(film review) - Zack Snyder's Justice League

We live in a world where 'Cancel Culture' is a thing and if you bang on about something on the interwebs and maybe even start a petition to show your disgust at the misuse of the source material for a beloved IP, you may actually just get your way.  While people can change over time and a blue hedgehog has no business looking anything other than like the source material, this society we live in can be very dangerous and some might say toxic, but at the same time, can grant you benefits as we are the consumer.  While that statement is obviously debatable and I don't agree with cancel culture or agree with brats or people just wanting their own way, there are some cases where petitioning or banging on about a "Snyder Cut" could work out in the consumer's favour.

In 2017 when Justice League came out, there were a lot of negative things surrounding the various movies which came before it, such as a divisive Man of Steel and a forced Batman v Superman with terrible trailers.  While over time Man of Steel had got better for me on each watch, my own idea of a BvS movie was sooo much better than what we got.  I couldn't understand at the time (and even now to be honest), why two of the most recognisable characters in comic book history, who have had source material detailing their "beef" at times, was NOT as great as it could have been making the studio billions.  A film with soo much potential, wasted.  And while I've said some of these things in my Justice League theatrical cut review, I am very much aware that I am not a director or CEO of a movie studio, but having watched 'The Snyder Cut' which ONLY really came about because the fans kept banging on about it, not only do you get a lengthy 4 hour film, the movie gives every character a moment to shine, the story - a more organic plot, the villain - some layers and the jokes land better and you can only ponder, why didn't they go with this in the first place!?  This led me into thinking about Zack as a director.  Not only can he NOT tell a short story about something he is passionate about (well at least it seems that way to me) and has never met an action scene he didn't want to slow down, he is a very very talented director with a vision that really shouldn't be tampered with.  And I feel, after Man of Steel, Zack has been hampered, he has had his hands tied or doors closed on him from trying to execute his vision, and his vision of Justice League is GREAT!!!

So as I've stated before in my Justice League review, Superman is dead.  With the visions Batman received from The Flash, he teams up with Wonder Woman in order to recruit a few extraordinary people to help him in his cause to stop an unknown threat.  This threat is Steppenwolf, a being of great power who has come to Earth to collect these ancient boxes, called 'Motherbox' and use them to take over all life on the planet.  While Steppenwolf and his Parademons, scour the planet for these three boxes, will loner Batman be able to gel with his potential new recruits and will they have what it takes to thwart Steppenwolf and save all life on Earth? But the difference with this film is, although Steppenwolf is the antagonist, the main big bad is Darkseid.  Whilst Superman IS dead, HIS death awakened the Motherboxes whom call out to their master and Steppenwolf comes looking for them in a hope to find them and not only destroy the earth but to gain the trust and respect of Darkseid again.  Although Batman reaches out to Aquaman and the Flash, Wonder Woman is the one who finds out about the coming threat and tries to get Cyborg onboard.  Together united, they band together to take out Steppenwolf and stop Darkseid from getting a hold of the Anti-Life Equation.

Whilst the two films are essentially the same in plot, a lot of Zack's vision was removed altogether and some story beats changed.  Cyborg's story is axed from the theatrical cut, more or less the human element that grounds the film.  His mother, the relationship he has with his father.  Cyborg plays an integral role because he is the only person who can connect to the mother boxes, knows what it is capable of and relays the information that sparks the thought "we can use this to awaken Superman". 
The Flash's story is cut from him meeting Iris West for the first time and the relationship he has with his father is streamlined.  The Flash is simply played as the comic relief.
Some story beats with Aquaman is trimmed down and he doesn't save Mera when she is under attack in the theatrical cut.
Superman doesn't just wake up out of his death for Batman to use Lois as a tool for his contingency plan in case Superman goes wild, Superman wakes up and while most of that scene plays just like the theatrical cut, we get Cyborg saving the police officer.

With four hours, this move breathes but it also sails.  There are a few quiet moments but there is always something going on.  My real main concern with this movie is, why wasn't this movie released in 2017? This movie is being praised left and right and people want a sequel or more from Zack Snyder because they loved what they got.  At the time, Warner Bros. said, they didn't like the direction the movie was going so they decided to bring in Josh Whedon and pull Zack off of the project.  Granted Zack had a family tragedy too, but it did at the time feel like a firing.  So if they didn't like the direction of the movie, why was the movie cut short but still heading in the same direction? The same story beats and/or outcome?  At the time we thought that Josh came in and reshot a lot of the movie and a lot of it was his, but that was a lie.  A lot of the things that were great with the theatrical cut was ALL apart of Zack's vision but all the characters play differently and with more jokes thrown in.  Having watched 'The Snyder Cut', the theatrical cut blatantly felt like plagiarism.

