It’s finally here. After four years of waiting, Zack Snyder finally returns to the director’s seat to complete his vision of the 2017 Justice League. I decided before watching this new cut, I would refresh myself on the original, as I hadn’t seen it since that disappointing day in theaters. Once again, I had the joy of watching a Frankenstein monster.  Justice League is a film at war with itself. It has jarringly different tones throughout the movie due to the fact the studio hired two directors who couldn’t be more different in terms of style. However, in revisiting it, I got a fresh pair of lenses to contrast the two versions. A lot of people are going out of their way to NOT compare these movies, but I think that’s impossible. So long as you have seen the original, the comparisons will be glaring and staring you in the face. So let’s just embrace it, eh?

A lot of people are going out of their way to NOT compare these movies... I think that’s impossible....

To start off, the new version of the film opens with much more momentum. Where the theatrical begins with cell phone footage meant to better humanize Superman, it instantly is off putting from the first shot of Cavill’s creepy CGI mouth. Here we open on Superman’s actual death and his cries, quite literally heard around the world as they awaken the three Motherboxes. It creates a more foreboding atmosphere and ropes you in early.

It also becomes very apparent from early on that this is a much better-looking film. Even in the 4:3 aspect ratio, the movie has been color graded to the look they were going for when they shot it. As a result, the colors aren’t washed out or jarring and the costumes look a lot better under the right grade. The tone is also much more consistent in what it is going for. EPIC. And it really does feel epic in some of its best moments.

We lead into the meat of the movie. Bruce heading to find Aquaman is a fairly silly scene with him riding a horse across miles and miles of frozen wilderness when he has some of the most advanced jet technology in the world. It is never fully clear why he is putting why he is adamant on putting a team together. The theatrical version tries to explain this early on in a clunky (terribly) way of having him randomly meet a parademon who explodes into a picture of the boxes. Here, the Snyder Cut doesn’t even bother explaining it. Bruce just thinks an attack in immanent and needs a team….for reasons. The film later tries to explain it off that it is because of what Luthor told him. Yet Luthor was raving like a lunatic and clearly unhinged so why did Bruce take anything he said seriously? To me it lacked an inciting incident to push Bruce forward.

The movie following a lot of the same plot beats as the original but longer and much more fleshed out. Characters get significantly more time to develop with the most notable being Cyborg, who really becomes the heart and soul of the movie. He is the most well rounded character with the most satisfying arc. It is easy to see why Ray Fisher was angry with how the theatrical cut ultimately turned his character into an almost a non-entity. Here almost every time he is on screen he is compelling…..except for maybe his action scenes.

Characters get more time to develop with the most notable being Cyborg, who becomes the heart and soul of the movie.

The movie does inherit a lot of issues from the theatrical cut. Ezra Miller’s Flash is still unfunny, annoying, and terrible. The Cyborg design is awful and the CGI clunky, looking like an aluminum foil blob in most of his action scenes. Steppenworlf is much more physically intimidating, but is ultimately still a poor choice for a first Justice League movie as a C-lister villain. He is still just a goon who exists to beat people up or get beat up. They do try for better motivation of him wanting to win back Darksied’s approval, but it is all minimal and lazy. His design is still terrible but just in a new way. Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex is still someone you want to punch in the face. The CGI is very hit and miss…even more so now. So there is a lot of the issues of the original that don’t exactly go away. However, it’s improvements cannot be overlooked in terms of the momentary editing in each scene and how much better fleshed out they become. It makes this movie really feel like it is new and different.

The film, unfortunately, still falls prey to a lot of Zack Snyder’s worse tendencies. He has awkward ham-fisted music choices shoved into scenes where it they fit at all or is so literal that you’ll roll your eyes. It, of course, has an overabundance of slow motion; holding on pretty shots too long that don’t actually serve much narrative purpose. Although, I was actually surprised how much of the theatrical films levity actually came from Snyder as he does make an attempt to break up the grim atmosphere with brief moments of comedy that keep it from being the emotional drag of something like Batman v Superman.

The film, unfortunately, still falls prey to a lot of Zack Snyder’s worse tendencies.

I completely enjoyed the first act of this movie. It had a lot of momentum and did a far better job of setting up the characters. The action was also way better fleshed out from the Steppenwolf attacks on Atlantis and Themescira to Wonder Woman taking down terrorists. This first third flew by.

