DCEU Movies Ranked
Wonder Woman 1984 has been released in theaters and on HBO Max, and I have watched the movie. And after re-watching and reviewing all of the movies inside of the DCEU, I wanted to rank all 9 DCEU movies.
9. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: This movie might be the biggest disappointment of all time. Going into 2016 I don’t know if I was more excited for this movie or for Captain America: Civil War. And this is one of the most mediocre movies of all time, and I shouldn’t be saying that about a movie called Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now, I enjoy Ben Affleck as Batman a good bit, I think behind Christian Bale he is my favorite Batman. His relationship with Jeremy Irons’ Alfred is great and has a nice chemistry. I think the warehouse fight scene is maybe the greatest Batman action scene in any DC movie. I’ve never understood the hate for Jesse Esienberg’s Lex Luthor, I like that it is something different. But where this movie gets knocked back is it has a few to many things going on. They had an idea about a Man of Steel 2 and how Metropolis and Lex Luthor would react to Superman. Then they added in Batman to add a new layer, but they also wanted to make a Justice League set-up movie. So the movie feels like it’s trying to be three different movies at once and has to come together in the third act. I think the movie was also way too long, the movie did not need to be nearly 3 hours long, they could have cut 30-45 minutes from the movie and it might have been a better movie. So I like a number of things about the movie, but it also has a number of things that frustrated me a good bit.
8. Suicide Squad: This movie does have story issues, story elements are recycled a lot during the movie. Like there are three different helicopter crashes in the movie, and two of them happen within 15-20 minutes. Enchantress is a very mediocre villain that maybe could have been a better villain if she was given more to do. All we know about her is she has a relationship with Rick Flag and entertains the audience with this hula dance that she does. But on the positive side of things, I really enjoy the cast. Will Smith as Deadshot is great, and this is just Will Smith playing Will Smith in a comic book movie. Margot Robbie is having so much fun as Harley Quinn and is one of the most entertaining characters in any superhero movie. I enjoy Jared Leto as the Joker. I think it was something new and different for the character, maybe some weird choices with his design but Leto’s performance is pretty good. The soundtrack is one of my favorites in any movie. It has some many fantastic songs that you like to listen to and fit the tone of the movie. So this is one that is very watchable. I can watch it at any point and enjoy it, but it is a movie that has some issues that hold it back from being any higher up on the list.
Note: As a point of references, there is a big jump up in quality and entertainment as we move from number 8 to number 7. I give the top 7 a B to an A-, so just because a movie is low on the list doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.
7. Justice League: Justice League is a perfect example of a movie movie that I’ve never understood the hate that it gets. I watched this movie in the theater and thought to myself “this is a good movie”. And I’ve seen the movie 3 times since the theaters and I still like this movie. I can see where some people could find this movie disappointing and on some level, I think it is disappointing. But when people say “Justice League is one of the worst comic book movies ever made”, I watch and am confused by that statement. Like all of the DCEU movies, the cast is great. They all have great chemistry with one another. I think Ezra Miller is a pretty good Flash and he is a most fun and bubbly version of the character. The movie can also have a sense of humor, the scene where they are heading off to defeat Steppenwolf and Aquaman is sitting on the lasso of truth, that scene is so funny. This movie also moves pretty quickly, it doesn’t linger on a plot point or scene for too long. And so I’m never bored when I watch this movie. Steppenwolf is a bad villain, the only thing that is interesting about him is the number of times that he says “mother”. For a Justice League villain he is disappointing. And some of the visual effects don’t work, like Henry Cavill’s face where it is obvious that they removed the mustache. So a few things here and there that aren’t good but overall this is a good movie in my opinion.
6. Wonder Woman 1984: The 9th movie inside of the DCEU is a bit of a tricky one to place on the list. Because I liked that they gave each of the four main characters an arc in the movie. And the arc ties into the theme of the movie, which is what are we lacking in life? Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have just as much chemistry as before. Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig are nice additions to this movie and make some nice villains in the movie. The action in the movie is pretty great, fun, and exciting. How Patty Jenkins shots her action is so great and I might say that the action in this movie is better than the original movie. The movie takes place in the 80s, and they didn’t throw a bunch of pop culture references at the screen. No, they were used in just the right amount. But I thought the movie had a whole lot of big story issues inside of it. The movie requires you to suspend a lot of disbelief with certain plot points and character motivations, and for most of them I didn’t buy into that. And I wasn’t a big part of what they did with the villains in the third act of the movie, the characters just lost me. But, I still enjoyed this movie and I gave it a positive review. It just had a number of things that held it back from being any higher on the list.
