The reviews for Justice League are in, and they’re not super.
Our own Mike Ryan called DC’s The Moody Avengers a CGI-drenched “drag,” which is one of the nicer things critics have said about the film, based on the 43% score it’s currently rocking on Rotten Tomatoes. (That’s well below Wonder Woman‘s 92%, but comfortably above Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad‘s 27% and 26%, respectively.) Even Justice League‘s uncredited director Joss Whedon, who took over when Zack Snyder dropped out following the tragic death of his daughter, is an accused “hater.”
Whedon “liked” multiple tweets from Vanity Fair writer Joanna Robinson criticizing the film’s villain, Steppenwolf. “#JusticeLeague’s Steppenwolf is the worst comic book movie villain of all time,” she wrote, “and not even Malekith the Accursed comes close.” I had to Google which movie Malekith the Accursed was in, and I like Thor: The Dark World. Anyway. The Firefly creator liked Robinson’s tweet, as well as a follow-up where she listed superior cinematic Big Bads like The Dark Knight‘s Joker and X-Men‘s Magneto.
A Twitter user then responded to Robinson’s tweets, saying that Steppenwolf is reminiscent of Tim Curry in 1985’s Legend, to which Robinson replied, “Me too and that only made it worse because Tim Curry is the BUSINESS in Legend.” (Whedon liked that tweet as well.) (Via)
Whedon is probably liking the tweets ironically, but that’s not how many defensive DC fans are taking it. “Zack Snyder trusted you to complete his vision on Justice League,” one Twitter user wrote, “but all you could do is like tweets that mock the movie and sexualize the f*ck out of Wonder Woman once you got hold of the reins. Zack Snyder didn’t deserve any of this. You’re pathetic. Bye.” Another added, “I have a theory that Joss Whedon was in #JusticeLeague for money, and doesn’t actually care about the film, or it’s fans, and his latest liked tweet debacle has proven that to be likely.”
Others have a slightly different take.
https://twitter.com/_jasontodds/status/931018415636123648
I buy it.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)