…But then we get to the second act. The recruitment part of the movie which clocks in an hour 20 all on it’s own is the part the theatrical version condensed the most and for good reason. I stand by the added material adding a lot of good stuff, but it is hard to deny how this act drags on and on as they crawl their way to the team’s first battle. This is the part where you will feel the length. It’s also where you will realize why this movie wasn’t put out like this. My roommate walked into the room and asked me how this new cut was and the first word that came to my mind was EXCESSIVE. And it is. I did watch this in one sitting, but if I had been in a theater with no breaks, I may have been screaming to get out. Not because it is bad. But because it has zero restraint and just goes on and on and on and on. Even though they didn’t break this into a miniseries, it would have worked better as one. It’s helpfully broken up into parts that make for easy scattered viewings. I have a hard time believing that anyone besides reviewers and diehard fans will be able to get through this monstrosity in one sitting. As much as it wants to be, Lord of the Rings, this aint.

Most of the conflict gets much better fleshed out and the cut close a lot of plotholes from the original. One of the worst scenes in the theatrical is where they awaken Superman then promptly forget WHY they resurrected him in the first place as Steppenwolf sort of just walks into an abandoned parking lot, picks up the motherbox, and leaves. I remember the group in front of me sarcastically clapping at that part. Here the entire sequence is fully realized. Unfortunately, all new plotholes and contrivances can me found in this verion. The team’s decision to resurrect Superman in this cut is still macabre, ill conceived, and haphazardly formed. They even still resurrect him after having visions of bring him back causing an apocalypse. The plot itself even adds a fourth McGuffin in the form of the anti-life equation, which Darksied found on earth but hilariously forgot where it was after waging a war and losing his only battle. Seriously….no one in his entire armada bothered to draw a map or remember the planet’s name? It is complete nonsensical hilarity.

The plot adds a fourth McGuffin in the form of the anti-life equation, which Darksied found on earth but hilariously forgot where it was after waging a war and losing his only battle.

The film also really does exist in its own bubble universe, which is unfortunate as it will solidify the theatrical as canon compared to this. Certain things don’t match up with the rest of the series. Most notably with the depiction of Atlantis. The talking bubbles are back and more intrusive than ever as every time someone wants to talk, they have to stop the action and make a bubble. They do this about seven times. When not in a bubble they talk in high pitch chirps like dolphins. Atlantis is far more medieval in design than in the superior, fantastical James Wan production designs and worldbuilding.

There is more fan service here. Most pretty fun like Flash saying he knows Gorilla sign language or nods to the Atom. Some is clunky like Martian Manhunter being shoehorned in (in the worst possible way) and undercutting a truly great emotional scene between Lois and Martha Kent. A damn shame.

Lastly ,we get to the climax, a massive improvement over the theatrical cut. Gone is the egregious purple and red color scheme and the film goes out of its way to make every character feel useful. In the theatrical, Superman just shows up and solved all their problems. Here everyone has a part to play in the conclusion and it feels like they are working as a team. Cyborg and Flash in particular get much much improved roles in the climax that serves as a nice way to round off their character arcs while setting up the Flash in particular for some cool directions in his solo adventure. The stakes feel higher and it feels like a conclusion worthy of the Justice League.

Then there’s the epilogue. Remember when I said that this film could be summed up in one word- excess. Never is it better represented than here. They could have ended on the perfect shot of Superman opening his shirt to reveal the S. Instead, we have to endure Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor teasing a film that will never happen, a nightmare sequence awkwardly and confusingly shoved into the end, and Martian Manhunter stopping by to see a Bruce (who is clearly 3 years older) for no other reason than to say his name and fly off. Worthless.

I said that this film could be summed up in one word- excessive. Never is it better represented than here.

So there is a lot to unpack here. And I mean A LOT. Look at the length of this review. It’s a monster to match the movie. In many ways the film inherits issues from the core of the theatrical. In many ways it improves on almost every single scene from the original. It takes plotholes and contrivances away and adds new ones. It improves action but injects shoddy CGI at times. It is a game of Fortunately but Unfortunately. In the end though, despite its length, there is no denying what a superior version this is to the theatrical. Every scene I was thinking….wow this is long…but also….wow that was way better. The film is hard to get through in one sitting as parts fly by while others drag, but it was still an overall entertainment to watch, a narratively and tonally more cohesive work, and a testament to fan and creator enthusiasm. Who am I to challenge that?

6/10