Zack Snyder's Justice League Review

An abrupt scream of pain turns the world upside down, literally sending shockwaves that all can hear.

Superman, the alien god we were introduced to in 2013’s ‘Man of Steel’, is left impaled and standing at death’s door.

This is how Justice League begins, intersecting with the final act of 2016’s ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ just to show us how bad of a predicament humanity is in.

Humanity is left in a weak spot that enemies will soon exploit as people who may be able to stop them refuse to step out of the shadows.

Bruce Wayne refuses to let this happen, feeling a restoration of faith that leads him down a path of finding those who dwell in the shadows.

This draws a clear line in the sand, not even five minutes in and already showing us just how different this four-hour HBO Max film is from 2017’s Justice League.

When it comes to making big-budget superhero films, studios have a very particular vision about what they want in their films and will employ a director they think will execute this view.

Unfortunately, we now know about the notorious disputes between director Zack Snyder and Warner Bros, something that partially contributed to the version of Justice League that we got back in 2017.

I refuse to do a review of 2017’s Justice League, to me it didn’t feel like the movie I was looking forward to- it felt like something that was sporadically changed to feel more like ‘The Avengers’.

Though I wasn’t the biggest fan of ‘Batman v Superman’ upon its initial release and I could think of at least a dozen things I would have changed about ‘Man of Steel’, I was still looking forward to the release of Justice League in 2017.

Don’t get me wrong, I was incredibly cynical.

I was already seriously struggling to like Henry Cavill’s Superman who just felt like a generic superhero to me, I felt like General Zod was a very unlikeable character and I just felt like this DC movie universe was a little too dark for its own good.

Apparently, the studio heard these complaints too.

However instead of telling a good story, the studio chose to overcompensate for criticisms of previous Snyder films by cramming the film full of cringey one-liners, CGI mustaches and unnecessary plot points.

When it was announced that Zack Snyder’s original vision of Justice League was going to be released sometime in 2021, I was excited but I also a little cynical.

There is no secret that studios can become very petty about their most popular properties, going as far as demanding scene changes midway through production just to increase toy sales.

But in the back of my mind, I was wondering if the studio was right in releasing their version of Justice League in 2017.

Maybe Zack Snyder’s version was actually terrible.

Watching this film through an analytical lens first and as a comic book fan second, I went through the entirety of the six-part film not knowing what to expect.

Through a perfect balance of character development, glorious CGI battles and a tone that solely belongs to Zack Snyder movies, the unthinkable was accomplished- a four hour story that celebrated the hard work put into a cut that had long waited to be released.

I finished watching this film being happy and a little angry, happy because I had just watched what was arguably Snyder’s best film to date, angry because I couldn’t watch this in theaters back in 2017.

There were so many memorable moments in this movie, everything from the scene showing The Flash turning back time to save his allies to the feeling of fulfillment that Cyborg felt by the end of the film.

Cyborg and Flash were unarguably the hearts of this film, going through their own subtle character arcs about them coming of age and finding purpose in the midst of their broken families.

There is one character that I feel has been overlooked upon reading what others have said about Justice League: Batman.

For me, Zack Snyder’s Justice League brought a new level of energy to Ben Affleck’s Batman, giving him a level of depth that the 2017 cut chose to replace with a series of cheesy one-liners between him and Superman.

The tragic irony to this being that Ben Affleck may possibly be making an appearance in 2022’s Flash solo film which Affleck has said would be his last film as Batman.

Despite this I watched the movie as intended, a clear continuation of Snyder’s previous and a set-up for sequels that will never be.

Watching this in contrast to Bruce’s story in ‘Batman v Superman’, this film fulfills his arc and establishes the prevalent theme of the film: discovering one’s purpose.

If the beginning of Bruce’s story in 2016 was about his self-isolation and being at the peak of his rage, 2021’s Justice League is about Bruce aligning himself with superhumans based fully on an act of faith, finding atonement for his violent deeds in the process.

This is perfectly displayed in the four hour span of the movie, something that feels like a mix between an HBO miniseries and a Lord of The Rings film.

With the four hours attached, the heroes that compose the superhero team each have the chance to flourish, with each ironically feeling perfectly set up for their solo films by the time the credits roll.

With the original 2017 release of the film clocking in at two hours, Snyder uses the extra two hours to make a film that feels solely like his.

Do I recommend this new cut of Justice League? Absolutely. Do I recommend you fast-forward through certain scenes in order to not sit through an entire four-hour movie? Also, absolutley.

Final Score: 9.5/10