It almost feels unreal to be writing this review, as this is a movie which has been hyped for years and for the longest time people didn’t believe would ever see the light of day. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is finally out in the public domain for anyone to see, and it is a triumph is so many ways.
To begin with, it doesn’t feel right to just review this film without the full context of where and why this film has come from and also look at where the series may be going in the future.
To understand the significance of the film and it’s review, we must first look at the history of what this film is, in case you’ve been living under a Kryptonian rock for the last four years and have no idea what this film is, or it’s significance.
In 2017 the theatrical cut of Justice League was released to cinemas and whilst there was some initial praise to it from some critics, there was also a huge amount of backlash that the film wasn’t very good, had a hilariously bad cgi effect that will forever live in infamy and was a very troubled movie. The film credited Zack Snyder as the director, but in reality Zack had been the original director, but was replaced towards the end of shooting just the director of the first two Avengers movies Joss Whedon.
At the time of this happening it was known that Zack Snyder had suffered a family tragedy as his daughter had taken her own life, and whilst it was first reported that Zack would continue filming after this tragedy, it was reported that he then decided to step down and that Whedon was brought in to help see through the film whilst Snyder took care of his family. The film then continued with some reshoots, and most famously almost every scene with Superman in was noticeably reshot as Henry Cavil who plays Superman was noticeably altered with CGI in the released film. This is because Cavil had moved on to film a Mission Impossible movie where he had grown a full moustache and the studio behind Mission Impossible refused to allow Cavil to shave it for the Justice League reshoots.
For any footage featuring Superman from the reshoots it was required that the moustache be digitally removed and the results looked bad. This one thing more than anything else told fans that pretty much every scene featuring the Man of Steel had been filmed in the reshoots and really posed the question – what happened in the original footage?
As time went on, rumours persisted that there was an almost completed version of the film out there that was filmed by Snyder before Whedon took over, and fans continually dug into what was the fabled ‘Snyder Cut’ of Justice League like. A deleted scene from Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice told us that the film’s villain Steppenwolf had looked radically different from the version we saw in the theatrical cut, and we also knew that the Flash had got an extended story in the Snyder Cut that featured his Central City love interest Iris West who was cut entirely from the theatrical cut. Kiersey Clemons was seen in early trailers being rescued by Ezra Miller’s Flash, and it was moments like this that really made fans want to see what the original director had planned for us.
And then of course there is the Ray Fisher aspect to this whole story. Zack Snyder had long said that the character Cyborg was the heart of the movie, and of course when we saw the theatrical cut this was clearly not the case. This meant that a significant amount of Ray’s scenes were cut, and over the last year Ray has come out with accusations about bad treatment from Joss Whedon during the reshoots and whilst this certainly created a negative perception of Whedon to the public, it also really helped fuel fans to want to see the Snyder Cut even more. Everyone was in agreement that Whedon’s version of the film wasn’t good, and with Ray Fisher’s reports of how things went down we can feel more for Ray’s character being cut so much and for Snyder not getting his vision of the film released.
Over the years since the theatrical cut was released a lot has happened with the DC Extended Universe of films, and whilst Zack Snyder had lead the way with Man of Steel leading to Batman v Superman and then the Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman films, the continuation of the Avengers like connected universe of films started to crumble after the release of 2017’s Justice League.
Firstly we had the reshoots of Justice League would wrap up the story in the film quite definitively, with just a few hints that more adventures would be possible, where as it had been previously spoken about as if Justice League would come out in Parts 1 and 2.
Then we got that Joaquin Phoenix would be playing the Joker in a movie which was released a couple of years ago to much praise. This infuriated Jared Leto was promised his own Joker movie as well as a movie that featured him and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn to continue their adventures form the Suicide Squad movie. Instead Leto was seemingly completely out of the picture as Robbie would return for the Birds of Prey movie with no involvement of Leto.
Next came that Ben Affleck was stepping down as Batman and that the movie which he was originally going to direct that pitted him against Joe Mangeniello’s Deathstroke was now not happening. This opened up the door for Robert Pattinson to take on the role of a much younger Batman in the upcoming Matt Reeves directed film, The Batman.
