Written by: Kevin Berge
In 2017, Zack Snyder promised he had a cut ready of Justice League waiting to be release. After 4 years and $70 million more, he presents his 4-hour, 4:3 aspect ratio, washed out (or black-and-white, oddly scored, moody masterpiece that would have been laughed out of theaters. (Image Courtesy of: collider.com)
Quick Take: Justice League does not sit well long term, built on shaky foundations. It has interesting characters and worthwhile premise. However, with unclear vision between two opposing directors, there's no real direction or motives behind this film.
Quick Take: Zack Snyder's Justice League is over long without much reason, but it is consistent in its vision and desire. It has consistent character, emotional focus, and heart, even if it ultimately fails to land due to getting lost in too many directions.
Quick Take: Zack Snyder's Justice League is over long without much reason, but it is consistent in its vision and desire. It has consistent character, emotional focus, and heart, even if it ultimately fails to land due to getting lost in too many directions.
***This review will contain spoilers for both cuts of Justice League. If you have not watched either cut and planned to do so, do not read past this point to avoid spoilers.***
It would be incredible to think in the year 2000 that superhero movies would eventually blow up in cinema, but it would be the Avengers everyone cared about and not the Justice League. DC had such a massive following with recognizable characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash.
Marvel meanwhile was well known certainly not for the key characters of the Avengers like Iron Man or Thor. The problem was that Marvel always had a plan, and DC fell woefully behind down the stretch in creating their cinematic universe.
This all led to DC's hasty attempt to build its own DCEU, led by Zack Snyder, who began with the awkward and underwhelming Man of Steel. That was followed by Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where Batman was reintroduced by a grim murdering machine that set up the death of Superman.
Each of these movies had strong ideas behind them that did not at all line up with the characters people expected to see, especially building to the Justice League. I will admit that I was impressed enough and kind enough to give these movies and the original Justice League passing grades.
These days, I look upon them all with disdain because the ideas are not worth forgiving the execution. In fact, they're all just poorly conceived. Snyder's idea of the DC universe is every dark single volume comic about these heroes that would have not never worked to flesh out. He loves himself too much Frank Miller.
This is where the story of Justice League began. However, by the time that movie was in production, even Warner Bros. was getting fed up with Snyder's dark overlong messes. Due to a family emergency, he has to step away from production right around the time the studio screened the film to an unreceptive audience.
The man that took over was the man that helped brought the MCU together with one of its best films, The Avengers, Joss Whedon. I won't get into the woods with all the reasons no studio should be giving Whedon money anymore based on his abusive behavior when in power, but he made sense at the time to lighten the tone.
It would be incredible to think in the year 2000 that superhero movies would eventually blow up in cinema, but it would be the Avengers everyone cared about and not the Justice League. DC had such a massive following with recognizable characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash.
Marvel meanwhile was well known certainly not for the key characters of the Avengers like Iron Man or Thor. The problem was that Marvel always had a plan, and DC fell woefully behind down the stretch in creating their cinematic universe.
This all led to DC's hasty attempt to build its own DCEU, led by Zack Snyder, who began with the awkward and underwhelming Man of Steel. That was followed by Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where Batman was reintroduced by a grim murdering machine that set up the death of Superman.
Each of these movies had strong ideas behind them that did not at all line up with the characters people expected to see, especially building to the Justice League. I will admit that I was impressed enough and kind enough to give these movies and the original Justice League passing grades.
These days, I look upon them all with disdain because the ideas are not worth forgiving the execution. In fact, they're all just poorly conceived. Snyder's idea of the DC universe is every dark single volume comic about these heroes that would have not never worked to flesh out. He loves himself too much Frank Miller.
This is where the story of Justice League began. However, by the time that movie was in production, even Warner Bros. was getting fed up with Snyder's dark overlong messes. Due to a family emergency, he has to step away from production right around the time the studio screened the film to an unreceptive audience.
The man that took over was the man that helped brought the MCU together with one of its best films, The Avengers, Joss Whedon. I won't get into the woods with all the reasons no studio should be giving Whedon money anymore based on his abusive behavior when in power, but he made sense at the time to lighten the tone.
The one positive I will give Joss Whedon's cut of Justice League is that it has color, ugly color but color nonetheless. (Image Courtesy of: youtube.com)
What was Whedon tasked to do? He needed to take out the Snyderisms and make the movie more fun while also cutting it into a watchable length. It was hatchet job that is a fine one-time watch but lifeless. It has no real purpose or focus to it.
In a DCEU that continues to only work in solo films, Justice League is the worst offender of the idea that "more is not always better". Whedon makes some dreadful decisions to try to lighten the mood including multiple "haha, Wonder Woman is hot" jokes, and he cuts out much of Snyder's intended heart for the film.
However, he also was never going to make this work. Snyder himself could not make this movie work. His definitive 2021 creation is too long to be a truly successful film. Past four hours in runtime, broken up into odd acts, it is more of a miniseries.
However, Zack Snyder's Justice League may ultimately be the best movie of Snyder's questionable filmography because it uses everything he does well in its each frame. It brings the characters together with relatable backgrounds and lets their stories play out.
In particular, the most egregious of cuts by Whedon focus on Cyborg (Ray Fisher). Much of JL's heart is built around Cyborg learning to accept himself and his family. He loses everything along the way, but he finds a home in this Justice League.
