Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A Triumph
The Director’s Cut To Rule Them All
I am, what one could quite easily term a DC fanboy who has invested countless hours into almost every form of media produced from this comic book publisher’s arsenal. From the dusty pages of the Crisis on Two Earths event of the Justice League of America comic book collection, yellowing away in my memories, to the rush of gliding down the city as the caped crusader in the beautiful Arkham City on my Xbox, to appreciating the mesmerizing view of Henry Cavil soaring through the sky as Hans Zimmer’s musical masterpieces echo in the background in Man Of Steel, these characters and their stories have come to hold a special place in my heart.
So, when Joss Whedon’s Justice League came out in 2017, I was cautiously optimistic.
The live-action superhero team up movie I’d been waiting for to happen all my life was finally gracing the big screen. Man of Steel had proven to be a fresh and exciting take on the character and Wonder Woman had just won hearts all over the globe. And while Dawn of Justice didn’t live up to the artistic brilliance of the two part ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ animated feature (which itself was based on a 4 part miniseries by Frank Miller in the 80s), of which the movie borrowed several key plotlines from, it was an entertaining experience that left me hopeful for the future of the DCEU.
The Whedon Version
I remember the excitement and the anticipation as I got comfy in my theater seat, along with an expectant audience. I had heard the news of the directorial change and the reshoots, but hey, it was Joss Whedon who had taken up the mantle. With a couple of extremely successful Avengers movies under his belt, he should know how to make a great superhero team up movie. Right?
Well yes, but actually no.
Right from the opening sequence, I could feel that something was off. Many scenes seemed forced and the dialogue delivery felt artificial. The almost goofy tone of the exchanges, the incessant need to deliver one-liners between every few seconds of conversation and the ‘friendly banter’ between each of the characters felt strangely, unnervingly familiar.
It felt like Whedon had just decided to put the new slew of characters into comfortable little personality boxes that he was already used to.
The only person who didn’t seem to fit in quite well was Cyborg. He had a relatively more unique backstory which required a lot more runtime to do justice to (no pun intended). It didn’t help that Warner Bros. pressured him to cut the movie down to just 2 hours to get through the entire plot quicker. All of which led to the character becoming a bland and monotonous character who barely added anything to the roster of more seemingly likeable heroes.
Coming to the villain, Steppenwolf was a very forgettable, one-dimensional, generic bad-guy whose motivations were never really made clear. The ending as well, made all the other League members feel irrelevant the moment Superman showed up on screen, effectively removing all the stakes that had been raised till that point.
Zack Snyder’s Masterpiece
Fast-forward several years and the internet campaign of the fans finally materializes into a 6-part epic in which Zack had been given free reign to do as he seemed fit. When I first read that it would clock in at over 4 hours long, I knew they would be fixing many of the problems that had plagued the previous version. The only other 4 hours+ movie I’ve ever watched was the extended edition of LOTR: The Return of The King, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
One of the biggest challenges in making a good movie is dealing with the limited runtime. The director has to effectively introduce characters and make us care about what happens to them by the end in order form an emotional connection with the audience. This task becomes much more challenging in movies with an enlarged cast since giving each person their own time in the limelight while moving the story along at a decent pace is no easy feat. Back when Avengers: Endgame came out I remember the runtime being one of the topics of heavy discussion.
“Will people actually stay in theaters for over 3 hours?”
The answer of course, was yes! The movie went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time(till Avatar reclaimed the crown shortly after). Amidst a global pandemic, releasing ZSJL on a steaming service by breaking it down into 6 parts plus an epilogue was a very deliberate decision. This would provide the viewers an experience with the soul of a movie in the format of an episodic series (which most people binge watch anyway, but just in case). The 4:3 aspect ratio, while disliked by many didn’t bother me as much. We were getting extra footage at the top and bottom compared to the theatrical release which had cropped it away, and why would I say no to that?
Now, coming to the actual content of the movie, what I appreciated the most was the handling of Cyborg. Most of the extra runtime has gone into showing us who he was, what his relationships with his parents had been like and the unimaginably scary responsibilities that he has to deal with thanks to his new ‘powers’.
His journey from a brooding, emotionally scarred amalgam of man and machine, to the hero who would risk his life to save the planet was extremely well-done. The development of his relationship with his father is a big part of this movie and every emotion feels earned and every action meaningful during his character arc.
Several stand-out sequences featuring the Flash were an absolute delight to watch.
In the same way the slowed-down Quicksilver scenes always stole the show in previous X-Men films, the two completely new Flash sequences here are a visual treat that elevate the film to new heights.
Apart from these two characters, the most welcome change was for Steppenwolf. The new shiny metallic armor that seems to be an organic killing machine with a mind of its own lends a majestic aura to his presence in every scene. His motivations and history are greatly explored, making him much more relatable and easier to connect with.
In the end, there are hundreds upon hundreds of small decisions that despite its length, made the movie feel tighter, better paced and more weighty. Every questionably constructed scene deleted, every unnecessarily over-the-top dialogue removed and every masterfully crafted sequence added, built up to form one of the best superhero movies I have seen in recent memory.
DC refers to these characters as ‘Gods Among Us’ and I’m happy to say that Zack Snyder has done justice to that title.
#RestoreTheSnyderVerse