And Henry Cavil who was slated to return as Superman in a small role in Shazam was instead replaced by his own stunt double wearing the Superman costume in a tiny cameo where clearly the studio weren’t sure if Cavil would ever be back or not, as they simply chose not to show Superman’s face.
So with all these changes, it clearly means that the Justice League series of films is dead right? Well not quite. Wonder Woman was a huge hit starring Gal Godot, and last December got a follow up in Wonder Woman 1984, which whilst not as well received, was still enough of an instant hit for a third Wonder Woman film to be green lit.
Aqua Man was also a big hit, and that film even included a small reference to the events of Justice League in it, which is important as it keeps the canon of the film still alive. And even though there hasn’t been much movement on it, a sequel was announced.
As already mentioned Margot Robbie continued in the role of Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey, and returned again with other members of the Suicide Squad film for the James Gunn directed semi reboot titled ‘The Suicide Squad’.
There were rumours that a planned Flashpoint movie starring Ezra Miller was in trouble, and that Ezra Miller may not be back in the role, but that got resolved and towards the end of last year it was confirmed to be going ahead with rumoured story implications which may reflect the effect of the Snyder Cut of Justice League keeping it’s place in the franchise.
So, as can be seen the status of the franchise is very confused. Batman and Joker showed that Warner Bros were moving on, but other films show that the story Zack Snyder started were living on in many ways.
So how within all this confusion did the Snyder Cut return? Two things. The fans, and HBO Max. To explain the fans part of the equation is quite simple. The fans saw the evidence as mentioned earlier and wanted to see the film, and so they demanded it. And then they demanded it some more. And more. And their passion only grew and with social media and the #releasetheSnyderCut hashtag growing more and more over the years and never going away it reached a point where Zack Snyder could meet with execs at Warner Brothers and point out that the film they had that had the most interest of all their films was in fact one they didn’t plan to release.
And then there is that Warner Bros had their new HBO Max streaming service which they wanted to rival Disney + and Netflix. And with the global pandemic shutting down cinemas Warners made the huge move to say that all their late 2020 and all their 2021 movies would release day and date on HBO Max along with any theatrical releases. This ruffled many feathers in the industry as it would surely kill of the cinema once and for all. This trend started with Wonder Woman 1984, and will include The Suicide Squad, but before the pandemic had as this effect on the cinema Warner Bros were looking for the big exclusives to draw viewers to HBO Max and their first big announcement was that a 4 part version of Zack Snyder’s Justice League would see the light of day.
An important part of this whole story comes here in regards to the future of the series, as the 4 part series was released today as a single 4 hour film. It was also said that there would be no additional photography on the film and that there would be some kind of narration to finish bridging the gaps in the movie. Again we know this changed as the finished film featured four minutes of extra scenes which brough back several characters and also brought in Jared Leto’s Joker and revealed Harry Lennix’s character who was seen in Man of Steel to be the character Martian Manhunter. The point is things change.
So now we’ve looked at what came before let’s dig into the actual Snyder Cut of Justice League. The first triumph is that it got released at all based on all of the context that I gave above. This is truly a win for the fans that campaigned for it. But the next triumph comes in the film itself. This film is a vast vast vast improvement of the theatrical cut. One thought I had throughout watching it was how little of the footage I’d seen before.
If we do the maths for a minute, this film is 4 hours long, where as the theatrical cut was 2 hours long. That means that we are definitely getting two hours of extra material, but in reality it’s actually a lot more then that. Joss Whedon did a significant amount of reshoots and that means for every minute of Joss Whedon shot footage, means that there are extra minutes of what would therefore be Snyder footage in the two hours which remain. Add to this that absolutely every Steppenwolf scene is different even if the same footage of other characters is seen as Steppenwolf had his design completely changed by to how he appeared in the deleted scene from Batman v Superman. This equals that that is very little of the 4 hours which we had seen before. Maybe an hour spread across this 4 hour marathon of a film.
Even scenes that appeared in both films felt very different, and one of the biggest triumphs in this version is that the characters also feel very different to how they felt in the previous release.
