I wasted little time in carving out 4 hours to watch Zack Snyder’s Justice League the day it was released on HBO Max. Below is my SPOILER-filled review of the movie. So, proceed at your own risk, if you haven’t watched it yet.
To set the stage accordingly, the original Justice League film, released in 2017 was initially helmed by the director, Zack Snyder. However, he had to leave the production before final editing due to a family tragedy. Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon to complete the film. Whedon then reshot a fair amount of footage (if not a LOT of footage) and really changed the vision of the story - at least that was the rumor since until now we didn’t really know what Snyder’s vision was for the film. The original was panned by critics and DC comic and movie fans and was generally seen as a failure for the DC movie franchise.
Cue a lot of fan uproar and demands for a chance to see what Snyder had in mind for the film all along. Warner Bros. eventually relented and put some tens of millions of dollars behind Snyder’s efforts at finishing the movie his way. Which brings us to the release of the Snyder cut of the film.
Full disclosure - I did not like the original film. In fact, I really disliked it. So, I came into my viewing of Zack Snyder’s Justice League with some skepticism. While I clearly disliked the Whedon version of the film, I’m not a huge Snyder fan in general, so I didn’t have my hopes up that this would really be a better movie - just different. So, let’s jump into those spoilers…
It’s LONG
First off, realize this movie is 4 hours long. It is split into 6 chapters and an epilogue. Since it’s streaming, it’s pretty easy to take a break between various chapters, allowing you to break it up a bit. Much better than trying to sit through a 4-hour movie in a theater.
That said, it didn’t feel that long to me - likely because I did take a couple of breaks while watching the whole movie in one night. So, just be prepared for the length.
There are Literally New Characters
When you add 2 hours to a film, you know there is going to be a lot of new content - literally twice as much. Some of those will be longer scenes with the same characters, but in this movie, we literally get entirely new characters or ones that appeared for seconds in the original. Some are almost throwaway or superfluous (Martian Manhunter, Deathstroke, the Joker). Others that appeared briefly in the Whedon version get more fleshed out roles in Snyder’s version, like Mera (that Atlantean), several Amazons, and villains Darkseid and DeSaad).
Mera’s character adds quite a bit to Aquaman’s story and the inclusion of villains beyond Steppenwolf adds a very different dimension to the overall story.
What’s so Funny?
Nothing. Nothing is particularly funny in Snyder’s version. Snyder’s films in general are known for their grittiness and serious tone. Whedon, on the other hand, enjoys humor and likes to play with both humor and serious content together. That can work extremely well when it is part of the film from the beginning. Just look at any number of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films that manage to be quite funny, but also filled with action, and they can be focused on serious topics (like Infinity Wary and Endgame for example). But, when jokes are just added to what is planned as a serious film, they can seem very out of place, which is how I felt about Whedon’s film.
While I enjoy the jokes in MCU movies very much, they had no place in Justice League. It’s better for their removal.
How Does it Compare to the Original?
So, you probably get the picture that a LOT has changed from one move to the other. Without creating a running list, here are just a few things that are very different.
- Steppenwolf - The main villain was created entirely from CGI in both films, but is almost unrecognizable as the same character.
- Superman - How about an entirely different suit for our favorite Kryptonian? Yup, we see the returned-from-the-dead Superman in an all-black costume instead of his usual blue and red outfit. It’s a stark difference and the story explains it quite well.
- Flash and Cyborg - Both of these characters are a lot more important to Snyder’s film. The Flash from Whedon’s film was largely used for comic relief. While still quirky in Snyder’s version, he has a much more important part to play in the story and the team’s ultimate success in beating Steppenwolf and Darkseid (like he literally turns back time). Cyborg also gets a much deeper backstory and a huge role in keeping the Mother Boxes apart.
- Wonder Woman - In Whedon’s version, we get a slightly more vulnerable character than in Snyders. This version of Wonder Woman is a bad$#! for lack of a better term. Between the early scene where she deals very harshly with a group of terrorists (much more harshly than in Whedon’s version) to the final battle where she chops off Steppenwolf’s head as opposed to standing around and watching Steppenwolf’s own demon followers kill him, this is a much grittier and more violent Wonder Woman. A welcome change for me.
- The Russian Family - In Whedon’s version, there was a Russian family at the heart of Steppenwolf’s base who had to be rescued and seemingly was used to humanize the whole climactic battle, along with showing the destructive effects of the Mother Boxes on reality throughout the movie. The family was obviously an invention of Whedon’s as they are entirely gone from the Snyder cut.
How Does it Hold Up on its Own?
It’s one thing to be better than a previous bad movie. It’s another for the new version to stand on its own and be considered ‘good’. In my opinion, the Snyder version is much better than Whedon’s. I will go so far as to say I enjoyed it and could now say I liked this movie. But, I didn’t love it, at all. If the original was a 1.5-star movie, this one is more like a 2.5.
