What to Watch - Justice League: The Snyder Cut

by Andy Bartsch, GGR alum

I know I’ve been hard on Zack Snyder before. My first article published at GGR was a major thrashing of Man of Steel and the misunderstanding of Superman’s character. However I have to give credit where credit is due: Snyder is a very talented visual director. He’s probably the only person who can somehow adapt a gorgeous oil painting into a modern epic. I truly believe if given the right material and teamed up with a talented screenwriter, Zack Snyder can really pull off something magical. That being said, Zack Snyder’s Justice League: The Snyder Cut is probably his best film since the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. Take that how you will.

The film’s plot is more or less the same as the Whedon version: in the aftermath of Superman’s death, Batman tries to unite a group of super powered beings to stop Steppenwolf from collecting three Mother Boxes in order to summon the evil Darkseid to Earth.  However, there are some significant changes made to the story in this version, along with some new additional scenes, adding to the already massive four hour long runtime!

Unfortunately that’s the film’s biggest flaw: the bloated runtime. The movie is in desperate need of a good trimming. The film is littered with several minor and short scenes that have no bearing on the plot or moments that drag on endlessly. Snyder is known for his over-use of slow motion and Justice League: The Snyder Cut is no exception.  While it’s understandable given one of the main characters can move at the speed of light, that still doesn’t mean there isn’t A LOT of slow mo. So what do you do when you already use a ton of slow motion? MAKE IT EVEN SLOWER! I love Ezra Miller as Barry Allen and he does a great job, but good lord, those running scenes somehow move at a snail’s pace.

“Someone call the Wonder Twins! We need a bucket of water and a blue horse STAT!”

Admittedly, I’m actually one of the few people who enjoyed the 2017 version of Justice League. I felt they finally did Superman right in the DCEU despite the distracting digital mustache removal. That’s probably the only real compliment I can give the Joss Whedon cut. Watching Supes interacting with children (albeit off screen), making saving innocent civilians his first priority, and being kind to total strangers was everything I was looking for in the Man of Steel.  A lot of focus was made on Superman and his importance to the DC Universe, but in The Snyder Cut, Clark takes a back seat for the most part while the majority of the film focuses on Cyborg, his relationship with his father, adjusting to his new cybernetic body, and understanding how it’s related to the villains.

Ray Fisher really shines as Victor Stone, and we get to see more of his range more as an actor than we do in the 2017 cut. As in the original film, he has a loving but estranged father (played by the always great Joe Morton), but we never saw why Vic resented him not just for being absent but blaming him for the death of his mother (which I honestly don’t entirely understand).  We see genuine moments of happiness prior to him being turned into part machine and the film does a great job making the audience wish they could see more of it. Unfortunately the GCI costume still looks pretty bad, and it becomes very distracting sometimes seeing Fisher’s actual face “floating” on fake CGI metal.

Do you suffer from dry, itchy cybernetic implants?

Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman scenes remains almost untouched, save for a scene where she and Arthur/Aquaman (played by Jason Mamoa) discuss the relationships between Atlantians and Amazons. Mamoa feels wasted as Aquaman, as he’s constantly brooding or taking his shirt off. There are far too many scenes where Arthur is an angry, standoffish character with a chip on his shoulder, particularly in the first hour of the film in an effort to establish his character. Unfortunately his one note performance becomes tiresome and feels wasted on a charismatic actor like Mamoa. Hopefully we get to see more of the swash-buckling, fun loving Aquaman in future films.

Ben Affleck once again dons the cape and cowl as the Dark Knight and he’s not played for laughs as he was in the 2017 film. He takes the role very seriously and it’s a shame we probably won’t see him play Batman again. There are a few more scenes that flesh out his (albeit brief) friendship with Superman more and some more interaction with Alfred (Jeremy Irons).

