Review: Zack Snyder's Justice League

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is not an easy thing to review. A lot of people have formed opinions on the DCEU movies going in, what with the inconsistency and their reception over the years. It’s also impossible to avoid comparing this version of the film to the 2017 theatrical release, which was essentially directed by Joss Whedon despite still being credited to Snyder. And then there’s the perception of Snyder himself, who has become an iconoclastic figure often talked about with the same disdain or reverence that people typically reserve for Michael Bay. Personally, while I don’t love all his movies, I find Snyder to be extremely interesting, as he has a clearly defined visual style and wants to make movies that are very much about things. So I was fully sold on Zack Snyder’s Justice League going in and I am extremely pleased to say I was not let down at all.

Let’s start with the immediately apparent – and most important – change to this film; Joss Whedon’s name is nowhere to be seen in the credits. Almost every single one of Whedon’s fingerprints has been scrubbed from this film, and rightly so. Gone are the half thought out one-liners and out of place banter that has come to define Joss Whedon’s other work. As the marketing has made abundantly clear, this is Snyder’s picture through and through. This is evident from the very start, as Snyder chooses to revisit the end of Batman V Superman and discard the weird cellphone video from the start of the theatrical version. Revisiting the death of Superman creates a direct handshake between that movie and this one, establishing a continuity that pushes out the Whedon movie entirely. Snyder’s intent is clear; you only need to watch this version of Justice League after Batman v Superman, there’s nothing else between them, nothing. Snyder’s sense of grandeur and scale also comes roaring back here, as Superman’s death cry broadens the scope of that moment to the degree that the viewer sees how it literally resonated across the world. Superman’s death not only affects those in Metropolis and Gotham, but also the Amazons on Themyscria, and the Atlaneans. Snyder uses this sequence to make explicit how Clark Kent’s death impacts the entire world, as his screams are what awakens the Mother Boxes and summons Steppenwolf to Earth. Not only does the death of Superman leave Earth defenseless, it actively puts a target on the planet. This is all depicted with a sense of grandiosity that is sorely missing from the original version of Justice League, and ultimately persists throughout the entire film.

I was initially worried that the indulgently long runtime of Zack Snyder’s Justice League would end up being a detriment to overall film. However, the grand and sprawling nature of the structure somehow feels focused and purposeful, uninterested in wasting a single second of the four-hour long runtime. Each of the film’s seven chapters are fleshed out and detailed in a way I was not expecting. Themyscria feels like a tangible place in this, where in the theatrical version it feels more like a box on a check list that must be ticked because Wonder Woman is in this. The extra time Snyder gives to the Amazons really sells the fact there’s a history here. The ceremony the Amazons go through in order to loose the signal arrow after the Mother Box is taken from them is, when you come down to it, entirely unnecessary to the plot. All they have to do is fire the arrow and Diana has to see it to know what’s up (which is exactly what happens in the theatrical cut). However, the extra scenes dedicated to the ritual of firing the arrow, Diana retrieving it, and Diana finding the chamber with the history of the fight against Darkseid does so much to make this world feel real, as opposed to a child smacking their action figures together with barely any rhyme or reason. Granted, the action figure approach has its place, but when trying to juggle so many moving parts and establish so many characters, selling the history of these people is crucial.

Speaking of establishing characters, the other main beneficiaries of Zack Snyder’s reworking of Justice League are Victor Stone and Barry Allen, or Cyborg and The Flash if you prefer. Both characters are woefully underdeveloped in the theatrical cut, Cyborg to an almost criminal degree. Fortunately, Cyborg is given ample time to shine in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, with multiple sequences just devoted to him and his backstory, character development, and relationship with his father/creator Silas Stone. I found Cyborg’s arc in this to be effective and touching, despite Silas just being a bad dad for much of his time in the film. Silas’ actions during the attempt to revive Superman go a long way to redeeming him, and set up Victor well for the final act of the Steppenwolf part of the film. Barry, on the other hand, was decently fleshed out before but absolutely shines in this. His introduction is a pitch perfect example of why the Flash rules, and he is consistently given cooler and more engaging speedster action moments than either of the Quicksilvers got over in the Marvel films.

The other major beneficiary of the extended run time in terms of characterization is Steppenwolf, surprisingly enough. Aside from a visual upgrade from “ugly as sin” to “actually quite silly,” Steppenwolf has been given the barest minimum of an arc as he seeks to redeem himself in the eyes of Darkseid for some failure far in the past. Now, I’m not going to say that I felt sympathy for Steppenwolf, as his goal is the total destruction of all life on Earth (and eventually everything) because his nephew doesn’t love him, but it gave me something to grab onto, some understandable reason for why he’s going about all this, even though I can’t get behind his goal. It is also a HUGE improvement that he is not constantly talking about “Mother” like a more genocidal Mike Pence but from space.

These changes from the theatrically released Justice League ultimately make for a vastly improved viewing experience, even over the course of four hours. The pacing is deliberate, thought out, but still feels brisk and urgent. Bruce is not meandering about the planet looking for the League, despite taking twice the time to accomplish his goal. It feels like there is actual space and distance that everyone travels, contributing to the sense of scale discussed above. Snyder also continues to prove his eye for action is second to none, as the fights are bigger and more elaborate than pretty much anything in his previous work. This movie also does significantly less yelling about its conflicting ideologies than either Man of Steel or Batman V Superman, making it just an easier film to watch overall. I would happily sit down to watch this again, and I may even venture out to a theater for it, if it were safe to do so.

Among all these great changes, however, I do still have a few issues, first and foremost being there is not enough Lois Lane in this. I do really like the scenes we get with Lois, and her grief for Clark is palpable. However, her conversation with Martha about their lives without Clark feels cold, distant, and weirdly impersonal. I think giving her maybe a few more quiet moments where we see her trying to adjust to her new day to day would have done wonders. This brings me on to my second issue, as the entire final chapter ends up just being a teaser for upcoming DC movies. Ultimately this stuff works for me, but I think this is the one section of the movie that could have been shorter. Less obvious marketing and teasers, more Lois Lane, please and thank you.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a deeply fascinating thing that exists. It’s unheard of for a director to get the chance to almost fully redo a major blockbuster like this, and for Snyder to be able to make something so ridiculously self-indulgent is a borderline miracle. I’m weirdly happy this movie exists and frankly more than a little surprised to have emerged on the other side of what ended up being an outright great film. Snyder made something that is absolutely worth watching and I really cannot wait to see if Warner and DC are willing to let him build on this new foundation for the DC Expanded Universe.