Part of my DCEU Rewatch. First Watch? Yes (sort of).
There will be spoilers.
The Starting Point
1. I am not, in general, a fan of what Zack Snyder did with the introductory chapters of the DCEU.
2. I felt the effort by Snyder’s fans to get a “Snyder Cut” of the film was ridiculous (if not occasionally abusive).
3. I certainly had no interest in watching four hours of Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
But here we are, Bob.
And I will say this: Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a significant improvement on the theatrical Justice League release. No question about it. If (given the time) I were to rewatch one or the other of them, Snyder’s is the one I’d choose.
The (Literally) Big Picture
The basic reason is obvious: it’s a more coherent film, with one creative direction, vs. the theatrical release which was in post-production from Snyder, then was substantially rewritten, re-filmed, and re-edited.
The secondary, interlocking, but at least as important reason is that the theatrical release, by WB diktat, was only two hours long. The Snyder cut is four hours long.
Snyder doesn’t waste that extra time, either. He has longer scenes, more backstory, more exposition, more opportunity for character development. Very little of that is wasted time, though some of it is less necessary than others. Much of the slack is taken up with expanding the Flash and Cyborg stories (and a bit for Aquaman, Batman, and Wonder Woman). There are scenes I could imagine being cut, but not two hours worth.
And that’s the key. If the tragic death of Snyder’s daughter had never happened, and he had remained as director, we still would not have gotten the Snyder Cut as the release. We would have gotten literally half of it — selected by Snyder, to be sure, but, also, literally half the movie that Snyder had in the can (he only shot an additional five minutes for this edition). It would not have been the Snyder/Whedon/WB chimera, and that would be to its advantage, but it would also have been savagely chopped down (with maybe ten minutes given back for an “director’s cut” a year later).
Would it have felt hollow? Choppy? Would there have been protests about characters getting a short shrift? We will never know.
Which, ultimately, makes the comparison between the two releases unfair, at least when it comes to the little apples and the twice-as-large oranges. You’d have to travel to the Elseworld where we got Snyder’s two hour cut to really make that judgment.
Tonally, I’ll say that Snyder’s four-hour extravaganza is not as grimdark as I’d imagined it would be (except for, maybe, the Knightmare bits). There is substantially less banter, not surprisingly, but there’s still some. There’s arguably more violence (Steppenwolf’s fate standing out there), but though the movie ended up (both for violence and for language) being rated “R”, it’s not awful for either.
The Big Battle
For all that Snyder makes use of his four hours to further flesh out scenes and individual stories, the biggest difference between the films is in the BBEG Fight in the final act. Where the Theatrical Release is just a repetitive slugfest, the Snyder Cut has a much better narrative through-line, as well as a more exciting conclusion.
The one thing the Theatrical Release has that I think is better is a set of human stakes. Snyder clears the entire region of people, so he doesn’t have to worry about them. Whedon leaves refugees in the area, with a focus on a particular family terrorized by parademons and then threatened by the expanding Unity effect. I’m not sure the actual execution is optimal, but it keeps the affair from being totally a battle of SFX, giving us a focus for the human stakes beyond Our Heroes.
Another change in the BBEG battle is the nature of the conclusion. In the Snyder Cut we get a boom tube arrival by Darkseid (eep!), just in time to receive the stabbed and decapitated body of Steppenwolf — and we get the promise that Apokolips will be coming to invade soon (which then ties into the Knightmare scenes elsewhere).
In the Theatrical Release we got the “parademons sense and are enraged by fear” setup early in the film, which means they turn on Steppenwolf when he finally get scared of the League. It’s an easier if cheaper conclusion — but that might have been the reason for it. WB was deep, deep into the hole with this film (the Theatrical Release clocked in at $300M). I suspect the full CG setup of Darkseid and his court were part of what got cut in the final effort, and were part of the 2700-odd SFX shots that Snyder added back in (to a tune for the WB of 2021 of another $30M).
