DC Saturdays #19 - Justice League of America (1997)

The road of pre-millennial superhero films is littered with TV movies which were a testing ground for potential television series but bit the dust after the pilot because people realised they weren't really very good. On the Marvel side, we had the ill-fated X-Men Jr spin-off "Generation X" and the Hoff-starring "Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD" while DC gave us a trio of "Flash" films followed by 1997's "Justice League of America" which aired as a pilot but didn't get any further after savage reviews. Incidentally, this review is not to be confused with the 2017 "Justice League" film - that's a whole other bucket of anguish for another time...

The joke going round about this film was that it trying to be "Friends" with superheroes and the main plot featured five superheroes (the Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, Fire and Ice) co-habiting and working regular jobs by day and going out and fighting crime by night. Yup, I know, it doesn't exactly sound very promising from that description but sometimes good superhero films spring from less than promising initial premises so who knows, maybe this is one of those times, let's find out. (Spoiler alert btw - it isn't). Also, apologies for the poor quality of the screenshots here, they were taken from a Youtube file (seemingly taped off Channel 5!) rather than a DVD I'm afraid.

The film starts with the five JLA members introduced via talking head sequences (which occur regularly throughout the film - I appreciate that these are supposed to be a case of taking the format outside the box but it kind of makes it all feel a bit low-rent somehow, as if it's a docusoap rather than a superhero film). Tori (Ice) works as a meteorologist and as of the start of the film has yet to develop her superhero powers, Barry (Flash) is between jobs and has just moved in with the other three after being evicted from his apartment, Guy (Green Lantern) is a computer salesman by day who has difficulty reconciling his superhero life with his normal one especially when it comes to his girlfriend Cheryl, BB (Fire) is a struggling actress who's being stalked (supposedly in a friendly way!) by a younger actor called Martin and Ray (The Atom) is a schoolteacher.

The quartet (as they are at the start of the film) are called into action when a supervillain called the Weatherman summons a giant tornado to attack their home of Metro City. While Fire, Atom and Green Lantern concentrate on guiding the citizens to safety, Flash runs the opposite way around the cyclone and cancels it out. Okay, "drunk in the pub science" time again here evidently. Meanwhile, back at the Met Lab, Tori's supervisor Dr Eno muses how amazing it could be if they could harness the power of something like that to power the city's electricity grid or similar.

Also, I can't let this sequence pass without commenting on the JLA's costumes - they truly are terrible. I mean 1994 "Fantastic Four" levels of low-budget terrible. Never mind the 1980's, these outfits would've looked dated in the 1970's - it really says something when the 1990 version of the Flash looks more modern than the 1997 version does. Is it any wonder why people didn't take this thing seriously? Anyway, moving on...

Working late at the lab that night, Tori inadvertently discovers a secret device which blasts her with a blue energy ray. Initially she appears to have been unaffected but on the way home she sees a jogger who's fallen into the lake in the park and as she reaches out to try and save him the water freezes allowing him to climb out. The incident makes the local news and the JLA somehow abduct her in the middle of the night without her realising to make sure she's not the Weatherman. When they're satisfied she isn't, they return her to her bed with her waking up the next morning assuming the whole thing must have just been a bad dream. Okay then...

Angry that his plan was thwarted the Weatherman duly strikes again by generating a storm cloud which rains down golf-sized hailstones on Metro City. However, Fire manages to cancel it out by using her heat beams to dissolve the hail while Green Lantern saves Cheryl, who still hasn't twigged that he and Guy are the same person, from being hailstoned to death. Or something, I dunno.

Suspicion over the identity of the Weatherman leads the JLA towards the Eno Meteorological Centre and one of Tori's co-workers Arliss Hopke who's been trying to persuade Dr Eno to view his new project for weeks. They sneak into a party there in their civvies and commence recon work. Ray ends up chatting to Tori with the two hitting it off - however, she's shocked when she discovers him later in the central computer offices having used his power to shrink to Ant-Man type size to get through the security system.

