Ryan Shoots First: Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Say what you will about the Streaming Service Revolution but I’m convinced the meme of “The Snyder Cut” would not have become a reality in a strictly theater going world. Thanks to every studio rushing to the premium streaming service game, the exclusives have become gold… or Bitcoin depending on your age. When HBO Max launched they took a long look around at what they had to offer that no one else had and just the old DC films were not enough they needed something big. So they dusted off the old Internet, read the room and decided to tap Zack Snyder to finish his long rumored and fabled cut of the 2017 film. I would almost at this point be more interested in a documentary about the story of this film than the actual film itself. It seemed like shortly after Joss Whedon’s cut of the film was released we started hearing rumblings of the select chosen ones who were privy to a viewing of the Snyder Cut. It became a legend, it would cure world hunger and bring the world together …if only. Well that day has come and I will say they did it right. It is quite the feat this isn’t just a recut of the original footage it is almost an entirely different picture in both tone and content. The 2017 movie left a bad taste in a lot of the cast and crew mouths so much so DC began rebooting Batman, Affleck and Cavill were supposedly out and the future was up in the air. Well they all came back to do reshoots and extensive reshoots which either speaks to their respect for Zack, their respect for the characters, or just they didn’t have work because of the pandemic. Either way it is impressive the sheer amount of work that went into literally polishing a turd. 

Many of the original films’ issues stem from DC not letting the man they trusted to make them stand out from Marvel do his thing. Man of Steel is arguably the best of the Snyder DC era and set a great tone for what he wanted to do but amongst the criticism of the dark tone they immediately forgot who it was they tapped and started getting cold feet. You have to know what you are getting when you get Snyder, he has his style and you know what is coming for better or worst. Fast forward to Batman v. Superman and the cold feet started warping into meddling. The movie was released but there was a lot of push and pull from Snyders vision and tone and run time. So much so we had to get a “Director’s Cut” of that film that played and flowed much better than what the studio put out. So it was no surprise that when tragedy struck Snyder’s family and he was forced to step away from JL the studio took the chance to differentiate themselves from Marvel by… getting the guy who directed Avengers. So we got this mixed tone weird film, Snyder MCU love child that was just lukewarm and full of embarrassingly bad CGI mustaches. It’s been a weird road but had Snyder been allowed to come back to JL in 2017 I still don’t think we would have gotten the film we have today. The gift of streaming service exclusives meant the studio just needed content. They didn’t particularly care so Snyder had the freedom he had always wanted and boy does he flex it. We get a unique aspect ratio of 1.33:1 that plays more for IMAX but on your TV will look like old timey TV’s, we get a 4 hour run time that in no world would exist in a theater environment and the true tone Snyder was always pushing for. 

In a world where I never saw the 2017 version and could watch this with fresh eyes I think I would have REALLY liked it. It’s Snyder unhinged and yes some of it is ham fisted and lacks any subtlety at all but I’m kinda here for that. Comics themselves have never been big on subtly and this feels like a gritty DC comic come to life on screen. I think it was a great choice all those years ago for DC to counter Marvel by leaning into what made them different, and Snyder fit that, they just couldn’t let him do his thing until now. Leading up to the release one of the things that was pushed as getting significant more time and importance in the film was Cyborg played by Ray Fisher. Snyder even before his exit was on record saying Fisher was the heart of the film, then Whedon took over and the film lacked… heart. Fisher is given a lot more to work with now and even though he has been a somewhat controversial player in the WB-verse he is a welcomed change in the movie. Then there are the villains, and boy are their villains. Steppenwolf gets a whole new redesign that makes him look more shiny? But he is just the Harbinger he is supposed to be as we finally get the DC big bad himself Darkseid, complete with his cavalcade of followers and more Parademons. The threat seems much more ominous now and feeds better into the hints and clues that had been left in Man of Steel and BvS. I’ll save some of the other surprise cameos for you but there are a ton of other characters both new and old that show up. It would be much more exciting on Marvel levels if the entire future of the DCEU wasn’t up in the air. We really don’t know what the future of the Snyder-verse is, Affleck was supposedly out as well as Cavill but both are great in this film as the DC big 2. Ezra Miller is supposedly still getting his stand alone film. I don’t know what’s up with Wonder Woman or Aquaman’s future. We have multiple new Batman films and Jokers. It’s just such a mess it is hard to know if this is a reboot or a love letter to what could have been. WB has certainly broken the mold for how they have built their universe; perhaps they will gauge the response to this release to see what the future holds. 

So the big question is did the Snyder Cut live up to the years of hype and lore. That answer entirely depends on the preconceived notions you are coming in with. If you have spent the last 4 years maintaining the Snyder Cut would fix everything and finally bring Justice to the League then you will likely be pleased and stay on that hill. If you have mocked and ridiculed Snyders choices since MoS then you also will likely not see much to change your mind and will storm that hill. If there really ever is anyone firmly in the middle I do think this film is better and more enjoyable than the 2017 film but is someone in the middle willing to watch a 4 hour movie? Again it comes back to the reality that WB really doesn’t care. They have a big expensive streaming service and they just need big exclusive content. They don’t need the film to make money at the box office they just need to keep people subscribed to keep getting more and more content and not to cancel before Godzilla vs Kong hits at the end of the month. It’s the world we live in entertainment wise, a dark world, a gray world, in need of… Justice.