Zack Snyder’s Justice League is not to be watched it is to be experienced. I will repeat that
sentence at the end of this review but let me explain to you why this film was such a breath of
fresh air to not only DC comic book movie fans, but to filmmakers alike.
The Set Up
November 17, 2017 the release of the long-anticipated Justice League film. After years of
buildup and with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in full swing coming off the success of Thor
Ragnarok released just a couple weeks earlier (November 3, 2017), DC comics faithful was
hoping and expecting director Zack Snyder to deliver a home-run. Up until then, the critics have
not been in Zack’s favor. Some knocked his long-winded storytelling style, usually coming in at
over 2 hours per movie. Many criticized his “dark” tone not just visually but thematically with
complaints of a seemingly Miserable Superman, and a vigilant and overly violent Batman.
Justice League was supposed to make it all make sense.
Once he was handed the helm back in 2011, Zack Snyder along with DC comics Chief Creative
Officer Jim Lee mapped out a 3-part epic adventure that would set up the rest of DC Extended
Universe (DC’s version of the MCU which began in 2009). This film saga would wrap up Zack
Snyder’s original 5 film contract with Warner Brothers including its predecessor films Man of
Steel and Batman v. Superman. Needless to say, the film was going to make or break for the
DCEU to have a chance at competing with their longtime rival Marvel.
The Let Down
Early Test screenings of the film did not go as WB hoped. They were still reeling from the mostly
negative reviews of Batman v Superman and feared that the dark tone and violence in Snyder’s
Justice league would turn off critics, then tragedy hit. Zack Snyder’s daughter committed suicide
and he left the project. The film was done, it just needed post effects and editing. The WB
Studio saw an opportunity to get someone in that would help push Justice League in a direction
that would put them in favor of the movie critics. Enters Joss Whedon, director of the
extremely successful Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron films for the MCU. Whedon was
originally bought on board to do “some rewrites”. WB ended up paying for multiple re-shoots
to match the new story tone and direction. Almost every awesome shot we witness in early
trailers for the film were removed from the film. WB instructed Whedon to not only “lighted up
the film” in tone, but to also add the kind of humor that he used in films like Avengers and TV
shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and do it all in under 2 hours. The result was an offbeat,
Frankenstein’s monster of a film with a mix of modified Snyder footage and reshot Whedon
footage. The film was a box office failure, only raking in a little over 220 million dollars in the
United States.
This set up a long list of second guessing and bad decisions with WB Studios. Fans were losing
faith and interest in DC live action comic movies. Then came the famous campaign that could
change the fan movie experience forever, #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.
Started by fans that heard rumors of a finished Snyder version of the movie minus the CGI. The campaign circulated social media and the internet including emails, blog sites, and even major news
aggregator sites. Zack Snyder himself after learning of this contributed to its hype by posting a
picture of the film canisters for the once rumored “Snyder Cut”. Fans went wild and the
campaign continued to pick up steam and this campaign became a movement.
The Resurgence
In 2018 following AT&T acquiring WB and merging with HBO to form HBO Max, a steaming
service that will host all HBO and Warner Media’s material, fans reached out to the executives
at AT&T and Warner with a mass letter writing campaign to green light The Snyder Cut. It
worked and they did, fan justice had been served and Zack Snyder was given the time and
money to finish his original vision to deliver to the millions of fans that longed for it.
Vindication
March 18, 2021, after a year of fine tune postproduction editing, sound and special effects,
Zack Snyder’s Justice League Premiered on HBO Max. A four-hour long epic was produced for
the fans to experience the director’s original vision.
The film was packed with familiar scenes from the theatrical version, only now longer and with
much more context. The film was also colored differently with the original tone. The action
sequences were more elaborate and entertaining as well as the characters were much more
fleshed out. The story beats were more on time, and the pacing was almost perfect. It was a
four-hour film that did not feel like four hours. The special effects were much tighter than the
theatrical cut and managed to be quite fantastic. Most importantly, the unnecessary puns,
quips, double entendres and gags were removed, and replaced with beautiful shots, stimulating
action, tons of fan easter eggs, great character development, heart and humor that was well
placed and from the correct characters.
The cinematography was amazing, and the musical score flowed perfectly with the story
throughout. The climax of the film was riveting with a resolution that did not disappoint. This
was the film fans expected to see back in 2017. The film is broken up into 6 chapters with
corresponding titles and one epilogue that delivered the much talked about set up for future
films. The movie ended and before the credit’s role, two words filled the black screen “For
Autumn”. The Snyder Family’s heartfelt message to their lost child.
The overall experience of this film was like a lesson in film school on how to correctly tell a
complete story and make it look beautiful. This will mark a day in cinematic history where the
fans banned together and made their voices heard, while a big cog in the Hollywood machine
gave way to their cry. Since March 18th, 2021 HBO Max has made over $650 Million dollars in
new subscriptions. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is not to be watched; it is to be experienced. Zack Snyder's Justice League was released on Blu-Ray September 7 2021. The sales are reportedly extremely high while WB continues to dumb down its success.
By Wes Clark
Comments