As a movie lover, I rarely leave a theater disappointed. Justice League was a movie I was excited to see because the actors were a perfect fit for their roles and the trailers made the movie seem fun and playful, unlike the dark, grungy moods of previous DC films. Before watching Justice League I thought there could be no movie I genuinely dislike (let alone hate), but the utter regret and disappointment I felt after watching this movie surprised me. Sure, the DC movie franchise hasn’t had a good reputation lately, The Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman as examples, but I wanted to give Justice League a chance, especially because I loved Wonder Woman so much. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was to be this disappointed. How they managed to mess up a movie so bad when they had the perfect cast still confuses me. Overall, Justice League was very unsatisfactory, ranging from the lazy characterization to the obviously fake CGI, that I’m not surprised by the 40% it received on rotten tomatoes.

The movie begins after doomsday (an event previously visited in Batman vs Superman) where Superman’s (Henry Cavill) casket is shown being buried in the ground. Inspired by Superman’s sacrifice for humanity, Batman (Ben Affleck) assembles a team of superheroes with the help of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in order to defeat the looming threat of Steppenwolf, a demon trying to gather the Mother Boxes and destroy the world. Sounds simple, right? Usually I don’t mind simple plots, especially when it comes to superhero movies, but this was resemblant of a child’s cartoon. Justice League can be summarized in a simple sentence: a bad guy is trying to destroy the world and a group of superheroes needs to stop him. Yes, this is reminiscent of many Marvel movies as well, but what Marvel does better than DC is filling the simplicity with complexly written characters and stunning visual effects. Justice League did the complete opposite.

To begin with, the characters were so one-dimensional that it was hard for me not to laugh at the script (the bad one-liners didn’t help either). Not only that, but the directors managed to completely ruin Batman’s character, something I thought was impossible to do. The Batman we see in the Dark Knight series makes Justice League’s Batman look like a cheap knock-off version you would buy from the dollar store. They took a rich, in-depth character full of potential and made him into an underdeveloped, almost depressing version of the Batman we all know and love. Not to mention Cyborg (Ray Fisher), who’s only characteristic was that he’s “mysterious.” So mysterious, in fact, that we didn’t learn anything about him. His backstory, if you would even call it that, was rushed and basic, his character not relatable in the least bit. Frankly, the movie could have removed him and I wouldn’t have even noticed. The Flash, played by one of my favorite actors Ezra Miller, was completely botched as well, reduced to the comic relief; the only problem was that his jokes weren’t funny. Aquaman (Jason Momoa) was okay; he had a few good lines and some of his action sequences were visually appealing, but other than that, there is no doubt the directors relied far too heavily on the decades of familiarity people have with the DC heroes. They thought they could get away with flat characters under the assumption that the audience would fill in the gaps, but they didn’t succeed.

The saving grace of this movie was Wonder Woman, and it’s safe to say the directors knew it as well. She was featured in almost every scene and I considered her the main character of the movie. The only parts I enjoyed in this movie were scenes with her at her birthplace, the Amazon. The scenery is depicted beautifully and the action scenes, although tragic, were perfectly executed. That’s about it, though. The CGI in the rest of the movie was terribly done, most notably in Aquaman’s underwater kingdom. It was so obvious it was filmed with just a green screen, even to me, someone who doesn’t have the slightest clue how the special effects process is done. The villain, Steppenwolf, looks like he came straight out of a video game, as well as the mecha-suits of Cyborg and The Flash.

Overall, Justice League was a very unsatisfactory movie, completed with disappointing characterization and unrealistic CGI. I would recommend this to people who want to sit down and watch a movie where they don’t have to think about anything; in other words, don’t waste your money on this movie unless you are looking to be let down.