Along those same lines, I believe, Snyder took Steppenwolf and his armor — which was in the Theatrical Release an easier and less expensive rendering compromise from the original design — and restored it to what he originally intended, which was glorious.
Snyder also turns the environment at Steppenwolf’s lair and surrounding town much darker, much more ruddy, than the Theatrical Release … which seems very Snyderian. Most of the film is done in a visibly desaturated color palette, again very Snyder (there was even a full black-and-white edition released). And he chose to do it in 4:3 rather than the original’s 16:9 widescreen.
And, why not: Snyder restores the film score he had done by Junkie XL (who also worked on Man of Steel and Batman v Superman), replacing the score Whedon had replaced it with from Danny Elfman.
That Uniform
Another very visible change, of course, was the Black Uniform for Superman. It looks very cool, and is all CGI. WB never cared for the black uniform concept. As a result, everything was shot with the regular red-and-blue (or whatever subdued tones Snyder preferred) outfit, but he made some tweaks to its form and the S-crest to make it easier to CG it to black (and filmed some footage to precede the uniform pick), on the chance he could get WB’s permission.
So, of course, the Theatrical Release stuck with the (filmed) blue-and-red (because WB wasn’t going to change their mind, esp. if it cost money), and Snyder spent a bunch of his CG money on the uniform change.
And, yes, it is, in fact, very cool, but … for purposes of the film, it’s unclear why Supes changes into it, as it doesn’t seem to include the functional aspects it had in the comic. And nobody actually comments on it. It’s just cool looking.
The Newcomers
The greatest benefactors of the four hours are the two noobs on the team — Victor Stone (Cyborg) and Barry Allen (Flash). Victor gets a lot more story time here, comes into his powers earlier (if in a bit more hand-wavey a fashion), and operates at a higher infodumpy level. The serious trimming in the Theatrical Release is unfortunate, but the primary impact, to my mind, is just on the character (and, perforce, his actor), not on the overall film (and, again, consider the context of needing to cut half the run-time here).
With the Flash we get more super-speed shenanigans with the added screen time, including an intro to Iris. Barry is portrayed a bit less dysfunctional, personality-wise (though we lose the coaching Bats gives him before the first battle, which is kind of a shame). But overall, the added time for Barry doesn’t give a lot of added value to the movie as a whole …
… except that the climactic battle depends on it, as, given we see more about turning back time when Barry moves super-fast, it means that in the Theatrical Release, we don’t get the brief moments when the team loses in its race to undo the Unity, which Barry is able to, just barely, turn back. It’s a nice bit, and adds to the strength of the last act of the film.
In theory, Aquaman is also a noob to the franchise (as this came out before his first solo movie). But he’s a mostly pretty straightforward character, and his role as a heavy hitter doesn’t much change in the Snyder Cut. We get a bit more about (ho-hum) Atlantean politics, but that adds little value.
Notes from the Movie Watch
¶ In case you forgot Superman died, we get to see it again as part of our 4 hour experience, complete his his cry of “No!” (or whatever anguish it was) circling the globe and triggering the Mother Boxes to activate. Why does it trigger them to activate? Why did they not activate before Kal-El’s arrival on Earth? No idea.
¶ Why, oh why, when a powerful, dangerous, legendary artifact starts acting squirrelly, does someone feel obliged to touch it?
Part 1
¶ Again, a steadier, slower, longer, more detailed pace for the world-wide mourning of the fallen Superman. Which, to my mind, still doesn’t make sense.
¶ Wonder Woman’s introduction — at a nihilist / neo-Luddite terror attack — is (of course) longer and a bit more sensical — and also reinforces her inspirational nature.
¶ The fight of the Amazons vs Steppenwolf is longer, bloodier, more imaginative fight. I’m not sure that adds that much, but if you have four hours to kill, go for it.
Note to our non-archer viewers: perpetually drawn bows do not work well.
We get more references in this film to “The Great Darkness” rather than just “Unity” (which becomes solely about the joining of the three Mother Boxes). We also get (vague, but that’s the nature of the beast) discussion of the Anti-Life Equation. All of that makes the Apokoliptian stuff more comics-aligned, and adds some personality to the threat, but also complicates things; I can see why the Theatrical Release simplified it.
