Review: Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

 

After Superman's death, an alien called Steppenwolf being arrives intent on finding devices called Motherboxes to bring about a cataclysmic event called the Unity. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne enlists Diana Prince, to bring a team together to protect the Earth from the threat...

It's a story that someone will eventually write a book about, the making of Justice League. Filming began in 2016 for the follow-up to Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. However, the director, Zack Snyder left the project in 2017 during post-production, after the death of his daughter. Warner Bros, brought in Joss Whedon to oversee the finishing of the film, under a mandate to have it run to a two hour running time and be ready for release in 2017. There have been reports that Warner's wanted this because of payments to be made to executives that year which were, in part, contingent on the film being released that year. Whedon oversaw re-writing and re-shooting many scenes,combining them with footage Snyder had shot to put together a finished film.

The resulting film was not well received by critics and flopped at the box office. Personally, for all its flaws, I enjoyed it for what it was, a fun film.

It was after the 2017 Justice League release that stories began to surface that Snyder's film was more complete than was thought and of behind the scenes rows over the reshoots, with original writer Chris Terrio allegedly complaining that they were not using the script he'd written for the film. Later, there were complaints from actor Ray Fisher (Victor Stone/Cyborg) about the behaviour of Whedon, Geoff Johns (A DC comics writer brought onto the project) and also those in charge of the studio. At the time of writing, this is still an ongoing row.

Over time however, the talk of the 'Snyder Cut' continued with some actors claiming they had seen it, the composer Thomas Holkenborg (Junkie XL) saying his score, which Whedon hadn't used, was done for the Snyder film. As a consequence a groundswell of fans began a campaign to get the Snyder Cut released, under the hashtag, #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.

Music to their ears came in 2020 when it was announced that Zack Snyder would get the chance to finish the film his way, for the HBO Max streaming service. This would involve an additional budget of up to $70 million to do some additional shooting and also to finish the extensive visual effects.  It was released in March 2021.

So now, the question becomes, was it worth the wait? 

Well, the first thing to say is that it's certainly a much longer film, clocking in at nearly 4 hours in length. As a consequence, a lot of what Whedon didn't use in his version has been put back into this one. What this allows for is more character development, especially of Fisher's Cyborg, who gets a lot of backstory here and the character is developed so much more. The Flash too gets a bit of development, again, lacking from the Whedon film. For whatever reason, Whedon either chose to reshoot scenes for his version, or severely edit Snyder scenes to fit in with his. To be fair to Whedon on this (even though his reputation is in the gutter at the moment due to allegations of abuse against him), if he was under pressure to give the studio a two hour film, he probably felt this was the best way to do it.

But Snyder, giving the chance his fans demanded to finish his film, has put all of this back into the film. This character development certainly improves the characters of both Cyborg and the Flash a great deal. The others, Batman, Wonder Woman, even Aquaman get less, but what is there does develop their characters well. Even Steppenwolf gets a bit more development (also a very different look), with more backstory in relation to Darkseid. And yet, despite all of the extra time, despite all the character development on display, perhaps surprisingly, there is less of Lois Lane and Martha Kent here than there is in the Whedon version. With actors of the quality of Amy Adams and Diane Lane, along with nearly two hours of additional running time, they could have been giving more screen time and more to do in the film. In contrast, Connie Nielson's Queen Hippolyta does get more screen time in this version.

The action scenes which did feel edited down by Whedon, are giving more time, from the superb opening attack on Themyscira (home of the Amazons) to the final battle with Steppenwolf. However again, Snyder infuriates at times with his seeming obsession with slow motion. I can understand it being used to show the speed of the Flash, that's not a problem there, but in the action scenes and at other moments, he puts these slow motion moments in that simply aren't needed. I've watched the film twice now and am convinced if you took the slow motion scenes out, the film would be around 30 minutes shorter and it would have little impact on the finished film. 

The film's script is credited solely to Chris Terrio (from a story from Terrio, Snyder and Wes Beall). For the most part it's not that bad, although, again, there are a couple of moments in Whedon's film that I feel are better written than they are here. I can understand Snyder not using any of Whedon's footage and dialogue (it's been stated he hasn't even seen that version of the film), but those moments, the 'save one' moment in particular, are very effective.

But the film's biggest issue and there's not getting away from it, is that for all the additional footage, it is still the same story as the earlier version. The Whedon film might skim the surface, while Snyder's digs deeper, but all the same story beats are in there. Again, there's nothing Snyder can do here but as a consequence, despite his version being almost done first, it makes his film feel like a remake of the Whedon one. It's a strange feeling I know.

It has to be said too, that Snyder, perhaps in a cynical way, doesn't really give the film a proper ending. The final scene in the film, which I found really underwhelming seemed an odd moment to end the film on. The so-called 'Knightmare' part, continuing on from a similar scene in Batman v Superman is obviously to set up events in what would have been the next film, but as it seems this will be the end of the so-called 'Snyderverse' I think he should have taken the opportunity to give his film a better ending. From a cynical point of view, perhaps Snyder, certainly his fans, hope to see another film in this series, which is why it ends as it does, but unless there are plans to follow it that have yet to be announced, it would have been better to give the film and trilogy, that began with Man Of Steel, a better send off.

The extensive cast are pretty good. Affleck, Cavill, Gadot, Mamoa, Miller, Fisher are all great as the heroes, Ciaran Hinds voices a CGI Steppenwolf well. As I said, with limited screen time Amy Adams and Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen are all good as is J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. The supporting cast, including Amber Heard (with a strange British accent), Billy Crudup, Joe Manganiello, Jessie Eisenberg, Kiersey Clemmons and especially Joe Morton are all good, with the screentime they get too. There are also flashback cameos from David Thewlis and Robin Wright too as well as a scene with Jared Leto as the Joker that is better than any scene featuring the character in Suicide Squad.

The score by Thomas Holkenborg is pretty good and the film is well shot by Fabian Wagner. Some of the CGI is very impressive, but perhaps of what went on behind the scenes, there are a few shots that are surprisingly poor.

So in the end, has it been worth it? All the extra expense, the additional shooting, the visuals? The campaign by fans? Has it all been worth while?

On the whole, yes. As I said above, I think this version has issues, different issues to the Whedon cut, but the extra footage and better character development work in its favour. I do think it is too long, I do think the 'Part' captions give it a perhaps pretentious feel that the material doesn't deserve. But I was on the whole impressed. 

I can't begrudge Snyder and his fans their moment in the sun. As someone who enjoys the extended versions of The Lord Of The Rings films, or Kingdom Of Heaven, or Legion, the assembled cut of The Exorcist III, it would be churlish to say Snyder doesn't have the right to have the film finished his way, while loving the films mentioned. The more obvious comparison in this regard might be what was done to Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In America. But unlike that film, Snyder's film is not a masterpiece.

But that's not to say Zack Snyder's Justice League film is a bad one, far from it. I just don't think it's the great film others have claimed. It is better than Whedon's film but of course it was going to be. It has a more consistent tone running throughout and by restoring the cut material it makes the film a richer, deeper film even if the basic plot, shared by both films, is still a bit weak.

But certainly worth a look.

Rating: 3.5/5