★★★

 Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

Written by Dalton Welsh - April 6 2021

It is not a secret to many that the production of 2017’s Justice League was perhaps one of the most evidently arduous in recent memory. Resulting in an unsurprisingly Frankenstein's monster of a film, taking Zack Snyder’s original vision for the film and mashing it into an ill-fitting mould. Like a child shoving a square into a triangle shaped hole. So with Snyder’s new four hour behemoth of an edit, he’s able to give the film stylistic clarity, even if some of the elements are lacking the strength one might have hoped for. The basic plot remains the same of course with Bruce Wayne/Batman and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman attempting to put together a team of superpowered beings to combat an extra terrestrial force that threatens to transform the earth into an apocalyptic wasteland in the wake of the death of Superman. With the elongated runtime brings with it a more gradual pacing allowing the scenes to breathe as well as give more development to the characters the film is introducing, even if those characters aren’t as interesting as one would like. But, this length also allows Snyder to include scenes that feel self-indulgent and unnecessary to the film, ultimately bringing down its quality.

We should begin by addressing one of the biggest differentiations between Snyder’s cut and the theatrical release, that being the film’s visual style. With a switch in tone from a seemingly goofy superhero film to something more in line with a fantasy epic, the greater presence of more dulled colours with a heavy presence of blue feels appropriate as opposed to some of Snyder’s previous superhero films that just make one feel depressed as well as looking visually uninteresting. That’s not to say that all the visuals are great however, while there are frequent engaging flowing camera shots and some striking compositions there are still the superhero staples of over bloated action set pieces, which are even more egregious in Snyder productions. This all makes for a film that while stylistically is consistent, the quality of the visuals constantly teeters between genuinely good to kind of ugly simply through the overstuffing of the frame. And of course the film also brings with it an absolute truckload of slow motion, while at times being effective it is more often than not tired and uninspired. 

The story of the film while aligning with many superhero plots we’ve seen before, in an alien seeking to rule planet earth and our heroes being the only one’s strong enough to stop them, it does have elements separating it from others in the genre. As mentioned the film is more in-tune with a fantasy epic, due to its expansion of the history of the universe the film occupies, particularly its focus on ancient mythology making the world feel more realised and interesting. But is again in service of a still relatively unengaging main story of the villain seeking three extra-terrestrial boxes. Speaking of the villain, being Steppenwolf, in this version of the film he has a much clearer motivation and agency. Revealing that he seeks to prove his worth to the all powerful titan Darkseid after his previous betrayal. And while it is certainly an improvement it is more from bad to decent, it would have been nice to have more scenes of Steppenwolf that weren’t just him grabbing one of the boxes then reporting to his superior saying he had found said box, obviously when you are trying to introduce so many other characters time is sparse, but surely four hours is enough time to give the main antagonist some more characterisation.

As for our protagonists, the eponymous justice league, the two least interesting characters from the theatrical cut, being The Flash and Cyborg are probably the best parts of the film. Showing some more human characters who have had this responsibility thrust upon them allows the audience to have a bit more empathy towards them, unlike the billionaire Bruce Wayne, an Amazonian demi-god in Wonder Woman and Aquaman the heir to the throne of the seven seas. While these characters, specifically Wonder Woman and Aquaman bring with them the aforementioned mythological history, as far as characters go, they are merely strong fighters to combat the villain threat and nothing more. And if Cyborg’s tragic backstory had been handled with just a little more care he could have been a genuinely great character, but as it stands he is still relatively good. With the flash providing some well needed levity that only on the rare occasion overstays its welcome. 

Then lastly is the score by Junkie XL, who now seems to be going by his real name Tom Holkenborg. A vast improvement from the formulaic music of Danny Elfman, with great epic energy channelling his score of Mad Max Fury Road, the only fault is that it can at times feel a little too bombastic. Particularly in the third act when the action and visuals are already so overwhelming, while it works in a film like Mad Max, where the whole thing is being an exhausting thrill ride, here it can sometimes be a touch too much. Also, as mentioned by many, they play a sort of opera chanting almost every time Wonder Woman is one screen, and nearly every time she is in slow-motion, getting to the point where it feels like a Zack Snyder parody. 

All in all, the four hours does help in giving motivation to the villain, expanding the world and giving more development to the supporting members of the justice league that previously had little to no character to speak of. And with Zack Snyder given the freedom to make the film as he intended he has crafted a slightly flawed but ultimately consistent movie both visually and tonally. Which in turn also causes the film to fall victim to the usual Snyder shortcomings of egregious slow motion, ebbing quality in the visuals particularly negative in the yet again over bloated third act. But, thankfully avoids the convoluted storytelling of Batman v Superman, even if the trade off is a more basic plot. Perhaps the worst elements of the film being Snyder’s additionally shot footage for this edit, with the inclusion of the 'knightmare' sequence at the films conclusion both on its own being an awkward scene with cringe worthy dialogue as well as ruining the film reaching a more natural resolution. So to boil it down, it’s definitely better, but nowhere near the masterpiece that some are hailing it to be.