The main film I was happy to see was that Batman was a lot more badass in the Snyder Cut and a lot less of a spare part as he felt in the theatrical cut. In that film Batman, who is normally the hero and ass kicker barely had any action and was obviously the weakest link of the Justice League as he has no super powers. In this film we see Batman in several fight sequences with the parademons, and what’s more, the parademons actually seem somewhat scary and a threat in this film instead of just a wave of disposable minions as they were in the theatrical cut.
Batman is also now in possession of super tough gauntlets which could even resist Superman’s heat vision. This alone just showed that Batman wasn’t just completely vulnerable. And they also had Batman lead the charge by using his gadgets and tech with the Batwing and Batmobile seeing Batman front and centre of the action in a way he wasn’t before.
But all this isn’t to say that there weren’t still some issues with Batman. When Clark came back form the dead, just as in the theatrical cut, Batman is the last to join the fight against Superman which just made him seem a spare part. And it’s a shame as after the title and premise of the previous film in the series being Batman v Superman and that they fought each other, that they didn’t find a way for Batman to continue to be able to match against Superman or have the armour or tech to physically face off with Steppenwolf.
Another issue I had with this version of the film, also came from the sequence of bringing Superman back from the dead. In the theatrical cut the heroes go and confront Superman and we suddenly see in the distance that Steppenwolf had acquired the Mother Box that had been used to revive Superman whilst it was completely unguarded – even though the whole purpose of reviving Superman was so he could fight Steppenwolf to stop him getting the mother box.
In this film , it isn’t as bad, but the heroes do once again leave the mother box unattended whilst they deal with Superman. At least here it is first Cyborg’s dad who takes control of the box first and we get a longer sequence to see how Steppenwolf got control of it. It perhaps could have been a better use to have even Batman if they weren’t going to have him face Superman to be guarding the box, but again it would have made more sense for a super powered character take control, or have the flash hold it as he could escape quickly if Steppenwolf arrived.
The Steppenwolf character is the next one to look at who was vastly improved here. Unlike the weird Liam Neeson Playstation 2 aesthetic that the villain has in the theatrical cut, Steppenwolf here looks much more scary and impressive. His armour is constantly adjusting and moving and alive and he poses much more threat in this form.
It’s also worth noting that he is a much more well rounded character as we learn that he has fallen out of favour with the true big bad in the film Darkseid, and is desperate to redeem himself and fears Darkseid. This vulnerable side to the character adds layers to him which is super fascinating to see. Also the fact that he is defeated by being killed by a combination of Aqua Man stabbing him with his trident, Superman punching him and then Wonder Woman cutting his head off was great. A much better ending then his Parademon minions turning on him for his sole moment of fear in the Whedon Cut.
Flash is a better character here too. His scene rescuing Iris West shows hints at what is to come in the Flashpoint movie, and he is already more of a hero in this version. He doesn’t need Batman to tell him everything to do, and he takes proactive steps to rescue people and fight off enemies. I wasn’t so keen of his rushing ahead of Steppenwolf’s prisoners to show them they way out as they slowly went up the stairs to escape. In this sequence I would have felt it was better to have Flash carry everyone out to safety rushing back and forth to save each person.
Cyborg was truly the heart of the movie as Snyder said. I completely see that, although with that said I was surprised in this 4 hour movie, that it took about an hour for him to really come into it. But once he did he did in a big way. He was often the character leading the plans and the person with the knowledge due to his access to all computer’s information. We also saw him lose his dad played by Joe Morton.
An interesting thought I had here was that Joe Morton’s character had actually survived the theatrical cut, so depending if they do ever continue the franchise he may be an example of an actor who had wished that they had followed the theatrical cut going forward just so that if nothing else, he would still have a job.
Wonder Woman and Aqua Man are both expanded with additional scenes and especially with Aqua Man having a fight with Steppenwolf mid way through the film, his joining the League makes more sense in this version.
And of course there is Superman. Chiefly, his face is no longer a CGI mess. His resurrection is no longer compared to Pet Semetary and we get rid of his weird growly voice from when he was first brought back from the dead. Instead Superman gets his comic accurate black suit and we see him recharge from the Earth’s yellow sun in a great flight sequence to mark his return.
