Justice League of America

Not only was this filmed on a shoe-string budget with cheap costumes and special effects, it betrays both comic book fans and movie buffs equally.

The JLA characterizations are horrible. To catalog all of the mistakes would take more time than this awful show is worth. Just to name one good example: a couple of characters (Fire and Guy Gardner) who actually hate each other in the comics were said to have dated previously.

It appears that somebody tried to fool the audience into thinking they had seen a more exciting show than they really had: major action sequences were never shown but instead reported (sans footage) by the evening news.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF America (1+ outta 5 stars) Really dreadful live-action version of the DC comic... the popular humorous 90s version written by J. M. DeMatties and Keith Giffen. The movie might be entertaining for 9-year-olds but fans of the comics are going to be awfully disappointed in this misbegotten abortion. Almsot everything that could be done wrong, is! The actors are all terrible with the exception of Kimberly Oja as a newbie who gets initiated into the team after a freak accident gives her the power of... making things cold... oooooh! She kind of reminds me of Stephnie Weir from Mad TV. Miguel Ferrer and David Ogden Stiers (as J'Onn J'Onzz Martian Manhunter of all people!) are pretty much the only "names" in the cast and they are totally wasted. The characterizations of the familiar DC heroes (Flash, Green Lantern and The Atom) are embarrassing... but not nearly as much so as the dreadful costumes! Green Lantern's suit isn't even green, for crying out loud... it's some kinda pale blue! The dialogue is written in the same humorous style as the 90s incarnation of The Justice League... but the actual lines used are so incredibly LAME! (To tell the truth, the script is probably no worse than that of the recent "Fantastic Four" movie... which is the most backhanded of compliments, believe me.) And what is up with the female heroes chosen for this team? Fire? Ice? If they are DC Comics characters at all, they are very minor ones. (I sure don't remember ever seeing them in the comics.) I understand that rights issues probably kept them from using Wonder Woman... but surely they could have used some *actual* female JLA members? Black Canary? Zatanna? Well, the movie is bad enough to be amusing to those who like bad movies... but that's about it.

Forget the fact that this was a pilot. It was awful. The costumes were ridiculous. Most of the acting was poop. The plot was...more poop. Miguel Ferrer was his typical self, which is good and Fire was a babe, but none of that was enough to salvage a very bad story and the bad idea of a friends/thirtysomething twist to crimefighting.

Bad.

Hell, it ain't even your father's. Or your older brother's. Or even yours! The team chosen was a composite of second-string characters (minus the Flash) and missing the big 3; Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Of course, anyone who reads the comics will also notice that the League's origin is completely different.

Of course, changes had to be made to adapt it to TV, the budget and make it accessible to new viewers. But, this wasn't anything special. Basically, the movie is your typical 90s superhero TV fare with a predictable plot, cheesy costumes and only halfway decent acting. Basically, it was a buddy movie with powers.

Well. I thought Kim Oja was good. The rest of the movie was barely watchable.

I am a comics collector. This movie did not have much to do with the comics that inspired it. If it had been based on Keith Giffen's run, where was the Blue Beetle? Where was the wacky humor? Why did they use a personality-amputated Guy Gardner as Green Lantern (whose costume, idiotically, was blue)? Why was the Flash (who wasn't in Giffen's run) such a bonehead?

The characters in this pilot acted like they virtually didn't like each other. Their costumes were pretty damn silly, esp. Atom's. The villain didn't seem to have any motivation. The story was semi-coherent, unengaging and holey (what was Arliss' project, that he kept trying to draw attention to?). Maybe I missed some details, I dunno. But that's because they were eminently missable.

Still, since there is such a lack of superhero movies around, I'll be generous and award this a 5 out of 10 rating.