PART 2
¶ Unless I again missed some dialog in the original, we get a much clearer motivation for Bats to be less broody, less angry, in his “I made a promise to him” speech. But … nah, we need more dots connected to go from the cynical rage machine that is Batman in BvSDoJ to the earnest team-builder of this film. How did Kal’s self-sacrifice against Doomsday affect Bruce that profoundly? Why?
¶ Also, Luthor warned of the coming of the Great Darkness? Weird element to leave out (a) footage of and (b) the Theatrical Release.
¶ More Aquaman story detail helps. In the Theatrical Release, all the Atlantean politics bits were largely incomprehensible. We get a bit more here, which is helpful, but also time-consuming for its value.
Also, the Icelandic singers were nice, but only possible with the longer run time.
¶ The Theatrical Release very much left out all the Darkseid and Apokolips stuff. Snyder’s cut — through CG — brings it back in. I think it helps the story immensely, but I’m that kind of comics nerd. I can imagine WB choosing to leave it out, even if partially complete, to save money on the finished product.
One change that gets made in the Snyder Cut is an extended version of the big Age of Heroes battle against the Apokaliptian invasion (starring King Leonidas as Zeus!). In this case, the invasion is spearheaded (so to speak) by a young Darkseid, not Steppenwolf, and is the point where he realized Earth held the Anti-Life Equation (and then promptly lost track of what planet that was, which seems like sloppy plotting). The change adds depth, esp. as Darkseid is (or should be) a more interesting character than Steppenwolf.
(On the flip side, the Apokalips gang never look quite right right to me in their CG guises.)
The CG scenes with De Saad showing up as an in-between help re-summarize the goings-on from the villain perspective, and so are helpful — but, again, also expensive, and time-consuming.
In retrospect, this brings new impact to the throwaway of the old gods (the Greek ones, at least) being killed by Ares that was part of Wonder Woman‘s backstory. In that film, it was explained that Ares was the only god still around, ah well. In this film, where Zeus, Ares, Apollo, and others fought alongside the forces of Earth against Darkseid in the primordial past, it makes that subsequent conflict all the more tragic, on the assumption that they would be pretty helpful were they still around.
At least this viewing around, the Human army in the Age of Heroes contains warrior groups from around the globe, not just Europeans. Nice.
The Snyder Cut leans a bit more into the idea that, in forming the JL, Batman and Wonder Woman are trying to recreate that Golden Age of Heroes alliance. Which is also nice.
Speaking of which, I do miss some of Diana’s introspection from the Theatrical Version. The arc it presented for her was a bit facile or at least quick, but it played on the character and what we’d seen going on with her before, in a way that the Snyder Cut does not.
Part 3
¶ We get more intro for Barry, including the aforementioned Iris intervention.
¶ Steppenwolf interrogates Atlantean guards. I mean, okay, fine, but another scene that doesn’t add much and was justifiably trimmed from the Theatrical Release.
¶ Lois is still mooning about Clark’s death. I thought the Theatrical Release handled Lois better — mournful, but not in a Staring At His Old Coffee Cup kind of way.
¶ Victor Stone is a Data God and can take over any computer in the world, bwah-ha! Okay.
¶ Alfred instructing Diana on tea making was lovely.
¶ The way Victor and Diana get in contact is actually fleshed out more in the Theatrical Release. By this time, Snyder Cut Victor is out in full armor and flying around. In the Theatrical Release, he’s still lurking about in his hoodie. The former makes Diana’s speech about opening up fit better.
¶ J K Simmons is a great Jim Gordon.
¶ Mera is a lot more bad-ass in the Snyder Cut, but, then, she has more screen time to be.
PART 4
¶ The battle on the harbor island is fine (though “I didn’t bring a sword” is a better line than “Now it’s my turn”). We get a bit more with Barry and, esp., Victor, and everything’s tinted a lot more red. It seems a little weird, though, that after escaping captivity and torture by unearthly creatures the freed hostages just sort of absently mill around outside the building.
