Justice League of America

There have been many comic book adaptations, some successful, some not so. This film unfortunately fits into the latter. It feels like it wants to succeed and certainly its heart is in the right place, but it ultimately falls short of it's targets. The characterisation seems to be to create a variety of characters and not necessarily stay faithful to how they were portrayed in the orignal comics- the Flash and Green Lantern particularly so. However, Fire, The Atom and The Martian Manhunter are very much like their comic-book counterparts and are enjoyable to watch. The costumes are also of the highest standard, remaining extremely faithful to their four-color origins. The villain of the piece, Miguel Ferrer's "Weatherman", is indicative of the constraints of the budget and so doesn't present a foe that seems to need the entire JLA to defeat. The plot, driven by the Weatherman and the origin of "Ice" (again, changed to fit the film's format) also reflect the fact its a TV pilot. The most annoying part of the film is the constant "vox-pops" by the Leaguers that intersect the main story- they are neither necessary or that interesting, but do seek to humanise the characters more, helping to show them as a disfunctional family rather than, say, a police force. One can't help but think that were this given a greater canvas to work on, it would have been spectacular, but, as is too often the case, budget and TV guidelines stopped it from being what it should have been. Still, if you want to see some fun super-hero action and big-names working together, seek this out.