Zack Snyders Justice League Review

Since the dawn of time WB has held back on going full speed with its DC comics movies, sure they have had a few hits but not as many as they could have had with the wealth of DC comics characters and stories at their disposal.

Zack Snyder delivered an amazing Watchmen movie which looks like it embodied the energy from the comic and created a masterpiece. Zack then got well earned rains to the Justice League movies and to orchestrate the first steps in a wider cinematic universe.

Man of Steel had mixed reviews, personally I loved it but then instead of a direct sequel we got thrown right into one of the most anticipated comic book movies of all time Batman vs Superman. Which was difficult for some to follow and didn’t make sense until the Batman Vs Superman Extended cut came out.

Then Zack started work what should have been the core of the universe the Justice League movie. Why someone at WB thought that it would be a good idea to film 95% of the movie then hand it over to Joss Whedon to refilm I don’t know.

Personally I don’t blame Joss Whedon for the theatrical release of 2017 Justice League movie, I can’t imagine that was what he aimed to make when he signed up. He’s openly wanted to make DC movies for years way before he worked on the the Avengers so it would have been hard to turn down. It wasn’t a script he started, he didn’t cast and he didn’t have a lot of time but he tried to make it his. It was a big mistake I’m sure all those involved would have taken back.

Fast forward to 2021 we finally have the Snyder Cut. It’s amazed me that it’s been released. Maybe the first time something like this has happened in Hollywood, at least as far as I know. Maybe one of the closest would be the Richard Donner cut of Superman 2 finally getting a release but that was decades after the initial release. This was like WB released the original movie, didn’t make a lot of money and had to listen to the fans and let Zack Snyder finish his movie. Not just release it but release it in a four hour edition, then let him release it in black and white again.

Zack Snyders Justice League is an amazing movie from my point of view. Not just due to the epic journey its been through to get made but. the rules its broken. Personally I think it’s a game changer for the film industry. WB hire Zack to do a job because he’s a master craftsman at making movies. Then they told him what to do and how to do it and ruined his original vision on several movies. It took the ultimate cut of BvS for it to work and it’s the same for Justice League.

Thanks to Zack Snyders Justice League:

• It’s now acceptable to go over that 2 hour time frame of a movie, 4 hours is now acceptable.
• Major high budget movies can now get produced without those tight release date schedules thanks to streaming. Before they needed to stick to tight release date windows made up a year before they start filming. With Streaming they can do a world wide release date much easier.
• Fans petitions and voices do matter. We’ve asked for the Snyder Cut and they delivered.
• A fairly new to the screen actor like Ray Fisher can speak out about bad behaviour on the set and get a huge name like Joss Whedon taken to accountability.

Visually it’s one of the best comic book movies I’ve seen and delivers so much. It has these two titans of cinema Batman and Superman which it could have revolved around much like so many of the Marvel movies lean on Iron Man so much. But they don’t do that in the Snyder Cut. If anything it focuses more on The Flash and Cyborg which we haven’t seen a lot of with them both waiting for a solo movie each. Cyborg and Flash are the new kids to all the superhero stuff and it shows but it gives you so much character development and seeing the team bond strengthen throughout is amazing. They get to see their powers evolve and see how they can work together against almost certain defeat.

Thats not to say there isn’t a lot of epic Superman and Batman action. The movie starts off with Bruce on a quest to unite the team and track down anyone who can help. This isn’t the Batman we saw in the Christopher Nolan movies, he’s older and more experienced.

Superman starts off where BvS left him in the grave. The team really need him back and with what the Mother Boxes did for Cyborg they think there is a chance they can bring Superman back too. This was one thing I would have personally changed, I love the Death/Return of Superman graphic novels. In those Superman returns to life thanks to his Kryptonian robot and black solar suit. They use the black suit but not in the same way. It was a pretty iconic comic moment for DC years ago and I’d have preferred they kept. a bit closer to that but I can see why they would change it.

All in all it’s worth it just to see Superman in that final battle, it’s probably the first time we’ve seen Superman on screen go full on Superman. He usually has to hold back some of his powers so the movie lasts more than 5 seconds. In this he comes out of nowhere and closes down the big bad with no effort.

Another thing I’m grateful for is how well Gal Gadots Wonder Woman shines in Zack Snyders movies. She’s not a female superhero, just a full on Superhero who fights just as hard as the rest of the league. A huge improvement to how they used Wonder Woman in the 2017 release.

One of the reasons they said Whedon was brought in was to add humour and lighten up the story. Personally I thought the Snyder Cut was perfect. It had a lot love in it and Barry Allen still carries a lot of snappy humour between the characters. One of the best scenes for me was shown in one of the early trailers but cut completely from the 2017 release, it’s the bit where Iris West first meets Barry and he. saves her from the car accident. Amazing setup and direction for it all and I hope they can continue these kinds of scenes in the Flash movie.

The movie ends with a totally never before seen clip of the Knightmare future leaving the movie very wide open for a sequel. If we ever see a sequel I don’t know. This is another reason I’m thankful for online streaming. The risk to reputation of making a movie is a lot less with online streaming. They can also release a Snyder movie in full length where as a theatrical release will always get cut down. Another reason we might see a sequel is that the Snyder Cut has been one of the most talked about movies for years and has been a huge success for HBO Max which need subscriptions and new content. That being said a sequel must already be in the works.

Posted by Adi Mursec on March 22, 2021