¶ So I remember the brouhaha when it came out (with the Snyder Cut) that Martha Kent was really the Martian Manhunter. But it’s not clear to me at all that she is in any other scene but her one discussion with Lois. Though that also begs the question of why the Martian Manhunter is having that discussion with her.
I, for one, am always glad to see the MM, and there’s some payoff in the Epilogue for that, but, honestly, the appearance here is just confusing.
¶ Even more than in the Theatrical Release, Batman is bound and determined here to use the Mother Box to rez Superman. But while in the Theatrical Release, it seemed more pragmatic (they need Superman against Steppenwolf & Co.), here it’s mixed with wanting save Kal’s life. The Theatrical Release also has, it seems, more debate over whether such a resurrection is doable, desirable, or dangerous. I have to go with the Theatrical Release, here.
PART 5
¶ The whole evacuation of STAR Labs is fine, but not really needed. It seems mostly there to set up another Silas Stone scene, leading to his eventual death.
I don’t actually recall Silas’ death in the Theatrical Release. Oh, that’s because it didn’t happen; in that version, we see Silas working with Victor on cybernetic upgrades, reconciled at last. Snyder, on the other hand, loves distant, destructive, or dead parents. The Snyder Cut fridging of Silas adds to Victor’s tale, I guess, giving him more reason to whomp on Steppenwolf, but it also does this with a strange “Oh, if we hit things with an X-Ray laser they get weirdly super-hot inside, as we see with this piece of Kryptonian Ship, and which I’m sure will also happen with the Mother Box” thing, to allow the tracking down of Steppenwolf, which is just not a good plot element.
¶ The fact that the JL knows and discusses that activating the Mother Box will let Steppenwolf know where it is makes their forgetting all about it to go hallooing after the resurrected Clark even worse in this edition.
¶ Funniest sight gag in the film: the Force Majeure Pregnancy Test.
¶ Ooh, Victor is getting Knightmare visions, just like Bruce.
¶ Barry reverses time, just slightly, to coordinate his touch of the Mother Box perfectly. This is mostly to tee up the time-reversal he’ll use in the BBEG Battle.
¶ The confrontation with Superman post-resurrection is (of course) a bit longer in the Snyder Cut, but I’m not sure it’s any better. The Theatrical Release predicts uncertainty about his mental state as one of the factors the JL considers, causing Batman to invite Lois along as a “big gun” — something that narratively works better for me than her just happening to be there for her morning mournfulness. The Snyder Cut also has Supes being fired upon by, and then blowing up, some military vehicles, which … has complicated implications that never get addressed later.
Both versions contain my favorite Barry moment: Supes is grappled with Diana, Aquaman, and Cyborg, and Flash comes racing over with super-speed (in slow motion) … and his eyes widen like saucers as he sees Superman tracking his movement.
PART 6
¶ Clark’s intonation while he is getting his bearing is still a little weird, but the Snyder Cut doesn’t turn him into the slightly patronizing father figure for the team that the Theatrical Release does. Which, honestly, is good, except that I really loved aspects of his interplay with Barry in the Theatrical Release.
¶ Martha showing up at the farm while Clark and Lois are there still strikes me as weird — unless Lois called her. (Though the Theatrical Release dialog sort of counter-indicates that.)
And again, is this actually Martha? Or is it Martian Manhunter Martha (Marthian Manhunter?). Why would it be? Why wouldn’t it be? How do we know?
¶ I’m glad Steppenwolf has some motivation beyond “I kill things and am angry I didn’t get to kill things once upon a time.” I mean, wanting to impress Darkseid, and get out of his long exile, aren’t exactly novel motivations, but they are motivations.
Also, the Unity Effect stuff looks better this time out.
¶ Clark stopping by Bruce’s house and meeting Alfred is nice, but, again, a scene easily cut if you were making a real movie with a real duration limit.
