'Zack Snyder's Justice League' Review
R: Violence and Language
Runtime: 4 Hrs and 3 Minutes
Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, The Stone Quarry
Distributor: HBO Max
Director: Zack Snyder
Writer: Chris Terrio
Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons
Release Date: March 18, 2021
HBO MAX
In 2017, long before I became an accredited critic in the eyes of reps, and before my editor, Myan and I became business partners, we were just two friends who waited in lines for advanced screenings of new releases. A few months into our friendship, we went on a trip from New York to New Jersey to see Justice League. The experience we had while venturing out to see the film and bonding as friends blindsided us so hard that we gave the movie a premature 3.5/5 rating. It wasn’t until the second time I watched the film that I came to my senses and admitted: Wait… this is a complete and utter shitshow — a greedy studio interfering with a filmmaker's vision during the most distressing time in his life by hiring the least qualified person to complete his vision, resulting in a deformed hodgepodge of a movie as terrible as Doomsday’s final look in Batman v Superman.
Thanks to the power of ince-- I mean, the internet, the long-awaited “Snyder cut” of the $300 million Justice League mess — now titled Zack Snyder's Justice League — has finally arrived and wow, I am livid and enlightened, but not in the way you’d expect.
In ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE, determined to ensure Superman's (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is exactly what the title says it is — his passion project aligned with his vision. Snyder fan or not, there was a unifying sigh of relief seeing this super-packed movie done through his signature vision and tone. Given that this is a grand-scale epic in the same vein as Ben-Hur and Return of the King in terms of size, scope, and story, the narrative doesn’t feel rushed. Most importantly, there isn’t a struggle between clashing tones. When humor is integrated, it’s in accordance with the character and their personality. It has Snyder’s signature dark tone but it’s not one that alienates viewers by any means. For better or worse, this is Zack Snyder’s Justice League and it plays the same tune as the two previous entries in the Snyder trilogy.
ZSJL is a beast of its own and every single facet is superior to the bastard that was the theatrical cut. It’s a four-AHHHHour movie, so I wouldn’t recommend plowing through it in one sitting. I mean, if you do, more power to you, but I highly advise against watching the entire film at once because it's pretty overwhelming and there’s so much to digest. The theatrical cut was a CliffsNotes version full of revisions to this massive novel-like movie, which is divided into six chapters like a visual storybook. It's best to pace yourself and play it like a mini-series. It sets up and delivers many different plot threads to close out the DC Snyder trilogy. This is the Snyder Ben-Hur-style epic due to its run time and story that oddly enough stays coherent and cohesive throughout.
The film opens with a prominent image that throws you back into the climax of the predecessor, Batman v Superman. When Superman (sans CG mouth) is being held by the grey Ninja Turtle abomination known as Doomsday, he bellows out a scream of death that is heard across the globe, especially by the protectors of three Mother Boxes: one with Victor Stone/Cyborg, one protected by the Amazons in Themyscira, and one in Atlantis. As Superman’s scream echoes, the first Mother Box awakens, unleashing Steppenwolf on Earth since its last Kryptonian defender is deceased. The narrative is easily comprehensible and actively cohesive as Snyder makes this plot effective on a global scale. From the opening scene all the way to its climax, this is a significantly different movie that stands on its very own, taking it slow and steady to win its race.
Because most of Batman v Superman served as a sloppy rush to get Warner Bros.’s DC Extended Universe off the ground, Snyder’s Justice League makes up for the shortcomings of its predecessor by taking its sweet time establishing the majority of its players –– both newcomers and veterans –– complete with their own individual arcs that are meticulously set up and fully realized. Chris Terrio’s screenplay makes this a grand-scale epic that has everyone playing a specific role on a global scale. Nobody — and I mean it to the Mitski extent — is blurred into the background. Terrio’s screenplay does an outstanding job fleshing out each member of the League as sympathetic people who must find their place in the world and rise to the occasion through their own definition of heroism. He even includes enough lore through exposition to crank up the level of urgency. As a result, the importance of bringing the League together holds enough weight. Everyone is given their own time in the sun with strong dynamics and dialogue exchanges that, by the time they all come together against Steppenwolf in the finale, all feels well earned.
Another thing about Terrio’s screenplay that I found compelling is how, in the world of Gods and galactic threats alike, nearly every character is humanized as best as possible to play into this mega event. This includes Steppenwolf, the primary antagonist who has a clear motivation and doesn’t feel like a generic villain. He shares a history with Darkseid that involves a falling out and my guy is experiencing regret. DARKSEID IS ACTUALLY IN THIS MOVIE, GETS A GREAT AMOUNT OF SCREENTIME, AND SERVES A PURPOSE! DC fans are going to feel vindicated, for the level of passion and attention to detail that Snyder delivers translates well into the big screen… or small screen, I suppose.
The title of strongest character arc in this film belongs to Victor Stone. As many recall, Stone’s origin and his arc were completely erased from the theatrical cut, lessening the importance of his role in the process. It was Ray Fisher’s first major outing in his film career, only to debut as an iconic character being stifled by incompetent writing. Given how he publicized his battle against the executives at Warner Bros., this film serves as primary evidence of how they truly fucked him over in the first version of JL. ZSJL creates an emotionally riveting arc for Cyborg, focused on the relationship between him and his workaholic scientist father that is so well-paced and integrated into the ongoing plot. By the climax, the emotional payoff was so strong that I shed a tear for both the character’s rise to power and in solidarity for Fisher. He does such a fantastic job as Cyborg that I want to see more of his iteration of the character in future live-action DC projects.