There is an argument to be made that this is more Cyborg's story than anybody else as he is the heart of it, so why remove all of his story?  I understand cutting the runtime down but would it not have been better at 2 hours 30mins tops, ask Zack to trim it OR (and an even better option) get Zack to re-work the story to release the movie as a two-parter.  I can't say if it is/was a racial thing, but I felt like, if you were black and NOT Cyborg, you were cut from the movie.  The black police officer at the beginning, cut. The black Amazonian with the war cry, cut. Story beats to do with Victor's personality, cut.  And as I said before, his mother cut and the relationship he has with his father cut and reworked.  Victor is played out as if he is someone who was given a second chance at life and is brooding the entire movie, no story arc whatsoever.  Even Ryan Choi is cut.  And yes, I get it, streamlining, but really? I fully understand but I just feel there may have been better ways to cut the movie without changing the dynamics of the characters.  
I am also hyper aware that due to the comments recently from actor Ray Fisher about the treatment he had on set in the reshoots might have made me conscious of the differences in the two movies involving race, but these cuts do and have made a major difference to how people of colour now receive the theatrical cut.  It might not have even been a race thing as you will notice most of the action scenes are sped up a little, but to cut and change the one black character in the team (and in the theatrical cut, as it goes), the character who is the heart of the movie, is definitely foul play.  But then to cut all the other black characters out and the rumoured John Stewart (the black Green Lantern) out of it just seems dodgy and a conversation needs to be had.  Small lines like "looks expensive" was the change from "took me a minute to get past it" diminishing Wonder Woman's skillset. Lines like "I belong to no one" was changed for " You over estimate yourself" and "You spoke" was changed to " You smell nice", just little weird changes.  Added nonsensical moments like "Aliens stole my man" and Flash saving Wonder Woman and laying on top of her played for laughs.  At first, when I first watched it, it was funny, you know awkward comedy humour, but watching 'The Snyder Cut', the humour balanced out well.  As serious as the film may have seemed and likely to Warner Bros, this films didn't need forced humour.

The music was great, the action was even better and it really does boggle me as to why Warner Bros. did what they did.  But for those who do not know, it was because they were too busy chasing Marvel and their success rather than just trying to be their own thing.  Granted now, they are doing their own thing but the fans are NOT impressed (like Superman - you know the scene).  What I really feel Warner Bros. should do, is carry on with the Snyder Universe (#releasethesnyderverse).  Let him do whatever movies he likes and at the same time, work on other movies and other characters.  Everyone wants a Man of Steel sequel, so why can't that exist? It's not like Henry doesn't want to play the character any more, he has been banging on about it for years.  WB can effectively have two separate universes running side by side and I believe the audience is smart enough to know the difference.  Using The Flash and his skillset, you can weave characters between the universe or just use that as the explainer as to having the two, the possibilities are endless.

The theatrical cut is simply a 'sigh' when you go back to watch it after watching this version.  I feel like the theatrical cut exists as a mere Josh Whedon extended director's cut trailer for The Zack Snyder's Justice League.  WB, let the man do what he enjoys doing...telling great stories because if this is anything to go by, he CAN do it, you were just too busy chasing the competition rather than being your own thing.
Imagine, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman, 'The Snyder Cut', Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey Black Adam, all being in one universe.  Then introducing other characaters like Blue Beetle etc, then the Matt Reeves Batman being another Universe and may even have other characters like Swamp Thing, then films like Joker, being in another universe.  As much as we fans love connectivity, we just really want great stories more.

If you've seen the theatrical cut, then you need to see this. Very Zack Snyder but also very good and better than what was brought out before in 2017.

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(trailer review) - Zack Snyder's Justice League

(Official Teaser Update)

(Teaser Trailer)

I tell you what.  You cannot say that, Zack Snyder does not have a vision.  You also cannot say that, Zack Snyder does not know how to execute said vision with create great cinematography.  For a film which was essentially 4 hours or so, stopped, taken over by someone else, continued filming, chop and screwed and ended up being 120 minutes long...you can definitely say that Zack Snyder does not know how to tell short stories and truncate his work, because this movie is 242 minutes, that's equivalent to 4.03 hours!!!  From this trailer alone though...you can see what is difference from the original Justice League movie Zack was unable to make and this trailer, in all it's glory, shows the world what we have been missing and what happens when a studio ties your hands and restricts your creativity.  Granted, some people may go off the rails and maybe this does too, but it's Zack...let him tell his story.

