Zack Snyder's Justice League

I don't want to discuss the Machiavellian machinations that led to the butchery cut from 2017 and then to this one seeing the light of day - suffice to say that I am not hopeful for the future - yet I am grateful for them leading to me getting to see Zack Snyder's cut. Other than being way too long, it was a pretty perfect film. It would have been a much better business decision to split it into two films and getting twice the money from cinemas than to cut and reshoot it into stupidity.

After watching this cut I knew why things happened, what the motivations of the characters were, including the villains, Superman's lip didn't make me cringe, new characters and story ideas have been introduced and I am hopeful for the DC Universe for the first time in a long time. Easter Eggs galore! And it also had a nice end scene that foreshadowed a possible continuation, but also gave enough so you understand what it could have been even if no film is being made of it. It's not a one minute Marvel post credit scene, it's a full on subplot about the future. Hell, it made me want to see more of Jared Leto!

Is it perfect? No. There were some scenes that I would have gladly had edited out: people bursting in song like in a Bolly film, people climbing stairs, Lois Lane talking to Clark's mom, Lois Lane talking to a random street cop, Lois Lane standing still thinking, etc. The character of Cyborg's dad was also weak, even if I really like the actor.

Bottom line: I thought that the 2017 cut had a bunch of characters that were not explored or otherwise pointless. The Snyder cut fixes all of that and adds meaning to everything everybody does. It's not mindless fun like the 2017, but has a shape and a place in the world and would have given me hope in the DC Universe if I didn't know only AT&T's desperation brought it to light.

There was a time I would go to the cinema, watch a movie like Superman II or Raiders of the Lost Ark. I would think I really liked that movie, could had done with another 30 minutes added on to it, what a ride.

As I get older. Now when faced with the 3 hours long, The Avengers: Endgame. All I can think is will no one think of my bladder.

There are countless examples of even 2 hour long movies nowadays where I think the director could had easily sliced 30 minutes off.

This brings me to Zack Snyder's Justice League. All 4 hours of it.

I planned to watch this over several days and to my surprise I did it all in one day.

Although Justice League (2017) has Zack Snyder credited as the director. The film was largely reshot by Joss Whedon who delivered the final cut at 2 hours. Snyder has not even seen the movie.

Fan pressure got the Zack Snyder cut released. It looks like everything Snyder shot is in it, some with better special effects added and Snyder even shot some new footage.

This is a more coherent version. I remembered just how rushed some of the scenes were in Justice League and the accompanying music by Danny Elfman.

In essence Whedon's rewrite and reshoots created a monster with two competing visions. Which then had to be heavily edited for a shorter running time.

Snyder has been allowed to give his cut room to breath. The main beneficiaries are The Flash and Cyborg who have more of a backstory and utilised better here.

Ray Fisher who played Cyborg has been pretty critical about how his character's part was reduced in Justice League and how he disliked the atmosphere created by Whedon.

Steppenwolf also fares better in this movie with improved CGI. In Justice League I thought he was just a generic CGI villain.

There are still some downsides. In the opening hostage scene with Wonder Woman. She could had disarmed the baddie as we can see she moves very fast. Instead Wonder Woman lets him reload his gun, all so she can blast him from the side of a building. How many people did the falling debris injure?

When The Flash is running around near the speed of light. Cyborg is just standing there doing nothing, not even looking behind him to check if Steppenwolf is there. In fact there is a bit too much standing around in several action scenes when the mother box is the most important item to protect.

Superman is still the casualty in both versions. A reduced role for the Man of Steel who has to return from the dead.

There is no doubt in my mind this is the better version of Justice League. However the real challenge would had been could Snyder had delivered this movie with 90 minutes shaved off.

While it's not a perfect movie, Zack Snyder's Justice League is definitely better than Joss Whedon's version. Although it almost seems like cheating because Snyder got four hours to tell this superhero story, where the 2017 movie only had two. Still, this gives more room for character development, the storyline makes more sense, and there are some really cool moments. It didn't feel too long to me, actually, but I hope this doesn't usher in the era of 4+ hour films.

Zach Snyder's original version is 1000 x's better than the one Joss Whedon put in theaters. DC made a huge mistake not trusting Synder.

The original film was 2 hours long, this version comes in at 4 hours!

From start to finish the film is literary a new film with more story, more action, more everything!

Epic, amazing and can't wait for the sequel!

4 years of wait finally ended...