Justice League

Following the cataclysmic climax to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, this epic DC equivalent to Marvel's Avengers Assemble sees Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in search of the supers briefly glimpsed in that 2016 film, as something cosmically wicked this way comes. The usual comic-book elements are here: the gathering of the team - Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher); a quest to find three powerful boxes before a demonic horde led by horned baddie Steppenwolf (a rubbery-looking CGI construct voiced by Ciarán Hinds); and battles and fallouts aplenty. However, the contrast with Marvel's rollicking fantasies still remains: an overreliance on CGI, a somewhat disjointed narrative and a pall of gloom. At least when the heroes get down to the business of battering bad guys, these shortcomings are parked - the dust-up in Metropolis between a nascent League and one familiar adversary is a doozy. Indeed, there are some green shoots for the DC Universe: Miller's nebbish-like Flash is amusingly gauche; Momoa plays the Atlantean trident-wielder as a surly surfer that he has continued in his hit solo outing; and Gadot proves Wonder Woman was no flash in the pan (her terrorist-tackling entrance is electrifying). And what of Henry Cavill's Man of Steel? Well, that would be telling.