When I originally heard that HBO had signed the rights for Zach Snyder to create a special director’s cut of Justice League, I was pretty excited. I’m more Marvel than DC, but I love big superhero movies in general, and the sheer novelty of it was intriguing. Also, for me, the original Justice League movie was kind of a mess, so I had hope for the a more cohesive, epic story.
I watched the Synder Cut on Saturday in two parts (one at lunch and one at dinner), and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. For all my excitement, I also had trepidation about an overstuffed 4-hour movie, but Snyder took a film that was confusing because of its lack of length and provided all of the context needed for it to make sense.
I read a review recently that described the movie as Snyder’s “Lord of the Rings” in terms of the scope and mythology conveyed in the film. I can absolutely see that in the movie–it truly felt epic in scope. Yet I also really liked the extra time spent with the characters as they tried to vibe with each other. I wish they were a little less serious, but The Flash and Aquaman help to add a little levity, and I really like how Ben Affleck’s Batman isn’t as grim as some of the others.
Before I get into a few wishes that weren’t fulfilled, I also wanted to note that the format of a long movie as presented at home is fascinating to me. I don’t know if we’ll see it much in the future (beyond director’s cuts), but I really liked how the movie was broken into parts that were available all at once. This could have been a miniseries, but I like that we could watch it on “opening weekend”; I also like that the movie gave us clear breaks in the action so we had permission to not just sit for 4 hours straight.
Overall, if you like any/all of the DC superheroes, I’d recommend checking out the Synder Cut of Justice League.
A Few Things I Didn’t Love
- The Villain: I thought Steppenwolf was much more interesting in this movie than in the theatrical cut, where he just kind of shows up and is bad for a few scenes. Here he gets a lot more screentime and has a clear motivation. However, my feeling is that this was a lost opportunity. Justice League was clearly hoping to be a box-office hit, saving a bigger villain (Darkseid) for a sequel. But given that there isn’t going to be a sequel–which Snyder must have known while creating this version of the movie–why not switch out CGI Steppenwolf for CGI Darkseid? Why hold back?
- Extra Footage: Also tied to the future of the film are a few scenes that hint at things to come, and given that there is no sequel, why not just leave them out? Some are dreamlike sequences in the middle of the film, and a few are at the end, including an extended scene with Jared Leto’s Joker, who–let’s face it–never has worked and never will work (with Heath Ledger gone, at least bring in Joaquin Phoenix). The Snyder Cut was a chance for this movie to be a self-contained whole–it did not need to hint at anything in the future. Really, I would have ended the movie at the end of the big fight scene. No epilogue at all. End big, not small.
Did you watch the Snyder Cut? What did you think?
As someone who has pretty much only enjoyed Wonder Woman from the recent DC movies, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. I agree with you, a big part of my fascination was from my unquestioning acceptance of a 4-hour movie. Perhaps it’s a product of my pandemic mindset, and/or it’s not too different than a mini-series or anything else “binge-able” on streaming services nowadays. I’m not sure why I’m surprised, but the point is, three hours into Justice League I was honestly excited that the final battle hadn’t happened yet and the movie still had a whole hour of elbow room to finish the story.
I’d be open to more long-form movies designed for home enjoyment.
I felt the same way with an hour left–in fact, I was starting to think that meant Darkseid really was going to show up! But the movie ended around 3:40, as I can recall, with the last 15-20 minutes as the epilogue.
Did I like it? Well.. I honestly almost cried from excitement, this is totally my kind of movie, I’ve seen it twice already, planning to watch it once again this weekend.
I’d believe some producer and DC would be quite interested to keep the success from this movie with a sequel, why wouldn’t they??
I’m glad you liked it!
I actually don’t know if this movie was a success, though. We know if a movie is a box-office success if theaters report high earnings, but the best we can get from HBO is number of views (if they choose to report that).
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