Well… I’m shocked. Rewatching Justice League was a pain, the pacing, the tone, the characters, the action I didn’t enjoy it, it’s an overall mess. I was interesting in seeing a Snyder cut purely just to see Zack’s vision of this darker universe and not the tonal mess that we were giving. But going into this I had low expectations, how different can the movie really be? Oh how wrong I was.
This film is amazing…for what it is. It’s not really a film. It’s not a TV show. It’s a weird piece of art made by Snyder for Snyder. Right from the get go, the cheesy misplaced tone is gone and replaced with the more serious, darker tone we’re used to from DCEU Snyder films. This tone is consistent throughout the film and is the first of Zack’s films where I think it truly works. To the executives at WB who tried to pivot from this tone to be a copy of Marvel, that was a mistake. This film while dark still has fun and light moments but this comes from the characters themselves instead of the components of the film. The Flash being the “comic relief” really works in this film as every other character isn’t trying to be a comic relief, they’re all well defined individuals in this world.
Speaking of The Flash, my boy was given justice in this film. I love The Flash but left Justice League not really loving Ezra’s take on him. In ZSJL we get time to be with Barry, find out who he really is, he’s not used as a weak part of the group but another incredibly important member. His quirks being related to his speed was more apparent in the film and I enjoyed the quips as it was fresh and fun. I got quite emotional in the final battle as well with him reversing time which I never expected one bit to get emotional during this. The whole scene was beautiful and Ezra’s smashed it out of the park.
Another standout for me was Ray Fisher as Cyborg. My god he gets far more screen time in this and it’s earned. The whole story with his father emotional resonated with me and I loved getting more of his backstory. It was tragic and upsetting but Snyder allowed his character to breathe and that payed off in the end. The final battle managed to build tension (which Justice League lacked) through The Flash and Cyborg and adding a touch of emotion to the climax was powerful and well earned.
The other league members were great. I would go as far as saying Affleck might be my favourite Bruce Wayne in this film, I think he played the cocky billionaire incredibly well and enjoyed his dynamic with the rest of the heroes especially Diana. Gal Gadot is still great as usual, what surprised me was how much more I enjoyed the London bank scene with Snyder’s tone. Momoa and Adams are great too and Jeremy Irons is fucking brilliant, I really love his take on Alfred and his quips usually land.
The Superman story beats were well earned and I enjoyed Cavill’s performance in this. I wish I enjoyed the prior movies and the arc of Superman’s character within the DCEU but I think it falls flat. This movie however redeemed him a bit for me, the scene’s with Lois and his Mum were touching and I really enjoyed both his Dad’s VO when he dawned the black suit. But if his character had been built up to be a symbol of hope instead of the confused mess of a character we got then all his scenes would’ve meant a lot more.
What’s incredible is how dramatically different the movie is and I think that’s due to the characterisation and also a few technical things.
1. The music. The score works way better in this film, the ethereal voices for WW and the Amazons and the fusing with the WW theme and the more grand score making it feel like a momentous event. I’ve had my problems with the Man of Steel score, not that I didn’t like it, I love it as a score on its own but felt like it was out of place for that film, but it works perfectly here. It had an emotional charge to it that I didn’t expect but absolutely loved.
2. The colouring. I can’t believe the difference the colouring can make. Snyder made the film with a clear colour palette in mind and here we get to see it in action, the weird colouring of suits and background are gone and while it may not be a colouring expected for a JL movie it’s a colouring that matches the Snyder tone and the film he’s made.
3. The shots. The cinematography in this film at times is beautiful, the WW shot throwing the briefcase, the Superman shot above the Earth, The Flash running through the speed force, it was unexpected how good parts of the film looked. The visuals for the most part were good too, some clunky CGI in places but for the most part it was great. And, I’ve been critical of Snyder’s directing of action before but I loved it in this film, it was kinetic and smooth and the action was smart which is better than most of the DCEU films.
Some of the shots however ran far too long. This film didn’t have to be as long as it did, there’s some fat that could’ve been trimmed. The runtime is egregious, some shots linger on people or events that add nothing to the larger story. I think the film would still have been long even if some of it was cut but it could’ve been a bit cleaner. In saying this I don’t think Snyder would’ve been able to tell the story he did without the runtime, it wouldn’t have met the two hour limit set by WB, so for that I’m glad we got this weird mini-series/film to flesh out the characters.
Along with the insane runtime there was a lot of clunky, awkward dialogue, at some points it was noticeably bad but at others it was normal superhero cheesy lines at some points that were bad but not jarring. Some story beats as well weren’t incredible, while I enjoyed the added (and necessary) background to Steppenwolf I still think he’s a basic villain. Although I did enjoy the Darkseid aspects of the film.
While the nerd in me loved the weird nightmare epilogue, it was completely unnecessary and didn’t add to the film in any way. However, and this surprises me, I would love to see that film if it gets made. I actually was interested in Jared Leto’s joker?!? For that Snyder… congratulations.
Overall I think it was great to see a director’s vision play out and surprisingly enjoyed this take. Was it a brilliant film? No, there’s a plethora of things that are wrong with but there’s some great (earned) superhero moments, some good character beats, great action and a clear through line. It’s incredible this is as good as it is. It’s a love letter from Snyder to a world and characters he loves and a film his daughter would be proud of.
★★★1/2
