Review: 'Zack Snyder's Justice League' has some improvements over the 2017 version, but also a lot of padding in its four hours
After watching “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” the four-hour behemoth re-edit of the 2017 theatrical cut, I came away with one overarching thought: This is the DVD “special edition” version of a movie we’re never going to see.
Every movie fan knows the backstory: Snyder, after directing “Man of Steel” and ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” was into post-production on DC Comics’ “Justice League” back in 2017, when he suddenly stepped away from the film for family reasons. (His daughter, Autumn, died by suicide in March 2017, at age 20. This new film is dedicated to her.) Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon, who had directed two “Avengers” movies and knows superhero mash-ups better than most anyone, to bring “Justice League” in for a landing.
Ever since, lovers of Snyder’s work wouldn’t shut up about it. These fans — constant reminders that the word “fan” is short for “fanatic” — argued that Warner Bros. was suppressing Snyder’s version of the movie, the so-called “Snyder cut,” and campaigned loudly to get the company to release that version. Finally, Warner Bros. gave Snyder the opportunity to re-edit his footage into this version, which debuted on the HBO Max streaming service this week.
What do viewers get after four hours? They get exactly what the title promises, Snyder’s take on “Justice League,” for good and ill.
First, a brief synopsis. Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), the billionaire who works nights as Batman, has teamed from Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), the Amazon princess who goes by Wonder Woman, that a threat is coming from beyond this dimension: A monster named Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds), who is bent on finding three magic boxes that, when brought together, will reshape the world — killing all humanity in the process.
Bruce and Diana look for others with super abilities to join the fight. They find three: Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), the ocean-friendly hero known as Aquaman; Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), a nerdy teen with super speed, aka The Flash; and Victor Stone (Ray Parker), a college football phenom who’s now part machine, who’s called Cyborg. After a first encounter with Steppenwolf, which they barely survive, Bruce argues they must take desperate measures to add to their team, by resurrecting the recently deceased Superman (Henry Cavill).
This recap describes both the Whedon and Snyder versions. So the question becomes: Did Snyder tell the story better than Whedon?
The answer is yes, in part because he had four hours and two minutes — exactly twice the run-time of Whedon’s version — to lay everything out. One of the main problems with Whedon’s “Justice League” is that every moment seemed rushed, as if every scene existed to set up the next one, rather than having any time to breathe and be in the moment.
Snyder now has time to tell his version of the story, and he uses all of it. Where he deploys it best is framing the backstory for Cyborg, as Victor grapples with his new existence as a half-man, half-machine, and deals with his strained relationship with his father, Dr. Silas Stone (Joe Morton), the scientist who developed the technology that saved and cursed his son.
Other additions are cool, but extraneous. Snyder includes an extended action sequence where Barry’s The Flash saves the life of Iris West (Kiersey Clemons) — a future love interest who reportedly will appear in a stand-alone “The Flash” movie — that is fun to watch but doesn’t move the story. The expanded flashbacks of ancient Amazons, Atlanteans and humans joining forces to defeat Steppenwolf — who’s more spiky now, thanks to reworked CGI — are big, blood-spurting battles that serve mostly to remind everyone, in case they’ve forgotten, that Snyder also directed “300.” (Those battle scenes also are bloody enough to give Snyder’s “Justice League” an R rating.)
Then there are scenes that feel like padding. There is one scene that consists of Alfred (Jeremy Irons), Bruce Wayne’s stalwart butler, telling Diana the proper way to make tea. And there is a head-scratching epilogue, involving a post-apocalyptic alternative universe that introduces Jared Leto’s Joker to the mix. And there are at least two DC characters introduced here — one good, one bad — primed for a sequel that nobody at Warner Bros. has said will ever happen.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Snyder fans start demanding their sequel, too. After all, they’re on a roll. These fans complained, tweeted out conspiracy hashtags and generally poisoned the DC fandom to get their precious “Snyder cut,” and now they have it. Their insufferable whining was rewarded, so why wouldn’t they go double or nothing?
But after watching all four hours of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” from DC logo to the inevitable cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” over the closing credits, I pictured a scene from another alternate reality. In this parallel universe, Snyder was able to finish “Justice League” back in 2017, and he delivers this four-hour cut to Warner Bros. executives. There is no doubt in my mind that the “suits” would say to Snyder: “That’s great, Zack — but what are you going to cut to get this baby down to a two-hour theatrical window and a PG-13?” That’s the “Snyder cut” I’d be curious to see.
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‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’
★★1/2
Available for streaming on HBO Max. Rated R for violence and some language. Running time: 242 minutes.