Love him or hate him, one thing is abundantly clear: Zack Snyder loves DC comics.
A good superhero movie will leave you with a lot to think about, whether from a moral and philosophical standpoint or simply from a “that was great, I want more, and what did that little Easter egg mean?” standpoint. I think especially for self-identified geeks, they give us a fantastical way to suss out our feelings about the world while letting us escape from it for a few hours. Zack Snyder gave me four good hours of escape this weekend.
The problem with trying to objectively review a Zack Snyder movie is just how polarizing he can be to comic fans and casual moviegoers alike. It feels like people either love his style (guilty) or find him to be a total drag. That said, I think if you love DC comics, you’ll at least appreciate what Zack Snyder is trying to do with his take on the Justice League’s origins. Fair warning, this review will have some very light spoilers for Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Setting aside the 2017 theatrical cut for a moment, let’s just talk about the movie as a standalone. As a follow-up story to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder’s Justice League does an excellent job of paying off what the previous movie promised. We open on the immediate aftermath of Superman’s death and see Lex Luthor’s prophesied bell “ringing” to wake up this movie’s big bad guys. What follows is 6 chapters (a total runtime of 4 hours and 2 minutes) that take their time to craft a story rich with lore and nods to the source material that brought it to life. Watching it sometimes felt like Lord of the Rings in its attention to narrative details and world-building. Each member of the Justice League gets a moment to shine and develop their stories, making the final battle feel appropriately high stakes and the ultimate team-up pay off.
Some things remain from the the 2017 theatrical release (albeit not many), some for better and others for worse. I don’t find Steppenwolf to be a particularly compelling villain/antagonist, but I understand that we need something big and bad for the Justice League to team up against, so in that regard he felt like a worthy foe. The extended runtime gave the story room to unwind itself and let the large cast of characters breathe and develop. On that note, the casting is excellent and this movie left me wanting more of this particular Justice League (especially the epilogue!)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t spend a moment to compare and contrast against the theatrical cut of Justice League. This review, as much as it can, is based on the merits of the film. However, I can’t wholly set aside my criticisms of Joss Whedon’s take on Justice League, some of which weren’t to my taste, while others are issues most critics and fans agree made the theatrical cut unpopular. The pace and tone of this movie are a better fit to Batman v Superman and the story set up in that movie. And, while the movie is more somber than the Whedon version, there are moments of levity that add humor without making you cringe. Key differences in music and dialogue will either delight or dismay you, depending largely on how you like your superhero movies; fans of a more serious take on DC comic characters will be pleased.
All in all, I recommend you give Zack Snyder’s Justice League a try. Its runtime may be daunting, but it’s nothing some snacks and a planned intermission or two can’t fix. Personally, I didn’t want to leave this story once I jumped in; I had planned to watch it in two, spaced out two-hour long blocks and ended up blitzing through it in one. Expect Zack Snyder’s usual flair: desaturated colors, slow mo action, somber tone, and dramatic music cues with sweet guitar riffs. If that’s not something you’ve liked in his other movies, then the Snyder Cut might not be for you. That said, if you’re a DC fan, I think you’ll be glad to sink into this dense comic book story for a few hours and get lost in lore. I know I was.
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