5. Aquaman: A fun and entertaining DCEU movie that works on a whole lot of different levels. Jason Momoa seems born to play this part, and you are just playing himself. If you follow him on social media he is just a fun and joking guy that likes getting into trouble. Patrick Wilson is a great villain where his plan is one that makes sense, you understand where he is coming even though we might not be doing his plan in the right way. There is also some very cool action inside of it whether it’s a big chase on rooftops or a small fight scene with Nicole Kidman in a house it is shot and choreographed in a way that is exciting and is some of the best action in the DCEU. The visuals for this movie are also quite good and it looks like they actually went underneath the water to shoot this movie. There is also some very funny humor inside of it that makes him laugh a good bit. On the negative side of things, the movie follows a similar template for the Lion King and Black Panther, and I think those movies do it better. Also, the movie is 2 hours and 23 minutes long and they could have cut 10-15 minutes from the movie, it takes a bit too long for Aquaman to get to Atlantis and I think he could have been to Atlantis a lot sooner in the movie. So a very fun movie, that has a lot of things that hold it back.
4. Shazam!: A movie that when they announced it and I thought Warner Brothers and DC went crazy, because the character of Shazam wasn’t an obvious choice for a superhero blockbuster. But the trailers dropped and they worked for me, I enjoyed the trailers. Then I watched the movie and it was a lot of fun. Zachary Levi as the protagonist seems like perfect casting, it’s hard to imagine anybody else playing the character as well as Levi can. And it can have a lot of jokes in the movie but it can also have a lot of heart. In a lot of ways, the emotions are at the center of the movie. Because Billy’s character arc changes him but also changes Shazam as a hero and person. Dr. Sivana is another great villain inside of the DCEU, and he thinks he is the hero of his own story. And it’s so funny and the rate per minute that the jokes are dropping are insane and this is one of the funniest comic book movies ever made. I think the big problem with this movie is the tone. There are jokes about strip clubs, followed by demons eating people’s heads off, and then jokes about them trying beer. If they fixed that up, then this movie would be in the top 2 or 3.
3. Wonder Woman: Unlike, Shazam! I think that Wonder Woman balances it’s tone so well. You have the darkness of WW1 but you also have the goofiness that comes with the character of Wonder Woman. But it does a great job of making those two different tones, but making them feel like 1 movie. Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have fantastic chemistry where you can see that they have respect for one another but are also a bit annoyed by them at points in time. And they have a lot of funny moments that pop and make me laugh. There are some fantastic action sequences and moments in this movie with the No Man’s Land or the fight where Diana is protecting this small town for soldiers. Patty Jenkins has a great eye for the action and makes it unique and different. I mentioned this earlier, but there is a nice sense of humor in the movie. And they needed the humor to not make it a depressing war movie, and most of the humor comes from Gadot and Pine. But the humor is on point, and I think all of the humor works. Before I did this review series, this was my favorite DCEU movie. But there were a few things that stood out. I think this movie has some of the weaker villains that aren’t as memorable as they should be. And the third act gets very talky and not action based. But besides that this is a fantastic movie that works on almost every level.
2. Man of Steel: This was the movie that bumped up the most on my ranking. It had been maybe 3-4 years since I last watched this movie and I don’t know why but this watch made me love this movie, and appreciate it a whole lot more. And there is so much about this movie that works. I like that we got a darker version of the character and version that mixed with the 21st century. There are so many themes about family, legacy, and our purpose on the earth that works with the type of Superman. Behind that Zack Snyder has a great eye for action so this is some of the best Superman action ever. And with a big 21st century budget they can do some very cool stuff. Snyder also has a good eye for the visuals so the way that Krypton looks or shots of Superman flying in the air they all look very cool. And of course, you have to talk about the cast. It took me a while to get around to Henry Cavill’s performance as Superman, but after watching all of the movies in a short period of time I thought Cavill did a very good job in the movie. You can buy him as Superman and as the man who is trying to learn where he came from. But of course you have the legacy actors with Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Diana Lane, and Lawerence Fishburne rounding out the cast. This is a movie that I love and does a lot of things really well.
1. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn: A movie that when they first announced that this movie was coming out, I was pretty nervous. And the big thing that I was confused by is they said that Ewan McGregor was going to be the villain. And I only knew him as Obi-Wan Kenobi so I didn’t see that connection. Then I watched the movie, and I loved it instantly. Ewan McGregor was a fantastic edition to the movie, he could be creepy in a scene then could be charismatic. And I think that Black Mask is the best villain inside of the DCEU. Of course, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is so much and fun and they made her a more grounded character. In the comics, previous movies, and video games she is this larger than life character that is so crazy. But since Harley Quinn broke-up with the Joker she is a broken character and we get to see that side of the character. It’s also cool that they made Harley Quinn the narrator of the story and it’s a great usage of the unreliable narrator. It is also a movie that is so much fun and has a lot of energy to it. It’s never boring, I was hooked and entertained from the opening scene to the final scene. And the action in this movie is pretty great, the prison break scene being the stand-out and is shot and choreographed in such a cool and interesting way. There is a lot of strong competition when it comes to DCEU movies, but at the end of the day. I think Birds of Prey is the most entertaining, has some of the most interesting characters, and some nice heartfelt moments.
It has been a great journey of reviewing and now ranking the DCEU movies. What are some franchises that you would like to see me do a review series for?
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