ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE (2021): FILM REVIEW

Zack Snyder's Justice League (MA15+)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Written by Chris Terrio

Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher

Duration: 242 minutes

Now streaming in Australia on Binge

Zack Snyder's Justice League - or 'The Snyder Cut', as it is more commonly referred to - is probably the most talked about film of the year so far, and for good reason. The history behind this film and the road to the film we finally got to see on HBO Max (or Binge here in Australia) is fascinating; way more interesting than the movie itself, if I'm being completely honest. If you've been living under a rock for the last three or four years, here's the basic rundown. 

After Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, two films that to differing degrees are head-bangingly awful, Zack Snyder returned to make Justice League, the third film in his continuing DCEU that was directly being compared with what was going on over at Marvel. Reports were that he was continuing down the increasingly dark path that he had begun with his first two films, and was gearing up for a truly epic story that would continue to span into future Justice League films. But Snyder stepped away from the film due to tragic family circumstances, namely the death of his daughter, Autumn. In the midst of terrible circumstances, rather than giving Snyder the time he needed to properly grieve and spend time with his family before returning to the film, Warner Brothers instead opted to bring in another director to finish the film. In steps Joss Whedon. The film we then saw by the time it was released in 2017 was the product of vast reshoots and script rearrangements, and a complete hackneyed mess in which Whedon's more comic, lighthearted intentions with the project were shouting over the darker, more cerebrally directed original intentions of Zack Snyder. No one could really tell for sure how much of Snyder's original footage made it into the final film, and how much this was even his film anymore despite his name being the sole directorial credit. There was confusion around the runtime, too, with it originally being listed as more than two hours and forty minutes long, but then changing less than two days before its slated release date to almost exactly two hours. Hopes for an even vaguely coherent film were becoming more and more distant, with rumours circling about just how much Warner Brothers were meddling with the film, and how poorly Whedon was treating his actors and crew. It was a big fucking mess, to be rivalled only by the steaming pile of shit of a film we eventually saw. Supposedly, after seeing the final cut of the film, Christopher Nolan was so upset by it that he encouraged Snyder to never allow himself to see it. 

It did not take long at all during this process for both fans and those involved in the film's production to be outspoken about their desire to see the original vision of Justice League intended by Snyder, quickly branded 'The Snyder Cut'. Exactly how much of the original film was shot before Snyder's departure was uncertain, but as Justice League was universally panned, 'The Snyder Cut' seemed to be universally desired. 

We now cut to Thursday, March 18, 2021, and Zack Snyder's Justice League is being released around the world on streaming services at a measly 242 minutes long, due in no small part to consistent fan response and campaigning to release 'The Snyder Cut'. Not only does it exist, but it is four hours long. Before I get into the film itself, it's worth saying upfront that I will always go in to bat for a filmmaker in a situation like this. I think, regardless of the film itself, it is always worth getting the unfiltered and unedited version that the filmmaker intends. A similar situation to this film is that of The Exorcist III, or Legion as it's "director's cut" version is called. For years and years it was thought that we would never see the film in its originally intended form, and would only have the studio released version that, while pretty bloody good, does have a studio-enforced exorcism scene towards the end of the film that feels quite out of place and over the top within the context of the methodical psychological thriller that the rest of the film is. Regardless of what you think about Legion, the fact that we can see William Peter Blatty's original vision of The Exorcist III is only a good thing, and I could cite countless other examples of this in film history. I will always support the filmmaker's original vision. In the case of Justice League it is particularly fantastic that this version has finally seen the light of day considering not only how Zack Snyder was treated throughout what would only have been an incredibly painful and tough experience to go through with your family, but also how it is now being reported Joss Whedon treated both the original material and the actors performing it. 

All of that being said. I have never been a huge fan of Zack Snyder, and I certainly have not liked his entries into the DCEU. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I hate them. Outside of that, I think that Watchmen does an admirable job adapting difficult material to the screen, but does so without actually understanding any of the subtext or nuance of the text, and his Dawn of the Dead remake is a lot of fun, but beyond that I don't really have much in the way of positives to say about Snyder's filmmaking. This is why I was surprised when the really positive reviews of Zack Snyder's Justice League started to come in before I managed to see it, and thought that maybe Snyder had turned a new leaf in his career as a filmmaker. 