I’m still not completely on board with the concept of killing Superman at the end of the character’s second movie, only for him to return just for a few minutes at the end of this one and do kinda feel like why bother killing him if you just were going to bring him back straight away. Of course, there were the Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman films between Batman v Superman and Justice League, but neither of those felt like they should have included Superman for his absence to be noticeable.
It was good not to have that silly family who were in the theatrical cut who Superman and Flash go to rescue. It really bothered me that Superman turned up to fight Steppenwolf and immediately disappeared to save civilians when the world was about to end. It was these gaps in logic which made the theatrical cut feel so bad.
This version also gave us the additional footage that was shot during the last year which were great additions and start to take us into the plans for the future of the Snyderverse. Harry Lennix as Martian Manhunter was pure tease that fans would obviously want more of the character then the two short scenes we had here. This was a way of pulling on the fans heartstrings a little and making them not want this to end.
Likewise that seems a great deal of the point of the nightmare sequence at the end. The epilogue as it was presented with the final of the on screen chapters that this version gave us, showed Batman, Cyborg, Meera, Flash and the Joker teaming up in a world which has been overtaken by Darkseid and an evil Superman. An earlier premonition in the film for Cyborg showed that Darkseid would kill Aqua Man and Wonder Woman and that Superman was quite possibly cradling a dead Lois Lane. This showed Superman comforted by Darkseid and will be what leads Superman to become the evil character Bruce had the premonition of in Batman v Superman.
The massive tease here was the return of Jared Leto’s Joker, who in this short scene came off as a much improved Joker compared to what we saw in the heavily edited Suicide Squad film (#ReleaseTheAyerCut) Batman and Joker sparred verbally with Joker offering a truce with Bruce (couldn’t resist the rhyme) and big hints about what has happened that we’ve yet to see.
I still winder if this Joker could turn out to be Robin as the talk of Boy Wonder was vague enough, and Joker did refer to Batman as his best friend. Time may tell on this if we get the sequel, but this scene where we teased what may be if we get Affleck and Leto together properly as Batman and Joker again in the future.
Lastly on the conspiracy theory front, I really noted that Steppenwolf spoke of the multiverse, and when he did I looked at the scene and thought how everything on screen was CGI, and that this would have therefore been produced within the last year. I suspect that the dialogue about the multiverse may have been added just to lay the groundwork for what will occur in the Flashpoint movie which is heavily rumoured to introduce the multiverse.
Because if there is a multiverse, which there now is as Steppenwolf confirmed it here, it means there are ways for the Snyderverse to continue set within the alternate dimension.
It’s also worth noting on this front that it’s just been confirmed that Kiersey Clemons is confirmed to return for the Flashpoint film which further continues what was started here. If they had recast her it could be said that this film didn’t count and that she only existed in a deleted scene. But that is now not the case.
Add to this that it is said that Ben Affleck will return in Flashpoint despite Robert Pattinson being in The Batman, and that Michael Keaton will also appear as his version of the character from the 1989 Batman The Movie, and this means the multiverse can very easily keep showing us different versions of characters without it seeming odd.
The fact that the TV versions of the characters have sat along side the movie versions for many years without people getting confused and that the Arrowverse version of the Flash met Ezra Miller’s version a couple of years ago in the Crisis on Infinite Earths story is proof that fans would only be excited to have multiple versions of the same characters at the same time.
I truly believe that the Snyderverse will continue and am in the camp that thinks that a lot fo recent talk that it’s coming to an end with the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League is purposely designed to get fans to rally to demand the continuation in the same way that they demanded the Snyder Cut be released in the first place. These teases for the future are just the start of the campaign to continue and not for this film to be the end of the journey.
And so in conclusion I can admit that where as it would be normal for a review to focus on the new product alone and not be based so much around comparisons to another project, but this is a rare situation. Never before have we got a directors cut which was so radically different to the theatrical cut as this, or had as much fan support as this film. For most people watching this film it will be impossible to separate the film from this context and so I will review and examine them as a whole experience.
This film isn’t perfect, but in terms of my excitement and hopes and how it did manage to deliver everything I could have hoped for this film is an absolute triumph and for that I sincerely hope that we are able to get the follow up and that the “Snyderverse” will continue.
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Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available to watch now on HBO Max in the US and on Now TV in the UK.