As you watch the characters’ solo arcs laid out as a whole, even down to Superman’s three-film story arc reaching its conclusion, you get the feeling that these actors truly embody the iconic characters they portray, especially Fisher as Cyborg and Ezra Miller as The Flash. While certain things about Barry Allen still bother me, like his silly run, Miller’s charismatic performance is joyous to watch as his humor helps brighten the tone, but not in a way that feels detrimental to the plot since his arc is also emotionally effective.
Another standout player that was completely revamped in this film is Wonder Woman. Considering how strong the recent stench of Wonder Woman 1984 is and how Whedon depicted her solely as a sex object after the glory that was her first solo movie just months prior, Zack Snyder of all people captures the iconic Amazon warrior how everyone knows her best: as a warrior. Snyder understands the character, her badassery, and what she represents. In her introduction sequence, she’s given more personality than she received in her last two outings and is impressively kickass throughout the entire film. Much like she did in BvS, Diana Prince holds her own and kicks the most ass, to the extent that I was brought to tears because this is how she should be depicted. There are no scenes of The Flash falling on Wonder Woman’s boobs to disrupt a badass action sequence for misogynistic humor, or Diana smiling for the camera, or Aquaman commenting on how beautiful she is. She is a motherfucking warrior and is depicted as such in this movie. To everyone who loves Wonder Woman, you will feel vindicated by this cut.
I’ve been commenting on the characters, their dynamics, and the coherence of the story… but what about the action sequences? Are they good? Is the R rating warranted? Die-hard Snyder fans are gonna eat this shit up regardless, but as far as my opinions go:
The dope shit that I loved from the theatrical cut involved all of Snyder’s action sequences. Seeing the variety of action sequences fully play out through his lens and signature dark color palette is exhilarating. The film commits to its R rating and it’s surprisingly very warranted. It raises the stakes to depict what kind of threat the League is facing. You see warriors get sliced in half or decapitated, with CG blood flowing like a Mortal Kombat game. But man… the way you see Parademons (which look so much better design-wise, by the way) get owned is pretty damn cool.
As much as I respect a filmmaker’s artistic vision finally gracing our screens to close out his trilogy with his voice — one that’s more identifiable than many other superhero films that feel like corporate products instead of a filmmaker’s vision — that vision is still Zack Snyder. So if you’re not a Snyder fan, the Zack Snyderisms are going to annoy you. There are numerous potentially cool moments that are undercut by his Snyderisms. For starters, that crazy slow motion he adores. Snyder truly cranked his slow-mo to the max, overusing it for the most unnecessary reasons. If you played a drinking game based on how many slow motion shots are in this film, you would die. Die-hard Snyder fans won’t have a problem with the usage of slo-mo, but the more he relies on it, the lesser the impact of the scenes as a whole. It’s just so egregiously overdone that it disrupts the pacing of the film. This is a four-hour movie and no matter how you dice it, cuts could’ve been made in order to make the film more digestible. Slo-mo is heavily used for action sequences and the most basic of character actions, like Lois Lane resting her coffee on a police bar to blatantly emphasize her wedding ring.
If that’s not enough, the music cues are so bad. The score by Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), which replaces the bizarre Danny Elfman compositions from the theatrical cut, is really good; whenever a character has their moment, a rendition of their theme song plays. But ever so damn often there is a woman singing some kind of opera that accompanies the slow-motion shots to exaggerate the drama occurring on screen, which would be fine if it wasn’t done in such a repetitive manner that comes across as obnoxious. I get it. These heroes are seen as Gods through the eyes of the visionary, but it’s so damn on the nose and overdone that it nearly gave me a migraine. It’s a love/hate relationship where I want to give Snyder the benefit of the doubt but all the repetitive styling makes this four-hour movie feel longer than it should’ve been. As I get older, Zack Snyder stays the same.
I’m not gonna lie, by the time the film was wrapping up, I shed tears of joy because the impossible was achieved: Zack Snyder got to finish his passion project. Say what you will about the Snyder fans, but they vocalized themselves and fought against a studio for a filmmaker who had no fight left in him. They were able to let Snyder conclude his overall mediocre trilogy with his best entry while given carte blanche to restore his Justice League with his signature flair… and it’s fucking glorious. A project that was once called a pipe dream is now fully realized, ending the trilogy Snyder set out to do in his own way, making for a film vastly superior to the shitty studio cut and fixing the many shortcomings of BvS in the process. You finally get to see these heroes shine, and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) it’s all from someone who actually understands them.
I hope every executive who was involved in the decision to proceed with Justice League and hire Whedon as a replacement after Zack stepped down due to his urgent family matter got fired because that shit shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I am not a Zack Snyder fan but I will always side with letting a filmmaker complete his vision as opposed to a studio getting their paycheck. Warner Bros. sought to fuck up Snyder’s cut because they were too greedy, desperately wanting to copy Marvel’s playbook instead of siding with the filmmaker who had a clear, thorough vision for his overstuffed trilogy, while also making the principal cast go through fucking hell with reshoots. As far as I’m concerned, this movie serves as proof that:
Ray Fisher was fucking right and everyone who was involved in the reshoots should be held accountable.
Joss Whedon is a misogynistic piece of shit (though we all knew that, but wow).
The executives at Warner Bros. who spent years downplaying what really went down behind the scenes are pieces of shit.
And most importantly, no studio interference of this capacity should ever fucking happen again.