Steppenwolf gets a slight redesign that looks like his armor is made of long rows of pointed spikes, similar to the Destoyer in Thor. The GCI is on him is a bit of an improvement compared to the original film, and some scenes give him a bit of character development. However, there are repetitive scenes where he begs his master, Desaad, to allow him back to Apokolypse.

That awkward moment when you’re about to save the world but you forgot your MASK!

The movie is surprisingly colorful for a Zack Snyder film, which normally has heavily muted colors. Given the advertising, you would think the flick was in black and white, but sure enough, there’s a black and white version coming to HBO Max. I suppose that was the trade off.

Besides the long runtime, one of the other questionable choices was making the film rated R. There a couple F-bombs dropped here and there, but they could’ve easily been edited out.  There are a few moments of extreme violence and gore, but again, it felt unnecessary and sometimes even out of character.

We’re getting into spoiler territory here so in a nutshell, if you’ve already seen the 2017 version, you’re in for a lot more character development and some pretty neat surprises. It’s worth checking out at some point. Is it better than the 2017 version? Absolutely! Is it flawless? Far from it. But Zack Snyder got to show the version of the Justice League he wanted to make and the fans got what they asked for.

I give Justice League: The Snyder Cut 3 super slow mo laps out of 5!

Justice Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody

[Spoilers ahead!]

Superman’s scenes are almost completely identical, the exception being his interaction with Steppenwolf near the end, and the black costume. While it looks cool, it serves little to no purpose to the story, nor is it explained why it’s changed. In fact, no one even seems to notice. You’d think Batman would ask him if he’s made an impression on him or something.  The film even alludes to the idea that Superman sticks with the black costume at the end of the film, at least until we get to the “Apocalypse nightmare” scene.

Yes, even after Superman is brought back from the dead, the film heavily implies Superman becomes evil. Not only that, but he wears the bright blue and red suit again! Wouldn’t it make more sense if he wore the black suit when he’s evil?

Why is Superman evil all the sudden? The film implies that Lois dies and Superman doesn’t handle it well (a la Injustice).  Lots of screen time is spent building up the importance of Lois’s character and how the future depends on her.  Look, I get losing a loved one can mess someone up, but I’m tired of these stories where people think Superman’s mental state is so fragile, his natural reaction to loss is to turn evil.

“This looks like a job for Superma- My god, what’s happened to my costume?!”

The nightmare scene also includes the return of Jared Leto as the Joker. While it’s great seeing Affleck and Leto share screen time and interact with each other, Leto still feels out of place as the character. That quiet, slow, lazy laugh doesn’t feel intimidating, it feels forced and unnatural. Leto is either trying too hard to be scary or too lazy to try and leave an impression.

“Hey Bruce, pull my finger!”

Joe Manganiello makes another appearance as Deathstroke, and while brief, he does seem capable in the role. Hopefully we get to see more of him as the character in future films.

Unfortunately another character who returns is Lex Luthor, once again played by Jesse Eisenberg. His scene is virtually unaltered from the theatrical cut (so he’s just as irritating), minus a few dialog tweeks. I was really hoping the scene would’ve been Deathstroke killing Eisenberg, then having Billy Zane appear as Lex Luthor Sr, paying Deathstroke.  I’m available Hollywood, and I don’t cost much.

One of the more pleasant surprises is the inclusion of J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. I always felt having a Justice League movie (or a Justice League, in general) without him was like a car without an engine.  Not only that, but he looks fantastic! The design is faithful to the comics and still has new elements to make him stand out from other versions of the character. Unfortunately, his inclusion in the film has no real bearing on the story. In fact, he probably could’ve been used to fix some of the minor plot holes in the film.

But what did you think? Did you enjoy the film? Are you one of the very few who prefer the 2017 cut? What director’s cuts do you want to see? Me, I wanna see the three hour version of The Blair Witch Project.

Also, if you want a podcast version of another GGR contributor’s take on Justice League: The Snyder Cut check out MC’s most recent episode of “The Overflow!”