I'm here to tell you that almost all of the problems that exist in his work haven't gone away, and just because this is a better film than its original iteration - which it unquestionably is - does not make it the masterpiece that some people are calling it. 

Firstly, the positives. In terms of a piece of narrative storytelling, it is perfectly competent. Especially when compared to the original cut (which I will try not to do too much, but it is inevitable in this case), this feels head and shoulders above its predecessor in terms of clearly defined stakes, characters with well drawn out motivation and arc, and momentum in the narrative. One of the biggest and best improvements is the reinstatement of Cyborg as a major character. His character, and therefor all other characters key to his arc, were cut wholesale from the Joss Whedon cut (in regards to which it is worth mentioning all of them are people of colour), and his involvement in the drama feels not only warranted but essential. His backstory is restored, and so instead of a CGI cardboard cutout of a character he is well defined, filled out with a backstory, and his intention and motivation is made crystal clear. This is largely the same for Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, a character that felt like it was shoehorned in solely for comic relief in the original cut. Here he is a key part of the narrative. Other than Cyborg, though, the best character restoration of the film is definitely the villains. Where we were originally treated to a PS2 cutscene monster with zero personality, here Stepenwolf is menacing, but also vulnerable and weak in the presence of the real main-bad, Darkseid. Darkseid feels genuinely menacing, and a great villain to carry forward a franchise that Warner Brothers has already essentially left dead in the water at their own hands. 

For a really good breakdown of all the narrative changes across the two versions as well as all the other positives in the film, I suggest watching Red Letter Media's video on the subject, which you can find here.

Zack Snyder's eye for visual storytelling and action sequences is also restored to its full potential in this cut, replacing the action sequences in the original cut that were edited to within an inch of their lives and had no sense of geography or weight. His deliberately liberal use of slow-mo is not spared at all, and he stages these sequences with precision and skill, something that I don't think he gets enough credit for on a purely technical level. On a narrative level, that's another story, but we'll get to that in a bit. The fact that this has been released on streaming services has also freed up Snyder from that pesky mandated PG-13 rating, meaning the violence often feels like it has actual consequences and weight to it, something a lot of superhero films do not have. This is something that I think works in the film's favour on much more than an aesthetic level - whereas superhero films almost always deal with death and violence in widespread and heartless ways, almost never are we shown the consequences of this violence or the pain that it causes not only its victims but also the people surrounding those victims. While Zack Snyder's Justice League doesn't go that far down the track of truly empathetic and pain-filled depictions of violence like something like Logan does, the added depictions of blood on a wall where a goon's head just landed after being kicked by Wonder Woman, or the injury detail of an axe in a shoulder, all in my opinion lend themselves to a much healthier depiction of violence. This is something I feel very strongly about, especially given how young a lot of the audience is for superhero films; we should not be taught that violence doesn't hurt or that it doesn't have consequences. 

A lot has also been said about the aspect ratio of the film. It is presented in 1.33:1, the format that Zack Snyder originally wanted to present the film in, and has said that it is all to do with the IMAX presentation of the film. This is where we are going to start to get into some of the negatives I have with the film, because while I applaud a filmmaker for sticking with and committing to the original vision of the film and executing it through incredibly challenging circumstances, I do think that this is a decision that would have worked in an IMAX setting as originally intended, not on the streaming format that we eventually received it in. I don't think it is a poor choice, I understand its purpose in a narrative sense and I will always stick up for the filmmaker, but if we are talking about the experience of watching this film at home on TV, I do think that a lot of people are going to find the aspect ratio a challenge for them when they're trying to get into the film. That being said, maybe I'm wrong, and people will be fine with it. It didn't bother me at all, and I think it's great that he was allowed to follow through on that creative choice. 

But like I have already said, I don't like this movie overall. I wasn't particularly expecting to despite the absurd amount of hype it was getting, especially considering how I feel about both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And before you type away in the comments, yes I have seen the Ultimate Cut of Batman v Superman, yes it is better than the theatrical cut, and yes I still think it's not great. And here's why, because a lot of these things apply to all three Snyder DCEU films. 

