Now Watching: Zack Snyder’s Justice League

I described the theatrical release of The Justice League as a ‘joke’ in my review. I thought it was bloody awful. But I also said – ‘I don’t know how much of an impact the reported re-shoots / change of director had, but the inconsistencies in tone, style and structure are clear to see.’ And now I know. They had a big impact.

I really didn’t think The Justice League was salvageable but I decided to give this 4 hour ‘Snyder Cut’ a watch and see if I was wrong. And I’m kind of shocked to say that I was very wrong. This version of The Justice League is actually . . . good. Really good.

And now I’ve seen it, I’m completely baffled by how the theatrical cut was handled. Because as far as I’m aware, all of the footage contained within this version of the film – aside from an epilogue chapter – was already filmed. They had the footage. They had everything they needed.

This ‘Snyder Cut’ certainly isn’t perfect. It’s too long and does get too self-indulgent at times. But there are some easy ways to trim this version down to around the three hour mark without losing anything important. So why didn’t they?

The footage existed. All they needed to do was put it together and trim the fat. Instead, they decided to re-shoot perfectly good scenes and shoot new scenes that were significantly worse than what they already had to work with. They reduced the plot to a nonsensical mess, inserted bad comedy and a ridiculous subplot revolving around a Russian family. They f**ked with the colour grading making the film look ugly.

They shot an entirely new opening involving Batman that was so stupid you really wouldn’t believe it unless you’ve seen it. They cut pretty much everything about Cyborg’s character and turned their main villain into a total, personality void chump. They did all of this . . . and they didn’t need to.

I just don’t get it. They had the footage. All they had to do was cut it down a little and they would have had a pretty good film. Instead, they totally f**ked the film from beginning to end for no reason at all. What the f**k were they thinking?

I honestly can’t believe how good this cut of the film is compared to the theatrical release. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m no Snyder fanboy – I thought Man of Steel was okay at best, and Batman v Superman kind of . . . bad. But I have to admit, this version of The Justice League, whilst too long and self-indulgent, is actually really good.

Suddenly, Cyborg is a character. Can you believe it? But even more importantly, so is Steppenwolf. In this version, Steppenwolf actually has a personality. He has motivation and goals that you understand. All the characters are handled far better and they all play their own key role within the plot.

I think the final ‘epilogue’ stuff could have been cut – just end the film when you see Superman pulling open his shirt. I also thought the inclusion of Martian Manhunter was a little pointless and kind of ruined a nice scene between Martha and Lois. Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is still a no.

This version certainly isn’t perfect – far from it. But it’s so much better than what was originally released that I can’t quite wrap my head around what the studio was thinking. If you’ve got a lot of time to kill then be sure to give it a spin. I’d actually recommend watching the theatrical cut first just so you can see how different and better this version is. Consider it educational.

6/10