So after what felt like pages upon pages of fan arguments, fighting, and various rumors, Zack Snyder’s version of 2017’s Justice League (previously co-helmed by Joss Whedon) has finally arrived, and it seems like the kind of comic book film that people are either going to adore or despise. It’ll probably depend on how you feel about Snyder’s style as a whole because this is easily a project he’s crafted for his die-hard following.
Now let me be clear- while I’m always hesitant to criticize fandoms because often I feel as if sometimes people just use them unfairly as punching bags and generalize the folks involved in them, the way some ZS supporters have acted towards anyone slightly critical of his work *has* gone overboard, to say the least. And that sort of makes this a difficult movie to discuss, because the feelings around Snyder are so polarized and often emotionally charged that it can be hard to express a nuanced opinion about his work. But I’ll give it my best try: I felt this cut of the movie was an overall improvement, but it’s not a flawless masterpiece.
The four-hour runtime can feel pretty daunting, but Snyder thankfully doesn’t waste that extra footage. He’s able to take his time building up the character’s motivations much stronger than before, and it was a lot easier for me to care about everything happening. Plus the cast is more united, against what feels like far larger stakes in the storyline. When I first saw the original in theaters, I felt it was a decent rebound after how dour and convoluted Dawn of Justice was, still a bit muddled and held together by the studio’s duct tape and crazy glue. Snyder-League still has a very outrageous story, except now it’s being backed by one person and there aren’t as many cooks in the kitchen, so it feels more consistent.
As before, it follows Batman (Ben Affleck), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and the Flash (Ezra Miller) trying to bring back Superman (Henry Cavill) for their fight against an invading group of aliens searching for the ancient Mother Boxes, left behind on Earth after the genocidal alien Darkseid (Ray Porter) invaded centuries before. Darkseid’s loyal warrior servant Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) is a bit more defined as an antagonist, as it’s made clear how he wants to prove his value to his master. He’s redesigned to look both more emotive and monstrous, although I can’t figure out for the life of me how he doesn’t move around without constantly cutting himself on his battle suit’s jagged edges.
This time it’s got an R-rating’s worth of increased violence and a few F-bombs, so going in I was dreading a sense that this was gonna try too hard to be edgy and shocking. And it actually wasn’t as gratuitous as I had initially feared. In fact, I’d say some of the action scenes feel a lot more exciting. Some spots do drag a bit with the added length and not all of the dialogue works (often characters will generically state what’s obviously happening, there are some bad cases of telling after showing).
Snyder’s approach is very indulgent, for better or worse, so it’s in the second half in which it really starts to satisfy. Without spoiling anything, there’s a bizarre epilogue after the main story that sets up some intriguing cliffhangers, although it’s too dark and gritty for its own good and it made me chuckle more than anything.
Though I didn’t think the Whedon cut was *that* comical necessarily, it was practically jolly compared with this new version, where what humor Snyder does give us feels extremely understated. Luckily, the new version’s better able to contextualize some scenes, so you still get the sense these heroes are making a genuine connection with one another. Particularly between Aquaman and the rest of the cast- he still starts the film as a bit standoffish, but now he’s a bit more understanding towards Cyborg’s plight. Wonder Woman is about the same as before, except some of her fight scenes and takes have been altered. Cyborg for his part gets a very heavy increased spotlight and a more detailed explanation of his abilities (alongside Joe Morton as his scientist father Silas Stone, who also has an expanded part), to almost where he feels like a co-lead alongside Ben Affleck’s Batman.
Barry in this version still makes a fair number of wisecracks, but they’re not given as much focus as before. Superman easily comes across way more serious in this cut with a much-publicized jet-black Kryptonian suit. It was admittedly a bit of a shame to see him lose that extra brightness Whedon gave him (one thing that frustrated me about BvS so much is how much it set his character development so far backward, so seeing that old school Man of Tomorrow charm from Cavill was a treat), but by the end he does have a better payoff for his story arc than before.
To sum up my overall feelings on Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it’s certainly an unapologetic passion project and IMO probably his best DC film up to this point. Personal taste is going to factor into how many people receive this version, so even though I would have liked a bit less brooding and I don’t know if this movie needed to take itself *that* seriously, I’m not sure how much of that is just me. But this is a much more cohesive plot and everything does feel more impactful, so that was enough for me to have a good time watching it. If you’ve had the chance to check it out, as always head to FAN’s social media and let us know your take!