This trailer looks more than phenomenal.  I actually feel like the word EPIC doesn't even begin to some it up.  From beginning to end, the trailer shows the threat, shows the harbinger, shows the heroes and pretty much, a lot of the shots in this trailer is FRESH AND NOT in previous trailers.  I mean he has 4 hours and 3 minutes to play with but every shot looks amazing.  As if you could pause the film and frame specific shots.  That Omega Beam shot as well as two Superman shots and that Wonder Woman fighting shot and the Cyborg shot....too much.  There is definitely an argument to be made to say that you have seen this before, but to be perfectly honest... 120 and 242 minutes...this different pretty much says it all.  Can't wait to somehow see it.

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds

(trailer review) - Zack Snyder's Justice League: Director’s Cut

I'm going to try and not repeat what I said in August 2020 regarding this debacle.  You can read that here: Zack Snyder's Justice League Trailer.  But it is very much worth highlighting here or briefly mentioning that, this was an utter shambles when Warner Bros decided to try and switch gears to catch up with Marvel's success.  With no real plan or direction, you end up with the Josh Whedon directed movie which is both Zack's movie with Josh's touches and edits.  Apparently, Zack has never watched the Justice League because it isn't his movie and more power to him.  I liked it for the most part, it wasn't terrible.

A trailer dropped in August and was pulled a little while after due to copyright infringement on the music choice used.  Apparently it wasn't cleared.  I'm just hoping that such a simple thing, isn't another spanner or something that is going to plague Zack's vision and stop us (I say that loosely) watching it on HBO Max.  We don't have HBO Max in the UK, so I wonder how that will work, Netflix maybe?

So, Zack has decided to drop an updated trailer and I'm going to be real with you, I'm not sure if there is a difference from the one dropped in August.  It does seem like there are a few newer shots with more of Ray Fisher's Cyborg and his story, and some other clips which were likely left on the cutting room floor, but although I'm not a huge fan of how the trailer is pieced together,, I still think it's phenomenal, albeit, I just want to see it now.  And now hearing he is adding more scenes, this trailer really is to showcase the NEW editions that were added, which now makes me think, maybe he has seen the Josh Whedon version...lol.

Anyway, it's shaping up to be a different kind of movie in terms of feel and I'm all for Zack telling his story.  WB seem to be doing right by him at present. Oh and just before I forget...that quick shot of Cyborg commanding all those (I'm assuming nukes), in his varsity jacket, is totally a boss shot! Also, the black and white is cool, but I think I'd prefer colour.

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds

(trailer review) - Zack Snyder's Justice League

First of all, imagine being a director and the studio feel you haven't done such a great job (not like the studio knew what they were doing or if any of them are comic book fanatics anyway), they use your recently passed young daughter to remove you from the film they wanted you to make and get someone else to finish the job, adding the same kind of flair that director helped to make another similar movie popular and a lot of money for the studio's rival or main competition.  I'd feel a type of way, I'm not going to lie.

Warner Bros. have been trying to catch up with Marvel (well Disney, now) since the very first Iron Man movie in 2008.  With nobody at the top detailing a plan and sticking to it, they were simply trying this character, then that character, rather than starting with a character and building a story and an over-arching plot/plan etc like what Marvel did with Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet Saga spanning 22 or so movies.  Apparently, it was to start with Batman Begins, they asked Christopher Nolan and he wasn't on it and wanted to make his own thing.  Then they attempted again with Green Lantern, but that was a dud.  DC have been chasing behind Marvel all this time and unless someone can tell me otherwise, is the reason as to why Zack has gone back to this project to finish it because he was essentially robbed of his movie.

This trailer looks phenomenal.  I know Zack is a lot of style and flair, but damn!  And considering, he will be putting a little bit more money into it (I think I heard), with no reshoots AND this movie will be something like 4 hours long, I can only assume this movie will fully flesh out how the movie and story was meant to play out without troubled Josh Whedon getting involved.  I don't really talk about the behaviours of actors and directors etc, but from when I heard Josh was being a twit to the actor who plays Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and also removed a lot of his scenes, made me feel a type of way towards him and now I'm looking at Josh sideways.  I hope this movie turns out to be very good and blows Josh's one out of the water.

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds

(film review) - Justice League

You could say it is the beginning of superhero fatigue as to why this film didn't do well.  You could also say it is because of the negative or mixed reviews which came out just before release, but I really do believe that the projected $110-120m for the weekend was hampered for many many reasons and Warner Bros. would never have reached it.

Not something I want to really get into, but I do believe the films shortcomings has come from many different things circulating the movie alone and the movies that came before it, in which I feel I need to give context and clear the air a little.