Parenthetically, Whedon, of course, is known for his banter and quipping in dialog, and that was both fun and irritating in the Theatrical Edition. The one place I miss it in the Snyder Cut is with Alfred. Several of his under-the-breath comments aren’t here, and they were (as part of the long Alfred tradition) great.
¶ In this version, the assault on Steppenwolf’s lair is at night. Of course.
¶ Victor’s line: “I’m not broken, and I’m not alone.” Very nice.
¶ And it wouldn’t be a Zack Snyder edition without Steppenwolf being gutted with a trident and decapitated by a sword, both wielded by Our Heroes.
EPILOGUE
¶ Luthor escape and meeting with Deathstroke scene: check! Though … different ending here. Since both versions are setups for (different) future movies (neither of which will happen), I have to assume the Theatrical Release one was WB’s plan, and the Snyder Cut version is what Snyder would have done if he’d stayed in effective charge of things.
¶ We get (as in the Theatrical Release) the “Let’s set up old Wayne Manor as JL HQ” sequence. Fortunately Bruce has the money to replace all the water-damaged plaster and flooring, and clean up the bird poop.
¶ We also get in the Epilogue a very, very long Knightmare sequence, this time with Bats, an armored Flash, a pissed-off Mera, an unarmored Deathstroke (!), and … a Jared Leto Joker, in an Injustice-style world where Lois was killed by Joker, Superman joined up with the invading Apokolips forces, and everything’s gone to shit. Ho-hum.
I know (believe me) how seductive dream sequences are for teasing a future to be avoided. In this case, it was all interesting enough, but … did it advance the film it was in? Not really.
¶ The Knightmare ends when Bruce wakes up. He heads out to the deck over the lake to unexpectedly encounter the Martian Manhunter (not looking like Martha). MM says he’s ready to join the JL, introduces himself, then flies away. Bruce takes it with strange aplomb, asks him no questions (not even “How do we reach you?” let alone “Couldn’t you have reached this conclusion a few weeks ago?”), and that’s end of the film. Whuh?
Net-Net
Snyder’s film, though not without flaws, is a quite decent piece of work. It’s impossible to compare it to its theatrical variant because of the sheer amount of time he had to play with. The best that can be said is that he fills the time pretty well, letting some moments be slower than any theatrical release would allow, and letting in some scenes that make the tapestry richer but that could only show up in this longer format.
I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for longer cuts, but I don’t expect (and don’t know that I want) studios to go to a four hour format for pretty much anything.
In some ways, it’s more helpful to think of this, less as a film, than as a mini-series, or a short-episode-count TV show. The main difference is that it doesn’t end on a dramatic beat the end of each part.
A more significant difference is that someone starting a miniseries will say, “I have four hours of air time. I can take my time with things.” That can lead to bloated productions (as any number of shows on streaming TV demonstrate). Snyder didn’t think he was making a four-hour movie. He knew he was going to have to cut his work in half. So while he filmed some things that maybe he knew wouldn’t make that final cut, he didn’t approach anything with a “well, I’m short five minutes of runtime for Episode 3, how can I stretch things out?” attitude.
Looking back on it the next day, I’ll offer the criticism that there are still some awkward plot moments in the Snyder Cut, and the character development (and display) is still pretty simplistic; Victor’s story, for example, is certainly longer, and arguably more interesting, but not any more sophisticated than in the Theatrical Release
But if you’ve got four hours, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a pretty good superhero experience, definitely above average among such films. It’s been a while since I could say it of a Zack Snyder production, but I’m glad I watched it.
Do you want to know more?
- An earlier version of this review can be found on LetterBoxd.
- A cool video comparing the visual FX of both version of the movie (though they often forget the whole “Snyder had four hours of run time for this stuff” aspect, as well as “Snyder took an extra year of post-production for ZSJL” and “Snyder had 4-5 years of advancement in CG tech to draw on”).
- The Honest Trailers review, which is spot on.
- Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) – IMDb
- Zack Snyder’s Justice League – Wikipedia