In all respects, Zack Snyder’s Justice League should serve as a lesson to always trust your filmmaker. This four hour marathon of a movie throws Joss Whedon’s disastrous 2017 theatrical release out of the window, made up entirely of original footage shot by Snyder himself – and it shows.
Divided into seven chapters and allowing as many intermissions as you want, Zack Snyder’s Justice League grants every single character an arc and some well-deserved room to breathe, giving Ben Affleck’s (Gone Girl) Bruce Wayne and Gal Gadot’s (Wonder Woman) Diana Prince all the time they need to unite the remaining members of the League.
Newcomer Ray Fisher’s (True Detective) Cyborg is given the lion’s share of previously unseen content, the emotional heart of the entire movie and the greatest character redemption from the 2017 cut of Justice League. Ezra Miller (Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) also have some standout action sequences as The Flash and Aquaman, overpowered and over-the-top enough for Zack Snyder to make full use of their superpowered skill sets.
Cyborg is given the lion’s share of previously unseen content, the emotional heart of the entire movie and the greatest character redemption from the 2017 cut of Justice League.
Facing off against the League is the alien titan Steppenwolf (voiced by The Terror’s Ciaran Hinds), who has had a complete CGI overhaul since the original 2017 release. Providing Steppenwolf with some clearly outlined motivation and exploring the history of his villainous master Darkseid (voiced by Ray Porter), Snyder not only opens the intergalactic door to explore them further in any future movies but ensures the newly united heroes actually have an intimidating threat to overcome.
The return of Henry Cavill’s (The Witcher) Superman also feels far more deserved than in 2017’s Justice League. Not only is Cavill’s face untouched by shoddy VFX, but this Clark Kent seems fully sure of his heroics and his role as the chief protector of Earth, enough so to satisfy naysayers from Snyder’s previous DC films. It is a heart-warming end to Snyder’s far too unfairly treated Superman ‘trilogy’.
Although I watched Zack Snyder’s Justice League in one sitting, it is obvious that some may find the 240 minute runtime daunting. However, the division of the movie into 7 chapters allows you to spend minutes, hours or even days before returning to the movie, not to mention otherwise pitch perfect pacing. If you’re at all curious about how far improved this Director’s Cut is compared to the original release or if you just want to watch one of the most beautifully shot comic-book movies in recent years, make time for the Snyder Cut.
4/5.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available to watch March 18 on HBO Max, Sky Cinema and NOW TV.
