Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) - What could've been...

If you been on the internet at all since 2017, you were likely to hear at least one person calling for The Snyder Cut. The title given to what was originally intended for the 2017 film, Justice League, prior to director Zack Snyder stepping away from the project due to a family tragedy. The film was then finished off by Joss Wheadon, with a lot of reshoots and heavy alterations to the film’s colour pallet. This edition seen in the theatrical cut was generally panned by critics and fans alike, resulting in the film being a box office bomb. The call for the Snyder cut quickly became a rallying cry across the internet.

I personally am not the biggest advocate for the films in this DC universe under Zack Snyder’s direction. The tone was generally very depressing and in the case of 2016’s Batman Vs Superman, it felt like a rushed set up film demanded by Warner Brothers, in order to play catch up with Marvel. But even then, something felt very wrong with the theatrical cut of Justice League. The film felt like a completely different universe, and the attempts to bring colour into the stuff shot by Snyder and Director of Photography, Fabian Wagner were appalling and horrible to look at.

So when news broke in 2020 that a definite cut of Justice League was coming, I was intrigued to see how much of Snyder’s original vision would be restored. And after sitting through this near 4 hour epic, it’s clear that Snyder’s cut of Justice League is just that. Snyder’s vision for the film and the DC universe completely unhinged and on display in all it’s visually stunning glory. And it’s a joy to sit through and is beautifully shot. And while sitting in front of your TV for 4 hours may sound extremely uncomfortable, this film is easy to break into sections, as it is literally split into 6 chapters along with an epilogue at the end. But from personal experience, you will likely want to keep watching cause of how it draws you in.

Going into finer detail with this new cut, the bright colours from the theatrical cut are gone. And while the film now looks very bleak, it does fit in with the other Snyder films, unlike the theatrical cut, which looks like someone just vomited paint on the screen. The choice to present the film in 4:3 full screen was inspired, when you are shooting on 35/70mm film, most films will look like this unless you use an anamorphic lens. It shows off to the audience what the full frame was like, and adds a sense of scale and grandeur. I can see this being incredible to watch in the large IMAX screens because of it’s tall picture.

THEATRICAL CUT SNYDER CUT

The effects blend into the film really well, and while it is the usual affair of CGI overkill that most modern blockbusters demonstrate, the bleak colour pallet makes it possible for it to blend in more and feel natural. The CG was extremely obvious in the theatrical cut, due to them not always being complete, or the over saturated colour pallet giving the game away. I was also very impressed with how the characters felt more fleshed out in this cut. Characters like Cyborg (Ray Fisher) feel more fleshed out and are most important to the narrative, rather than just being there in the theatrical cut. Even our leading antagonist, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) feels more fleshed out, with there being clear indications as to what he’s doing and why he wants to. The theatrical cut has him just turn up and spout generic bad guy B-roll. And while that does still sometimes occurs, the vast majority of his presence here has weight to what is happening and what is being said.

Now would I say this film is perfect?... NO! And there’s two big things that make it hard to love this film. Firstly, it still suffers from there only being two films to properly set up this story. The events of Wonder Woman’s (Gal Gadot) origin film is briefly mentioned, but has no real impact. If anything, the only film that sets up this story is Batman Vs Superman, which was overstuffed to the point, that you have to take notes like you were in a university lecture, in order to keep up. Had there been more time to build up the threat, and establish at least some of our leading players properly, this film would’ve felt like it was paying off the wait. Very much how Marvel made fans sit through 5 solo films to establish some of their leading players before giving us 2012’s Avengers’s Assemble. While the threat and scope is there in this cut of Justice League, it doesn’t feel warranted. The other problem is sadly the 4 hour running time, namely the extensive slow motion used throughout the film. While there are many moments where the slow motion looks amazing, and adds to the film’s beauty, it isn’t always needed, and makes the moments that need it feel less epic. It’s the same problem that Michael Bay has when it comes to explosions in his films. Use it too much, and the moments become meaningless and feel like watching paint dry. Had they kept some of these slow mo shots at normal speed, this would’ve given weight to the time that were kept in slow motion, made them feel more epic, and also made the film feel less dragged out. We didn’t need every shot of Cyborg playing American Football as a human to be slow mo, whereas the shots with The Flash (Barry Miller) requires slow motion a lot of the time to show off his actions and reactions.

So long story short, while I wouldn’t call this cut of Justice League the greatest thing ever made, it certainly is a very good film, celebrating what could’ve been with Snyder’s universe. The cinematography is beautiful, the cast feels more fleshed out and are giving more consistent performances, and the scope feels far more threatening. While it’s does suffer from some of the same problems, it’s hard not to admire a director who watched his film get butchered, get the chance to fix it and demonstrate it how it should’ve been. Plus for those who somehow enjoy the theatrical cut, it’s still out there to watch. As far as I’m aware, both cuts will be around to watch and compare. While I probably won’t go back to this film a lot, I have definitely got both feet in the camp supporting this wonderfully epic director’s cut!

SCORES

Story: 3.5/5

Characters: 4/5

Production: 4.5/5

Acting: 5/5

Music: 5/5

TOTAL: 8.6/10