It’s been a long time coming, but Zack Snyder’s Justice League is finally here. Nearly a full four years after the debut of the theatrical cut on November 17, 2017. I remember watching that particular version in theaters Thursday evening and saying to a friend across from me that “I want to make movies like that.” But while I said those words, they quickly tasted bitter the moment they left me and I remember being in denial that the movie just didn’t hit me in the same way Man of Steel and Batman v Superman did.
That’s why I ended up making fan edits to cope with my feelings of extreme disappointment when it finally set in that I just didn’t like the film that I so eagerly anticipated.
Now a little backstory, but I’ve always been a DC Comics fan - in particular, a Superman fan. I used to be a pretty lousy reader as a child and it was comic books that helped teach me how to read. So even while the Marvel movies were coming out and crushing it at the box office, I still preferred DC. I loved Man of Steel and Batman v Superman. If you can tell from my video library here alone, those two movies had and continue to have a big impact on me and so of course, I was inclined to want to see Snyder’s vision when it first came to everyone’s attention that the theatrical cut was about as far away from it as you could get.
Now that it’s here, I can safely say that I absolutely loved it. It was just about everything I hoped it would be and more. The four hour runtime, while bloated, flew by faster than a speeding bullet and I never felt a sense of boredom. I even watched it twice on the same day just because I loved the feeling it provided me seeing my favorite superheroes on screen fighting and interacting with one another.
Everyone was done justice (pun intended). Starting with the trinity, Ben Affleck’s Batman got a lot more to do here and wasn’t just a pushover who got beat up all the time. Superman, though he doesn’t appear as much as I would have hoped, had way better fight scenes and much more emotional resonance that, if I do say so myself, reminded me of how I wanted him to appear when I tried re-editing the movie for my fan cut. Especially in terms of hearing that beautiful Man of Steel score. Wonder Woman was much better utilized in this cut as well. She had plenty more to do and interacted well with the other League members. I particularly liked a scene where she and Alfred had some bonding time.
But the new members of the JL got to shine the most. Aquaman’s appearance was clearly setting up how he’d be portrayed in the James Wan movie and he was a man torn between two worlds, wanting very little to do with his Atlantean heritage until the end where he willingly takes up the call to protect the surface as his mother would have been. Flash was well-utilized as a hero-in-training. He was inexperienced, but showcased extreme potential to be one of the most powerful and vital members of JL, particularly at the end of the movie. But as Zack Snyder had advertised many times, the heart of the movie was Cyborg. This really was his origin story and he was utilized brilliantly in the film. From his personal struggles with his father to his alienation with learning his new superpowers and just his inner humanity eventually shining through just goes to show how much stuff was needlessly exorcised from the movie.
Steppenwolf worked way better as a villain now. He was intimidating and powerful, but also very sympathetic as his end-goal ultimately boiled down to his desire to be allowed to just go back home to Apokolips.
The story was so much better paced. With four hours, scenes and situations with the characters were allowed a lot of time to breathe. Though there were a handful of sequences that could have been cut down, it was nice to be allowed to just soak in the atmosphere of this world and spend time getting to know these characters.
It should go without saying, but the music was phenomenal. Hitting upon just about everything I wanted to achieve in my cut of the movie by restoring the themes and feeling of the score from the previous films, now this movie feels like a true sequel to MOS and BvS.
The movie was filmed and presented in a 4x3 aspect ratio and I didn’t mind it one bit. In fact, it really benefitted a lot of scenes where the framing was taken full advantage of and that really gave the movie a very epic aesthetic.
In conclusion, ZSJL was a worthy addition to the DCEU and right on par with Snyder’s other films. It would be an understatement to say that I loved it. Hashtag RestoretheSnyderVerse.
A.B.Director
Non-spoiler thoughts on ZSJL:
It’s been a long time coming, but Zack Snyder’s Justice League is finally here. Nearly a full four years after the debut of the theatrical cut on November 17, 2017.
I remember watching that particular version in theaters Thursday evening and saying to a friend across from me that “I want to make movies like that.” But while I said those words, they quickly tasted bitter the moment they left me and I remember being in denial that the movie just didn’t hit me in the same way Man of Steel and Batman v Superman did.
That’s why I ended up making fan edits to cope with my feelings of extreme disappointment when it finally set in that I just didn’t like the film that I so eagerly anticipated.
Now a little backstory, but I’ve always been a DC Comics fan - in particular, a Superman fan. I used to be a pretty lousy reader as a child and it was comic books that helped teach me how to read. So even while the Marvel movies were coming out and crushing it at the box office, I still preferred DC.
I loved Man of Steel and Batman v Superman. If you can tell from my video library here alone, those two movies had and continue to have a big impact on me and so of course, I was inclined to want to see Snyder’s vision when it first came to everyone’s attention that the theatrical cut was about as far away from it as you could get.
Now that it’s here, I can safely say that I absolutely loved it.
It was just about everything I hoped it would be and more. The four hour runtime, while bloated, flew by faster than a speeding bullet and I never felt a sense of boredom. I even watched it twice on the same day just because I loved the feeling it provided me seeing my favorite superheroes on screen fighting and interacting with one another.
Everyone was done justice (pun intended). Starting with the trinity, Ben Affleck’s Batman got a lot more to do here and wasn’t just a pushover who got beat up all the time. Superman, though he doesn’t appear as much as I would have hoped, had way better fight scenes and much more emotional resonance that, if I do say so myself, reminded me of how I wanted him to appear when I tried re-editing the movie for my fan cut. Especially in terms of hearing that beautiful Man of Steel score.
Wonder Woman was much better utilized in this cut as well. She had plenty more to do and interacted well with the other League members. I particularly liked a scene where she and Alfred had some bonding time.
But the new members of the JL got to shine the most.
Aquaman’s appearance was clearly setting up how he’d be portrayed in the James Wan movie and he was a man torn between two worlds, wanting very little to do with his Atlantean heritage until the end where he willingly takes up the call to protect the surface as his mother would have been.
Flash was well-utilized as a hero-in-training. He was inexperienced, but showcased extreme potential to be one of the most powerful and vital members of JL, particularly at the end of the movie.
But as Zack Snyder had advertised many times, the heart of the movie was Cyborg. This really was his origin story and he was utilized brilliantly in the film. From his personal struggles with his father to his alienation with learning his new superpowers and just his inner humanity eventually shining through just goes to show how much stuff was needlessly exorcised from the movie.
Steppenwolf worked way better as a villain now. He was intimidating and powerful, but also very sympathetic as his end-goal ultimately boiled down to his desire to be allowed to just go back home to Apokolips.
The story was so much better paced. With four hours, scenes and situations with the characters were allowed a lot of time to breathe. Though there were a handful of sequences that could have been cut down, it was nice to be allowed to just soak in the atmosphere of this world and spend time getting to know these characters.
It should go without saying, but the music was phenomenal. Hitting upon just about everything I wanted to achieve in my cut of the movie by restoring the themes and feeling of the score from the previous films, now this movie feels like a true sequel to MOS and BvS.
The movie was filmed and presented in a 4x3 aspect ratio and I didn’t mind it one bit. In fact, it really benefitted a lot of scenes where the framing was taken full advantage of and that really gave the movie a very epic aesthetic.
In conclusion, ZSJL was a worthy addition to the DCEU and right on par with Snyder’s other films. It would be an understatement to say that I loved it.
Hashtag RestoretheSnyderVerse.
4 years ago | [YT] | 83