Editor’s Note: Read David’s original review of Justice League (2017)
As subjective as critiquing film can be, I’ve been very outspoken about my lack of interest in many of Zack Snyder’s films. Outside of Watchmen and Dawn of the Dead, I’ve never put him on a pedestal as an elite director in Hollywood. Therefore, when the #ReleasetheSnyderCut movement began to take shape, I was vocal about the unnecessary outcry for his original vision to be seen, as his previous entries in the DCEU had been, up to this point, quite subpar.
As the voices got louder, I stood my ground in expecting little to nothing from Zack Snyder’s Justice League and made it a point to say that if I was wrong about the film, I would eat crow and admit my inaccurate assumptions.
Well, it’s time to eat crow and admit how wrong I was. The Snyder Cut not only delivers but surpasses expectations. The film is a grandiose epic that captures the heart of the DCEU and offers up justice for Zack Snyder.
In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the premise expands and dives deeper into the formation of the Justice League as Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) looks to align forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) and lead a team of metahumans, including Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), and The Flash (Ezra Miller) to protect the world from Steppenwolf and a menacing threat, Darkseid.
With his vision, Snyder creates a mythological epic that mirrors Peter Jackson’s eye when he helmed The Lord of the Rings. It was a vision that brought our modern-day mythical heroes to the screen how they were meant to be seen on a grand stage. Snyder’s best direction comes with putting a straight focus on every character, their choices, and growth, in turn, greatly assisting in the construction and narrative build of the film.
Every character is given their moment to shine, and all offer up note-worthy performances. Gal Gadot shows why no one can play Diana Prince the way she does, while Ezra Miller and Jason Mamoa exude levels of charisma that make us crave more stand-alone entries for each. Henry Cavill’s black suit Superman will make fans happy despite his minimal screentime in this epic. Ray Fisher offers up a heartfelt and sobering performance that makes me question why Warner Bros. let Whedon cut any of his footage from the 2017 film in the first place.
Despite those great performances, Ben Affleck stands out as the best in the show. If there’s been one constant throughout Snyder’s DCEU, Affleck knocks it out of the park as the Dark Knight. It’s no different in this cut as Affleck portrays Bruce Wayne’s growth since Batman v Superman showed him as a deconstructed, haunted man. We see Wayne mature as he becomes the Justice League leader and doing whatever it takes to save the world.
Villains in comic book films are always hit or miss and 2017’s Steppenwolf may go down as one of the worst. This time around, Steppenwolf is fleshed out where we truly understand his motives and his focus on pleasing the evil Darkseid. This motivation allows genuine stakes for the villain and allows the audience to question whether our heroes will come out on top.
Speaking of villains, film Twitter went crazy after Jared Leto’s new Joker look, and while the scene is relatively short, Leto is quite good. Folks that focused on Leto being a “not so good” Joker will be delighted with this new take in the film.
One of the early takeaways for me was the tone of the film. In previous outings within the DCEU, Snyder focuses on society’s downturn to a point where his films lacked any aspect of fun and could be looked at as quite morbid. With this cut, Snyder mixes it up. He adds in more world-building mythology, with essential humor that, despite its runtime, makes this film Snyder’s most audience-friendly and accessible film. But still captures emotional scenes showcasing Lois and Martha’s grief over Clark and poignant moments with Cyborg/Victor Stone’s origin.
Now onto the bad of Justice League. Three things I had trouble with were color, runtime, and aspect ratio. Despite the lighter script tone of the film, Zack still didn’t change his color palette. For a film that offers up such a lively feel, its look leaves a lot to be desired with its dull colors. The 4-hour length, while mostly unfelt, could have been trimmed down to a tighter 3:30- 3:45 hour range. A few moments throughout the film do feel unnecessary and maybe Snyder knew this would be his last with DC/Warner Bros. and didn’t want to leave anything on the cutting room floor. The choice to film in a 4:3 ratio took away some of the jam-packed action scenes for me that would have looked better filmed in broad epic scope.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League justifies its existence with a grand heroic tale that will not only impress the Snyder Cut fan base but change the mindsets of those like myself who felt this would be nothing short of a disaster. This was a well-crafted enjoyable ride that cements its place as one of the DCEU’s best entries.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League premieres Thursday, March 18, 2021, on HBO Max.
