JL Failure, and What the DCEU Should Do?

It's been a week since it released, and "Justice League" has just barely grossed $30 million past its budget. It's still not enough for Warner Bros. to break even, because it would need to make $700 million to break even, and that's not even counting the marketing. Considering their previous entries (except Wonder Woman and Man of Steel) and seeing the film for myself, it's not surprising that their third superhero team-up movie turned out to be as big a disappointment. And with how they ended up pulling some of their future films off the schedule, all while pushing for Wonder Woman 2 for a November 2019 release, it was only a matter of time before they realized they messed up badly. Whether it's because of directors dropping out for reshoots, putting too much into one, cutting out characters or important moments, Warner Bros. has dug themselves into a deeper hole than they did last year. Even DC fans are having a "Phantom Menace" realization that what the studio is doing is messing everything up.

Now the question remains, where will they go from here? Well, here's what I would suggest: don't do a reboot. Marvel Studios has been in this position before, when they started rushing "Iron Man 2" after "The Incredible Hulk" was a box office disappointment, mixed in with issues happening with Edward Norton behind the scenes. "Iron Man 2" is a very mixed bag, but you have to at least thank that movie for helping keep Marvel Studios going, so they could get to "Thor," "Captain America: The First Avenger," and the box office juggernaut that was "The Avengers." Since then, Marvel has been making hundred million dollar successes, even with their weaker installments.

A while back, I remembered reading something that my brother's friend was discussing about how the "X-Men" franchise was able to pull itself out of the grave after the back-to-back failures that were "X3" and "Origins: Wolverine." Later, we got "X-Men: The Beginnings Trilogy," which has been relatively successful, and fixed the problems that those films made, without going complete reboot. Not only that, but they gave us "Deadpool," which went on to be the highest grossing R rated film of all time, with a sequel coming out next summer. They also have their horror installment, "The New Mutants," scheduled for April, and it so far looks pretty good. Or hell, look at "Logan," which wasn't much of a superhero film than it was a family western drama; it was both a financial and critical success, with some people saying it might even get potential Oscar recognition. Not only were the "X-Men" films getting back on their feet, they began trying new things.

We've seen what happens when too many reboots are constantly thrown at audiences, thanks to meddling from companies like Universal and Sony. Earlier this year, Universal's THIRD attempt at a universe franchise with "The Mummy" sank faster than it could even start, and it's key writer, Alex Kurtzman, left afterwards. "The Amazing Spiderman" films, whether you like them or not, they were box office successes, despite some fans constantly bitching and barely even giving them a chance. Every Spiderman film has at least grossed $700 million each, those two included, so Sony could have easily continued on. However, after the North Korean hacking and executive meddling from then CEO, Amy Pascal, they got cold feet and had to strike a deal with Marvel to keep afloat, but that's a whole other can of worms entirely.

What I'm suggesting is that DC needs to accept what they have, move on, and try to improve upon it. I want more of Henry Cavill's Superman, Ben Affleck's Batman, and especially Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman; and after "Justice League," I want more of Jason Mamoa's Aquaman, and I'm hoping his film next year will be like what happened with "Wonder Woman." If they do want to do a reboot, then they should just do what "X-Men" did, and just go for time travel and parallel universes, something DC has been known to do. They had planned on doing a "Flash" movie, possibly adapting the "Flashpoint" storyline, so they always have that option opened, if they can find a director that will stay with them. This would allow their stand-alone Joker film to actually work, because we would be introduced to a whole new world altogether.

Also, most importantly, they should STOP DOING SUPERHERO TEAM MOVIES! Seriously, I'm so sick and tired of these people forcing big superhero team movies to happen; for the most part, they have too many big stars to focus on, barely anyone gets a chance to shine in the spotlight, aside from two or three popular ones, and that's it. "BVS," "Suicide Squad," "Justice League," or that "Gotham Sirens" movie they announced, it has never turned out for the better. A lot of people like to point out "The Avengers" as the best example, and while I do like both movies, especially with how they know to PROPERLY build up a big team such as this, they're not films I would consider to be the best of the MCU, let alone the best superhero movies of all time. One of the reasons I didn't like "Captain America: Civil War" as much as the other two, was because it felt more like an "Avengers" movie, only focusing too much on the superhero battle part, and giving us not only an unnecessary villain, but one of the worst comic book movie villains, if not THE worst. Even with the "X-Men," a franchise BUILT around a team, only one or two of them that focused on the entire team was done right. "Guardians of the Galaxy" is probably the best example I can think of, where a superhero team movie can be done right, and both films are my favorites in the MCU. However, I doubt that's what DC is going to be doing...it's kind of sad, really.

Suburbicon

            As the new millennium began, we began to see the rise of a new kind of George Clooney, from the perspective of the director’s chair. It came to a start with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind in 2002, showing how he handles big historical events on screen, and that he can blend genres into a darky comedic fashion. Not only that, but with films like O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Hail, Caesar!, he’s also established a good relationship with the Coen Brothers, so much so that Clooney was given the task to direct one of their scripts: Suburbicon. Before we do get to talking about this, let me just be upfront and say this; if I was to ever do a completely separate list of the most DISAPPOINTING films I’ve seen this year, I guarantee you this would be in the Top 3.

            From what the trailers had given, you’d figure it’d be about Matt Damon playing a 1950’s father, who has connections with the mob and takes them all down…that’s not what the plot is, sadly. Now, films having false advertising isn’t anything new, but maybe what the film really is could still be good, right? Again, no, sadly. In fact, I’m not quite sure how to describe the plot, because it feels like it was trying to be so many different things, that it’s quite baffling. Apparently, Matt Damon hired the mob to ax his wife, so he and his wife’s twin sister can collect insurance money, send his son to boarding school, and run away to have an affair in Aruba…oh, and a black family is struggling with a racist neighborhood.

Yeah, do you see what I mean about this film being a mess? At times it wants to be a crime comedy, other times it’s a comedic thriller, then it’s a historical politics movie, and…it just gets so confusing, like it was several different scripts put together. And apparently, that’s not far from the truth. A friend told me that the film’s script was apparently a compilation between two completely different films: one was a film about black people who lived in a white 50s suburb, and the other was the Coen Brothers script about a boring dad gone bad with the mob. Sure, sometimes it can work, but here it just feels messy. I mean, I kind of get how one could see it working, having the anger building up from the white mob being a metaphor for Matt Damon losing his patience with those interfering with his plans, but it just doesn’t work. It felt like it needed a third point of view to do a re-write or take over as director, but something needed a different view to make this work. A script is the first thing that needs to come into play before a film can be made, and I don’t understand how ANYONE thought the draft they used was good enough here.

It’s a real damn shame, because almost everything else in this film very well made. Clooney is a damn good director, and even with lesser films like this, it still looks like a great deal of effort went into it. The town of Suburicon does have that familiar but haunting feel to it, with how perfect almost everything looks to these people. And the acting is really good too; Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Gary Basaraba, Noah Jupe, Oscar Isaac, Glenn Fleshler, they’re all fantastic here. They all have great timing, especially with making the serious moments odd but quirky and funny. It’s just that this film’s plot is poorly cobbled together, that it also ruins any of the upcoming jokes you can see coming a mile away.

This was really upsetting, because with the kind of talent they have a part of this, I’m left asking “how?” Suburbicon should have been a success, but I guess it doesn’t matter how big your talent is, not everything can be bullseyes. And considering how this film is bombing as badly as it is, both critically and financially, I finally understand; it’s just a bad movie. Is it one of the worst films I’ve seen this year? No, I’ve seen far, FAR, worse.

Rating: D+