The new film is so much different and better for this story, which shines even more light on the abuse and discriminatory behavior Fisher reported from Whedon, Toby Emmerich, Geoff Johns, and Jon Berg.
The Flash (Ezra Miller) is also so woefully underused in the original film, including cutting his climactic scene in the finale, which was the single best part of this film. Both he and Cyborg are far more involved, but Snyder still should have done more with them than he did. They are the heart of the film.
In a DCEU that continues to only work in solo films, Justice League is the worst offender of the idea that "more is not always better". Whedon makes some dreadful decisions to try to lighten the mood including multiple "haha, Wonder Woman is hot" jokes, and he cuts out much of Snyder's intended heart for the film.
However, he also was never going to make this work. Snyder himself could not make this movie work. His definitive 2021 creation is too long to be a truly successful film. Past four hours in runtime, broken up into odd acts, it is more of a miniseries.
However, Zack Snyder's Justice League may ultimately be the best movie of Snyder's questionable filmography because it uses everything he does well in its each frame. It brings the characters together with relatable backgrounds and lets their stories play out.
In particular, the most egregious of cuts by Whedon focus on Cyborg (Ray Fisher). Much of JL's heart is built around Cyborg learning to accept himself and his family. He loses everything along the way, but he finds a home in this Justice League.
The new film is so much different and better for this story, which shines even more light on the abuse and discriminatory behavior Fisher reported from Whedon, Toby Emmerich, Geoff Johns, and Jon Berg.
The Flash (Ezra Miller) is also so woefully underused in the original film, including cutting his climactic scene in the finale, which was the single best part of this film. Both he and Cyborg are far more involved, but Snyder still should have done more with them than he did. They are the heart of the film.
We could have once had the late Heath Ledger or Cesar Romero in this role. We could have had Joaquin Phoenix or Mark Hamill. We even had chances at times for the late Robin Williams, Ryan Gosling, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Bettany, or Sean Penn. Instead, we have Jared Leto. (Image Courtesy of: comingsoon.net)
Ultimately, story and tone changed drastically in this new cut. Snyder tried to make as clear as possible this was his movie with death, brooding, and weird color palettes. He even decided upon a completely unnecessary film aspect ratio. In these ways, Snyder will always sabotage himself.
These are the elements that led to Warner Bros. wanting to take a new approach, but they should have just let the vision of the director play out. Snyder is far from a great director. His movies are built on a foundation of nihilism and attempted style that fall flat for all but the most devoted.
This is not to say he does not have his merits. It's just that he can never be wrangled in. He is certainly from all reports a better human being than Joss Whedon. He certainly created the better Justice League, though Whedon wasn't starting from scratch. The problem is that neither was the right director for the job.
For four hours, this movies flows extremely well. It is so clear and distinct that you can forgive the run time except for all the unnecessary moments. There is two hours of wasted time particularly focus on Batman that does not need to be there. The soundtrack of the film is an absolute mess that Snyder loves to highlight.
All of this is to say that Justice League is flawed in every way it could be, but it is much better at four hours than two from the film Snyder originally created. The Snyder version is overindulgent with too many pieces including some dreadful epilogue content, but it has the engaging heart that the right director could use.
I just wish someone had been able to come in and show Snyder that he was just missing one step to make this movie work. He just needed to commit to this as a Cyborg and Flash film, letting their stories guide the entire experience.
In that way, this could have had that heart but also avoided so many long unnecessary Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) scenes. Even Superman who really does not need to be in Snyder's cut at all for it to work. Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) is also in this movie and has some early pathos, but I often found myself forgetting him over the run time.
I could go for hours about the small and big decisions Snyder made that establish a better film while also falling woefully short of his promise masterpiece vision, but ultimately I think the idea is clear. The theatrical cut of this film is a terrible, uninteresting mishmash. The Snyder cut is an overlong mess with so many more intriguing ideas.
These are the elements that led to Warner Bros. wanting to take a new approach, but they should have just let the vision of the director play out. Snyder is far from a great director. His movies are built on a foundation of nihilism and attempted style that fall flat for all but the most devoted.
This is not to say he does not have his merits. It's just that he can never be wrangled in. He is certainly from all reports a better human being than Joss Whedon. He certainly created the better Justice League, though Whedon wasn't starting from scratch. The problem is that neither was the right director for the job.
For four hours, this movies flows extremely well. It is so clear and distinct that you can forgive the run time except for all the unnecessary moments. There is two hours of wasted time particularly focus on Batman that does not need to be there. The soundtrack of the film is an absolute mess that Snyder loves to highlight.
All of this is to say that Justice League is flawed in every way it could be, but it is much better at four hours than two from the film Snyder originally created. The Snyder version is overindulgent with too many pieces including some dreadful epilogue content, but it has the engaging heart that the right director could use.
I just wish someone had been able to come in and show Snyder that he was just missing one step to make this movie work. He just needed to commit to this as a Cyborg and Flash film, letting their stories guide the entire experience.
In that way, this could have had that heart but also avoided so many long unnecessary Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) scenes. Even Superman who really does not need to be in Snyder's cut at all for it to work. Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) is also in this movie and has some early pathos, but I often found myself forgetting him over the run time.
I could go for hours about the small and big decisions Snyder made that establish a better film while also falling woefully short of his promise masterpiece vision, but ultimately I think the idea is clear. The theatrical cut of this film is a terrible, uninteresting mishmash. The Snyder cut is an overlong mess with so many more intriguing ideas.
