the big-screen; Old Man Logan. For those unfamiliar with this storyline from 2008 written by Mark Millar, it’s basically Wolverine’s Dark Knight Returns as it centers on him years into the future. Plus, while the last Wolverine film grappled with going all-out as an R-rated Wolverine film, though ultimately it only did so in the form of the Extended Cut which was released when the film hit home video, by all accounts it appears that this will be the R-rated Wolverine film that fans have been waiting for.

They recently released the first trailer for the film and I must say that it looks fantastic. One of the best things about director James Mangold’s superhero films is that they’re more than just ‘superhero films’. The Wolverine, being set primarily in Japan, featured a lot of great Japanese elements in it. In the case of Logan, it’s clear that he’s going for something out of a western. And you can totally see that in the trailer, especially with the use of a Johnny Cash song, ‘Hurt’, a fitting choice seeing how Mangold directed the Johnny Cash Biopic Walk the Line in 2005. The story, set years in the future where it’s established that something happened to most of the mutant population (possibly because of Wolverine as deduced by the line “Logan, what did you do?”), sees Wolverine and Professor X (again played by Patrick Stewart in what will no doubt be his final turn in the role as well) having to protect a young girl named Laura (known in the comics as Wolverine’s clone, X-23) from a group known as the Reavers. Now despite what I said earlier, it’s becoming clear that this isn’t a direct adaptation of Old Man Logan. But, to be fair, it’s hard to do an adaptation of that now given the appearances of characters who are currently over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But, as someone who isn’t a big comic reader, I’m not bothered by this. Really, it’s the overall execution of the film itself that matters the most. And thanks to an international red-band trailer, we can now rest easy knowing that the film will indeed be R-rated and that the filmmakers are truly going ‘all-out’ with this one. But at the end of the day, I must say that this first trailer really delivers in terms of hitting you on an emotional level. And that’s a feeling that I bet a lot of people will have when we go to see this; the last go for one of the greatest leads in the history of the superhero film genre. It’s going to be an emotional rollercoaster.

And closing out the lower half of the Top 20 is the latest film from Ben Affleck. Director Ben Affleck, to be more precise…

11. LIVE BY NIGHT (JANUARY 13^TH)

While Ben Affleck is currently pre-occupied with being the DCEU’s Batman, 2017 will see the release of his latest directorial effort, his first since he won Best Picture for his 2012 film, Argo. Despite having only directed three films to date, Affleck’s proven himself to be one of the top directors in the industry thanks to 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, 2010’s The Town, and Argo. For his newest film, Affleck takes on his second adaptation of a story by author Dennis Lehane after Gone Baby Gone; Live by Night. Affleck stars as Joe Coughlin, the son of a Boston police captain who moves to Florida and ends up becoming a gangster. The film also stars Zoe Saldana as Coughlin’s girlfriend, Sienna Miller as his mistress, and Brendan Gleeson as his father along with Elle Fanning, Chris Cooper, and Chris Messina. I should probably note, though, that even though this film’s current wide release date is January 13^th, 2017, it will see a limited release this Christmas, effectively qualifying it for this year’s awards circuit. So, technically, that would mean that this is a 2016 film… so why then is it in this ‘Most Anticipated of 2017’ list? Well, simply put, I had first made this list before this film got its limited release date. Plus, I don’t know just yet if I’m going to be able to see this film before the year’s through so for now, it stays on this list. But, regardless of when I see it, it’s safe to say that I am really excited to see Affleck’s next directorial effort.

And that concludes Part 1 of my Top 20 Most Anticipated Films of 2017 list. Thanks for following along and be sure to come back tomorrow when I post Part 2 and list my Top 10.