For example, Man of Steel opened to mixed to Positive reviews.  The film was divisive between critics and fans.  A really good film but the story was slightly hammy as certain characters were not portrayed accurately and the execution was just OK, albeit, some things never explained.

Four years later, Batman v Superman came out to very mixed to Negative reviews by critics and fans.  A film with great potential, but the execution was terrible.  Two of comics greatest and most iconic characters in a film together and the film was not as great as it should have been.  For the most part you'd enjoy moments of it, but the story and the third act was not great.  This was not well received.  Not to mention the terrible trailers.

Within the same year followed Suicide Squad.  A film which could have been told in a different way.  A film which was actually decent-ish, but had problems that weighed almost as heavy as the good elements of the movie.  This meant that critics and fans generally liked it, well better than WB's last Comic book outing, but the problems were there.  WB wanted re-shoots.  WB wanted to change the tone thinking it was the tone which was wrong with Batman v Superman.  It was choppy.  The jokes didn't all land well and the movie was all over the place tonally.  It should have been better...especially with the final act.  The cast were not the issue as the acting was good.  A little annoying that it centred on two specific characters, mostly.

Then came Wonder Woman.  A movie that basically did everything right from the ground up.  As DC Movies have slowly got marginally better over time, Wonder Woman opened to really great and excellent reviews from critics and fans.  Because of WW being such a great movie, WB decided to make changes to make her more front and center in this movie.

On top of the re-shoots and editing to make this film more attractive for all those who watched Wonder Woman, the tragedy with Zach Synder's family, knowing Warner Bros wanting to truncate their movie from 2hrs and 45mins to 2hrs, from knowing Henry Cavill had a moustache and it had to be digitally removed for filming the re-shoots, from learning that Ben Affleck doesn't want to play Batman any more and from Warner Bros being soo reactionary with all their previous comic book movies after BvS and not having someone like a Kevin Feige to take the lead and be the head honcho of the Franchise, WB would have always had an upward struggle with this movie and their predicted $110-120 million on opening weekend was never going to be met.  Ever!  Why? Because you did not control the narrative and you gave away too much of the film's behind the scenes problems.  You have lost the trust of the audience, the critics and the fans.  Batman V Superman literally made nobody care for them.  Only a little trust was gained with the outcome of Wonder Woman, but Gal Gadot can only do soo much.  Damn, Katherine Bigalow single-handed "Saved" WB.

Now with saying all this, is by no way a means to be a disclaimer to Justice League because the film is bad and you will not have fun with it and thoroughly dislike it, not at all.  The film does have it's problems, but it is still a good film as like Suicide Squad, or should I say, unlike suicide squad, the balance of what is good out weights the bad, 70 to 30, in my own personal opinion.

Superman is dead.  With the visions Batman received from The Flash, he teams up with Wonder Woman in order to recruit a few extraordinary people to help him in his cause to stop an unknown threat.  This threat is Steppenwolf, a being of great power who has come to Earth to collect these ancient boxes, called 'Motherbox' and use them to take over all life on the planet.  While Steppenwolf and his Parademons, scour the planet for these three boxes, will loner Batman be able to gel with his potential new recruits and will they have what it takes to thwart Steppenwolf and save all life on Earth?

This is the general gist of the film and if I'm honest, it's decent.  The villain doesn't have much layers but sometimes that isn't necessary.  The film has some great scenes, the beginning scene with Batman, the scene with the Amazonians was excellent, the quieter scenes with Cyborg was cool and even the scenes with Aquaman was ok.  The best and more funnier scenes are the ones with The Flash as Ezra Miller is absolutely hilarious in the movies and it helps to break up the serious tone.  What I will say is, while the film is very choppy and goes from scene to scene quite quickly, the film still works.  The scenes with the scientists are great and the scene at the memorial of Superman is possibly THE BEST SCENE IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE! Second is the final fight where they all come together.  But the main problem with the movie is the third act and the Joss Whedoning of it all.  Yeah, there are some great bits and he is a great director, but Joss and Zack are two completely different directors and it shows.  Weirdly enough, Zack is akin to a Michael Bay, but at a more elite level.  They both go for style over substance, but Zack has more style AND substance in comparison.

Visually, the film is amazing and it IS just a fun movie at the end of the day, but with the current track record and the handling of this movie and everything surrounding it, it is probably best if Zack handled it.  If it was a mess, then it's Zack's fault.  This film reeks of studio interference and a hodge-podge of trying to piece together another man's genius and doing it wrong.  Plagiarism at it's finest!  It's a pity we couldn't see what Zack was cooking!