Zack Snyder’s Justice League – A More Well-Rounded Edition (Early Review)

The following review will be spoiler-free.

The emotional roller coaster that was the production of 2017’s Justice League has been widely publicized with original director Zack Snyder being replaced by Joss Whedon following the tragic death of his daughter. From there, the film faced countless reshoots and rewriters resulting in a controversial and divisive final product which felt like a rushed, convoluted, and overstuffed mess that essentially put an end to the Snyderverse. Over the years following the release of the original Justice League DCEU fans have been clamoring for WB to release Snyder’s original albeit unfinished cut of the film. Eventually, that wave of fan outcry became too hard to ignore and WB decided to give in to the fans and allow Snyder to complete his original vision of the film and what better platform to release it than the WB parent company’s still new streaming service, HBO Max? Those who complained about not getting enough out of the original film, now boasting a 4+ hour running time, Zack Snyder’s Justice League should have enough to satisfy though it maybe didn’t have to be that long to do so. That being said, those weary of the long running time need not worry as it simply flies by.

However, those expecting Zack Snyder’s Justice League to be a different film than the original are sure to be disappointed as the plot this time around is more or less the same and is separated into 6 chapters + an epilogue:

Chapter 1: “Don’t Count On It, Batman”

Chapter 2: “The Age of Heroes”

Chapter 3: “Beloved Mother, Beloved Son”

Chapter 4: “Change Machine”

Chapter 5: “All the King’s Horses”

Chapter 6: “Something Darker”

One of the biggest problems with the original film was its rushed nature which put a damper on any character development which in turn made it difficult to ever invest in the film on any type of emotional level. This fact is certainly counter-intuitive for what the film was trying to be. The original film forced Bruce Wayne/Batman (Affleck), Clark Kent/Superman (Cavill), Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gadot), Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller) together in order to make an Avengers-type team without providing any type of character development whatsoever therefore it was simply hard to care for any of it as a result. Sure, the novelty of seeing said characters together alone may have worked for some but it wasn’t nearly as fun as it could have been and also got old very fast. The payoff simply wasn’t there.

Though some of these characters have since gotten their own films, Zack Snyder’s Justice League sets up each of them first by fleshing them out and actually developing them as characters first with their own backstories that add context to their roles later in the story. As opposed to the original, each character has a chance to shine on their way to their inevitable team up while also being more involved as a team and in the main plot. Meanwhile, the film’s villains also got more development. The longer running time definitely helps but all of this added development just makes everything more meaningful and compelling to watch as it gives viewers more of a reason to care about these characters and the story. In the end, all of this was surely what the original film was initially designed to do as a means to set up a Snyderverse and two potential Justice League sequels through the introduction of these characters and this film world. Whether or not the work done here will get to live on in further films will likely depend on how successful this film is. Suffice it to say that the film creates more than enough runway for that. 

In terms of production value, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is still up there along with more of a darker palette this time around. The action sequences (there’s not necessarily more here) are still exciting to watch despite this version’s R-rating sticking out at times in gratuitously unnecessary ways (the f-bombs felt out of place and the general tone suffered at times as a result) and some obvious moments of CGI. There’s also more VFX work here to better showcase all the members of the team. Tying it all together was an epic score that may have come on a little too strong at times. If there was something else to nitpick about, it was the flow of the narrative though with so many character and subplots to deal with it and so much time to use to do it, it was never going be perfect but the pacing did lag in the middle.

Ultimately, unlike the original Justice League, Zack Snyder’s Justice League was fun to watch and the script that took better advantage of the characters and the performances that took advantage of that script each went a long way in achieving that. While the original showed signs of the cast’s chemistry, this film put it on full display as it was full of fun and surprisingly emotional moments. Everyone was on point here, both individually and together, but there were still standouts, none bigger than Fisher as Cyborg. His deep performance as the emotionally and physically tortured young man was the emotional center of the film. Miller as The Flash was also a scene-stealer and all of us.

At the end of the day, Zack Snyder’s Justice League should satisfy the most diehard Justice League and DCEU fans by giving them the definitive version of the film, giving them more of what they want. Though for those who don’t care, this film is not going to change any minds. If anyone has yet to see either version, just stick with this one.

*still courtesy of HBO Max*

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.