Snyder is all surface. What I mean by that, is that it is very clear that he has a great love and affection for the source material. This is true also of Watchmen. He clearly loves and respects the source material, and is incredibly adept ad bringing it to life visually on the big screen. There are stories of everyone walking around on the set of Watchmen with copies of the graphic novel, which goes to show just how dedicated he is to capturing that comic book aesthetic and honouring the source material. But beyond that I don't think he much knows what he is doing. It is incredibly hard to care about characters who are taken directly from graphic novels without further fleshing out, because when you read a character on page it allows you access to their thoughts, feelings and past in a way that is natural and organic. When that is put on screen without further adaptation it translates into characters that are cold, uninteresting, and boring, and when they do allow us into their inner thoughts it is through either incredibly on the nose exposition or another fucking flashback sequence that completely stalls the momentum of the narrative. This is a problem regardless of how long a film is, let alone a film that goes for four hours. 

When I was talking earlier about restored character and narrative momentum, I want to clarify exactly what I meant. In comparison to the original cut, the narrative moves from one place to another with clarity and consistency. This does not mean that it is compelling or exciting in any way, it just means that on a purely functional level it operates competently. There have been plenty of boring films in history that have had perfectly competent narrative structures, and this is one of them. When compared to the original cut, these characters feel like actual character with motivation and arc. That does not mean that those motivations or arcs are compelling or exciting. When I say that this film is competently put together when compared to its previous cut, that really isn't saying much in the way of praise, because not only was the 2017 cut of this film a complete dumpster fire of a film, but Zack Snyder's Justice League is a slog. Not only is it boring, but it is so confident in itself that it allows itself to play out in its fullest, most verbose form, meaning that not only is it boring, but it is boring for way longer than it needs to be. I have no problem with long films. Roger Ebert said that "no good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough." This rings completely true with this film - it could lose at least 20 minutes of its four-hour runtime and still be as competently boring as it already is. 

I do feel like I also need to address the Epilogue of the film that as far as I could tell took place in the future of one of the many timelines that branched off when The Flash reversed time in the film (I think that's what happened, it's really not explained). I do think it's a really cool sequence visually, and the reveal of who they are actually trying to stay hidden from it exciting and did make my stomach drop. But mostly I was really just thinking: wait, why is he there? What are they doing? Is this a dream or a flash forward? I understand that for people who either have more invested in these characters or who are knowledgeable about the source material, this sequence would have had some weight to it, but it really just felt tacked on at the end. I feel the same way about the appearance of Martian Manhunter (a name I had to google when writing this) in the Epilogue - it really felt like it was only there for the sake of building excitement for the next instalment, a theoretical film that we are now most likely never going to see anyway, and should have either hit the cutting room floor or been trimmed up and placed after the credits. 

A much more eloquent and concise writer on film than me in the form of Mark Kermode summed up my thoughts on this film magnificently in his own review when he said that "it's boring, but it's coherently boring." When you consider the fact that it will inevitably be directly compared to the 2017 version of the film, and that it is a sequel to both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I am really not surprised at all by that fact - I mean, really, what else were you going to expect?

Like I said at the beginning, though, I think it is a wonderful thing that this film exists and that it is available for the fans, because let's be honest - this film is not made for me. I have never been a fan of these movies, and I am not invested in these characters in the slightest. If you are, I implore you not to be discouraged by anything I or any other critic says about it, because it is not for us. It is a genuinely good thing that Zack Snyder's Justice League is a thing, not only for the fans' sake, who in large part are responsible for this even being available to see in the first place, but for the sake of Zack Snyder, a man who went through such unbelievable pain and tragedy while making something he really believed in, and was then forced out of it while the studio turned it into the hackneyed piece of garbage that it is. While Justice League (2017) is an objectively horrid film with no sense of narrative or filmmaking competency, filled with both on-screen and behind the scenes racist and sexist undertones, Zack Snyder's Justice League is a film made exactly as intended by a filmmaker with a vision and the passion and fan support to carry it out. That vision just doesn't do it for me, and I found it dull, boring and overlong. 

I would love to hear what you thought about this film, so feel free to either drop a comment below, or find me on Instagram at @bluerose.filmreview to continue the conversation. See you next time, legends!