I was among the dozens of journalists invited to observe filming of Justice League at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden outside London last Friday, the 31st day of the movie's scheduled 111-day shoot.

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Every press member there wanted to know how Justice League would differ from the critically savaged Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice -- a dark and dreary film that, while it made nearly $873 million at the worldwide box office, received low audience scores and shook Warner Bros. enough to reorganize DC Films in an effort to help ensure the burgeoning DC Extended Universe has the same long-term commercial and critical success Marvel Studios has enjoyed.for what the press witnessed on set!We watched Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), and the Flash (Ezra Miller) respond to the Batsignal being shone into the stormy, night sky above Gotham City. They arrive on the rooftop of GCPD headquarters to find a worried Commissioner James Gordon (J.K. Simmons, on his first day of filming), who is bringing them up to speed on the case of eight missing scientists when the League's fourth member, Cyborg (Ray Fisher), arrives to announce that his father Silas Stone (Joe Morton), the head of S.T.A.R. Labs, is now the ninth one to have been abducted. Wonder Woman suspects that a nest of Parademons must be nearby. The League determines a pattern in the abductions that sends them out on the trail. As Gordon turns to speak to the team, he finds all but Flash have already left. Flash knocks his colleagues for ditching Gordon, remarking, "That's rude."Flash's youthful exuberance and wise-cracking was also evident in a clip director Zack Snyder screened for us at the end of the day. The scene was the first meeting between Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen. Bruce has infiltrated Barry's apartment to confront him over the surveillance imagery of him in the convenience store (as seen in BvS). Barry lies about being in the photos, even though his Flash costume is right in the middle of his apartment. Bruce then turns and hurls a razor-sharp Batarang right at Barry who, as we see Bruce now move in slow-motion, reacts to the sight of the Batarang and easily catches it mid-air. "You're Batman?!," he asks. Bruce replies he's putting together a team and needs help from exceptional beings like Barry. "Stop right there. I'm in," Barry says to a visibly surprised and relieved Bruce, adding, "I needs friends." And then he indicates the Batarang he caught. "Can I keep this?"Miller's portrayal of the Flash was just plain fun. Until this set visit, I'd been on the fence about Miller's casting having known him more as a serious actor in We Need to Talk About Kevin and Madame Bovary, but from the scene I saw being shot and the clip of Bruce and Barry I'm now convinced that not only will Miller be a great Flash, he might very well steal the show in Justice League. Indeed, with his youthful energy and Spidey-esque wit, Miller's Flash might very well be just what the struggling DCEU needs to score commercial and critical salvation. That one clip alone left me wanting to see more of this version of the scarlet speedster, and should also help win over other fans of Grant Gustin's TV incarnation who couldn't imagine anyone else in the role.Miller and Cyborg's Ray Fisher clowned around in-between takes. The two had an especially fun rapport, which certainly bodes well for a Flash movie said to be a team-up story between these two young superheroes. And audiences establishing a fun rapport with DC's superheroes was the mantra with the cast members and filmmakers we spoke to that day.The message from everyone we spoke to on set was clear: Justice League is not Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This will be a fun movie with a lighter tone. And from what I saw being filmed and the clip shown, this indeed appears to be the case. No, it's not all Schumacher-era goofiness now but more, well, Marvel-like in striking that balance between comedy and drama and between its superhero protagonists.As Batman star Ben Affleck said during a break in filming, "There’s definitely room for more humor. It’s not going to be – DC movies I think, by their nature are a little more – gothic, or mythic rather, excuse me, than some comic book movies are. But that movie was very dark and heavy because it was really rooted in Dark Knight Returns which is a heavy, dark book. And this is not that. This is a step in evolution in that to bring together all of these characters who have had their origins. It’s about multilateralism, and it’s about hope and about working together and the kind of conflicts of trying to work together with others. It’s a world where superheroes exist, so there’s comedy in that necessarily, trying to work with other people and people trying to accomplish goals together is the root of all great comedy in my view. So there’s definitely, hopefully some fun in it. But it’s not unrecognizably these characters or these stories. It’s not turning it upside down."