Epic. That’s what Zack Snyder’s Justice League (ZSJL) was. The four-hour cut of the movie was an epic tale of the formation of superhero team and showed them in all their glory.
This cut is a major improvement of Joss Whedon’s 2017 version in several areas. Character arcs are restored, the story makes a lot more sense, and some of the light-heartedness is gone. However, the film had elements that were confusing in it, and the epilogue felt extremely tacked on at the end.
The Good:
Before the bad and confusing elements of ZSJL are looked at, there elements must be celebrated. This cut finally gives the characters of Cyborg and the Flash proper arcs, with the former receiving a much more fleshed out origin and relationship with his Silas Stone (played by Joe Morton) which makes him much more sympathetic and easier to relate to. Cyborg’s powers are much more defined in this version as well, with Silas explaining that he can interact with any technological interface, making Cyborg extremely powerful. Compare this to Whedon’s version, where hints of his relationship with his father were dropped, but otherwise the character little development.
The Flash gets more development as well. He makes good quips in the film (though the crown goes to Bruce Wayne’s “I’m rich” line) such as when he realises Superman can see him when he runs to apologising to Aquaman just after the fight with Superman. The Flash is also pivotal to the plot of this film, as when the Unity occurs, he can rewind time and undo its devastating effects. Compare this to Whedon’s version of the character, where he is nothing more than a quip machine and, in the third act is used to save a Russian family and not helping the other members of the team.
Steppenwolf receives a major upgrade as well. Not only is his look improved (the way his armour moves looks really cool) but he also has a better motivation in ZSJL. He is paying a debt to Darkseid, whom Steppenwolf attempted to betray when Darkseid rose to power. This is a lot better than “he lived only to conquer” in the original film. Steppenwolf’s dialogue is also much better. IN ZSJL, he doesn’t mention the word mother every time he is on screen, which was getting weird in the Whedon version.
Darkseid makes an appearance as well, as does his planet Apokolips. He appears as a booming, Thanos like threat that was meant to be built up until Snyder’s unfortunate exit from Justice League. However, he is clearly a formidable threat and if Warner Bros do make more Justice League films then hopefully, he can show why he is a challenge to our heroes.
The Bad:
This film is confusing. It was clearly not made for those who didn’t understand the comics, which is completely OK, but as someone who has not read or researched the comics this film left me with more questions than it should have. Firstly, how did Darkseid forget Earth? Out of the millions of planets he conquered, Earth was the only one to defeat him. That would make Earth very memorable, though it is not in this case. Adding to this, the character of Martian Manhunter is a mystery. He only appears for a brief cameo, but in doing so it undercuts a heartfelt scene Martha Kent was having with Lois Lane, and then appears at the end of the film.
The Knightmare sequence at the end also felt extremely tacked on. The film wraps up at the end really nicely, and it should have ended there. Maybe the sequence would have worked better as a post credits scene.
This film also introduced some comic book concepts such as the Anti-Life Equation. Though apart from it being very bad if Darkseid got it, it isn’t really explained what it is or what it means. Though in a four-hour cut of a film, it is clear that there simply wasn’t time. Which is really the main criticism of the film, that it tries to introduce too much too fast instead of taking the time to build a coherent universe.
However, this film is by far and away the superior version of Justice League. It has better characters in it, and the dialogue was a lot stronger. While there were confusing elements to the film that should have been set up prior to a Justice League film, when it is revisited these can be overlooked.
By Kieran Burt
Feature image: GamesRadar