A film much better than its original with amazing character development, a fantastic heart and some of the best cinematography. You can tell that this film is Snyder ‘s baby. The action is grand, the characters are compelling and I can honestly say the Snyder fans are proud.
When Zack Snyder was shooting Justice League, and he reportedly shot a four-hour epic film, though I’m not sure whether it was going to be one film split into two. The point is, it’s a four-hour tale that he had to abandon due to his daughter’s tragic death. Warner Brothers, on the other hand, decided to bring in Joss Whedon, who came in and cut a 4-hour film into a 2-hour film, and even rewrote several scenes, refilmed others, and replaced them with Joss Whedon humour, which evidently involves the Flash falling on Wonder Woman’s breasts, which Gal Gadot declined to perform and was replaced with a stunt double. That was what we got in 2017, but now, thanks to a large movement of hashtags and debates, as well as plane carrying a ‘Release the Snyder Cut’ banner flying around Comic Con, Zack Snyder was able to finish postproduction on his version of the film and release his original vision Titled “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”, which was indeed a better film than the 2017 theatrical release. There’s a difference between having a movie thrown together very quickly for the sake of moving on because he had to make this movie as short as humanly possible and there is storytelling. You see deeper character relations and development among the Justice League, which makes you feel like this theme of them coming together isn’t just stopping the bad guy for the sake of stopping the bad guy.
For the last act of the movie everyone had a purpose, everyone had a reason to be there. It also seems like a lot of scenes that I wasn’t sure what to make of before now have more context to them.
And yes, it is a 4:3 ratio, your screen isn’t messing up that is how its suppose to be. It might feel a bit weird in the beginning but you’ll get used to it. I, for one, enjoyed it.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is not only vastly superior to the version released in theaters, but also one of the most genuinely epic WB films to ever grace the superhero genre. It is both the champion of the DC Extended Universe and the magnum opus of its director’s filmography, from Fabian Wagner’s absolutely stunning visuals, Tom Holkenborg’s majestic musical score, marvelously crafted action set-pieces, fast but smooth pacing, wonderfully formed characters, and a grand but intimate and profoundly heartfelt tale.
Also, Zack Snyder wasn’t kidding when he said Ray Fisher was the heart of the movie. I also want to mention how wonderful it was to see more of JK Simmons’ Commissioner Gordon, and how fantastic Batman and the Joker’s interaction and dialogue were in the film. Mera’s random British and Australian accent that comes and goes is one problem I have with the film.
Zack Snyder says he won’t give up hope for a Justice League sequel. After the success of HBO Max’s Synder Cut, which had one of two outcomes; become a resounding success and set a tantalizing precedent, or be a huge flop, potentially dooming all future fan campaigns.
Anyway, after some analysis, it was assumed that this is what Zack Snyder’s sequel and Kightmare sequence will look like;
Darkseid comes to Earth. Superman says to Batman, “Guard Lois. This is a war between me and Darkseid. If you can help me as a friend, keep Lois safe.” In the midst of these alien attacks, Luther aligns himself with the invader. “Lex tells Darkseid that the key to Superman’s weaknesses is killing Lois Lane”.
Darkseid comes back and kills Lois. Batman fails, he hesitates. They were in an argument.
“The truth is that the ‘Kightmare Sequence’ in this movie, it was my idea that all of that would eventually be explained -is that a surprise?” the director said. “And that we would end up in the distant future where Darkseid has taken over Earth, and where Superman has succumbed to the Anti-life equation. And there were few members of the Justice League that survive to that world, and that they were fighting, Batman and a broken half of cyborg -there’s only half of him because of whatever happened- they were working on an equation to jump back to tell Bruce…those were the things that we were dealing with. And the studio, they were still sort of into the big look, but the deep depth about how and why everyone was mad at each other…
I was right here, and Barry Allen came to me and he said ‘Lois Lane is the key.’ And then Wonder woman goes, ‘She is to Superman; every heart has one.’ And he goes, ‘I think it’s something more, something darker.’ And what it means is that thing is that was darker was all about if Lois died, Superman would succumb to the Anti-life right? And Superman knew that somehow it was Bruce’s responsibility to protect Lois, he would’ve been mad at him in this movie, and that’s why he says, ‘She was my world, and you took her from me. Then he, Bruce, had to jump back right before Darkseid Boom Tubes into the Batcave to murder Lois.”
Darkseid and Steppenwolf story was strong and great. Steppenwolf for one, was a much more interesting bad guy, with a lot more personality than he did in the 2017 version. You understand that Steppenwolf has fallen out of favour with Darkseid and wishes to reclaim his place in his good graces.
I loved the Flash; the character, his story, the actor and his character development in the movie was good but it felt closer to a Spiderman – Ironman relationship instead of a Flash – Batman relationship.
The new Joker is quite interesting, not a favourite but a new approach to the same product…but I loved his lines. The signature line, ‘We live in a world…’ was all Jared Leto’s idea and I must say a smart one at that. It’s unfortunate cut was staggering, I was waiting for him to say it, but the Joker and Batman had a mature conversation that included something about Harley and the Boy Wonder’s death. Brillant!
The movie had many unnecessary scenes, maybe a three-and-a-half-hour movie would have been enough but I felt Snyder wanted to give us as much as he could without making it too much at the same time, we’ve waited for this longer after all, might as well get as much footage as we can.
The final battle scene was awesome. The moment when they walked out of the plane as a united team was awesome!
The movie didn’t feature 6 promised scene that I was kind of looking forward to;
- The Tanagarians
- The Real Doomsday
- The Deathstroke fight scene in Arkham
- Zack said the movie would explore Robin’s death and give us new info on that.
- Desaad’s history lesson.
- Ryan Reynold’s return as Green Lantern.
I’m not complaining; I just wanted to point it out. Nevertheless, I understand how difficult it was for Zack Snyder to make it without receiving any money from WB, and he did it solely for the fans. Since not all of the actors returned for reshoots and such, he made do with what he had.
I’m hoping this isn’t a one-off and that WB isn’t finished with that universe, or at least Snyder’s version of it, because it seems to be building toward bigger things, and I believe now is a good time for DC to reveal those bigger things. Initially, they were attempting to catch up to Marvel, but now that the MCU has completed their Thanos epic, I believe there is a strange power vacuum, and it is now DC’s turn to show us what they have. And I hope for sequels because it’s set up for them, and I’m looking forward to seeing Zack Snyder’s Justice League part 2.
ROOKIEPENCIL 