The Atom uncovers evidence that whoever's been behind the Weatherman scheme has been using the computers at the EMC and, upon realising the issue, Tori helps him to escape. The Flash, meanwhile, uses his superspeed to trail Hopke back to his house only to discover that his invention was merely a new type of Van der Graaf generator eliminating him from their enquiries.

Later, on her way out of the centre, Tori inadvertently walks in on Dr Eno filming a Weatherman promo and realises who the guilty party is. She does a runner, freezing the doorlock to prevent him following her out, and alerts the JLA after speaking to Ray. Realising that she has superpowers as well, they take her in as their fifth member Ice and introduce her to J'onn J'onz, their alien leader who is able to assume human form for a short period of time when needed. Tori also realises that Ray and the Atom are the same person.

J'onn ends up having to use his ability after Martin, BB's stalker, confronts her about being Fire after he saw her on the television wearing the earrings he'd bought her as a present previously. J'onn disguises himself as Fire to ensure Martin's none the wiser and he gently breaks off his interest in BB, much to her relief.

Back at JLAHQ (an underwater base in the river), Tori is having trouble controlling her Ice abilities and when the team receive news that the Weatherman is trying to sink Metro City with a tidal wave, they set off on the mission without her. However, when Green Lantern catches up to Eno he throws his weather control device off a bridge when he realises he isn't going to get the $20 million ransom he was asking for. Helpless, the other members of the League watch the wave bearing in until Ice saves the day by freezing it. Lantern duly apprehends the Weatherman and he's carted off by the authorities (although we see him using a laser to begin to melt through his handcuffs).

Tori, meanwhile, receives an apology from the other JLA members who officially take her on as the team's fifth member. It's also insinuated that her and Atom have now officially got together as a couple and the film ends with a shot of the team running into action.

With us already having covered "Batman & Robin" on these pages and notorious flop "Steel" being next on our review list, it's safe to say that 1997 really wasn't a vintage year for DC films. Mind you, if you saw "Justice League of America" and didn't know otherwise, you'd probably be forgiven for mistaking this for something from the mid to late '80s as it looks very dated even by the standards of the time especially the decidedly cheapo looking costumes and special FX. Add to that a plot which moves along at a snail's pace, some less than stellar acting and dialogue and this came perilously close to unseating Supergirl at the bottom of the league table.

Of the superheroes in here, we'd be seeing the Flash again in his 21st century television reboot and in the DCEU while Green Lantern got an ill-fated Ryan Reynolds-starring reboot in what was mainly only notable for being the last DC film produced externally before the DCEU brought all the characters in-house. And of course, 2017 would see the new "Justice League" film released with only the Flash starring in both incarnations. As far as this effort goes though, you can track it down on Youtube if you're desperate to watch it but my advice would simply be - don't.

FINAL RATING: ⚡⚡ (2/10)

CURRENT DC FILM TABLE

1. Batman Returns (1992) (9/10)
2. Batman (1989) (8/10)
3. Superman (1978) (8/10)
4. Superman 2 (1980) (8/10)
5. Batman (1966) (8/10)
6. Batman Forever (1995) (6/10)
7. Superman 3 (1983) (5/10)
8. Swamp Thing (1982) (5/10)
9. The New Wonder Woman (1975) (5/10)
10. Superman and the Mole Men (1951) (5/10)
11. The Flash 2 - Revenge Of The Trickster (1991) (4/10)
12. The Flash 3 - Deadly Nightshade (1991) (4/10)
13. Wonder Woman Returns (1977) (4/10)
14. The Flash (1990) (4/10)
15. Wonder Woman (1974) (3/10)
16. Batman & Robin (1997) (2/10)
17. The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) (2/10)
18. Superman 4 - The Quest For Peace (1987) (2/10)
19. Justice League of America (1997) (2/10)
20. Supergirl (1984) (2/10)

NEXT WEEK: Steel - think a cross between Luke Cage and Iron Man starring, erm, Shaquille O'Neal. Oh boy...