At a pretty long 4 hours the Zak Snyder version of the Justice League arrived this week and I got around to watching it today. Zak Snyder had to step down from making the original film in 2016 following the death of his young daughter and Joss Whedon stepped in to finish the film hot on the heels of his success with Marvel. Whedon made a lot of changes to the film he inherited and it was a bit of a let down, and a flop at the box office, getting mixed reviews from DC fans and once you watch the Snyder version you can see what a terrible job Whedon did, in fact the cinema version Whedon made makes no sense whatsoever and only the directors cut gives a glimpse of what the film could have been, I mean come on who can forget the awful CGI to remove Henry Cavill’s moustache rather than just get him to shave it off. Anyway after a campaign by DC fans over a couple of years, supported by Zak Snyder and the cast, Warner gave Zak Snyder 73 million dollars to complete his cut of the movie.
Now while I enjoy the Marvel movies a lot I am more of a Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck) fan and adding in Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), the Flash (Ezra Miller), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) you have a Superhero movie big time. The film plot centres around the story that thousands of years ago, Darkseid and his legions of Parademons attempt to conquer Earth using the combined energies of the three Mother Boxes. The attempt was foiled by a unified alliance of the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, and humans, with assistance from a Green Lantern. After the alliance repelled Darkseid’s army, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in different locations. In the present, Superman’s death has triggered the Mother Boxes’ reactivation and the appearance of Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid’s servants, on Earth. Steppenwolf aims to regain favour with his master by gathering the boxes to form The Unity and basically destroy the earth. (Wikipedia) I don’t want to say much more for fear of giving too much away.
This version of the film is far darker than the original but has far more depth and back story which just makes the whole film far more enjoyable if a somewhat very long watch, Lord of the Rings Director’s Cut length, but is it worth it? The simple answer is YES, it is well worth it. The film now makes sense in every way and the performances of all the main characters are not as disjointed, and in the case of Flash in the original, no longer very annoying. The special effects are excellent, the darker portrayal of the characters makes more sense and the film broody. I would go as far as saying that the back story in this film actually helps explain the films Wonder Woman and Aquaman and allows you to see how the characters came about and how the films actually link together.
Warner Brothers, following the poor showing of the Whedon version of Justice League, scrapped their DC story arc and went to individual films and stories like Shazam, Wonder Woman movies, and Aquaman. That is a real pity as this film would have made the overall arc work so much better but now we are getting younger Batman films, a re-boot of Suicide Squad, and even a rumour that they will re-boot Superman which I really really hope they don’t as Henry Cavill is excellent as Superman.
Before I give too much away I would encourage you to watch the Zak Snyder Justice League, it is a very good film. My wife didn’t really get it but you do have to have seen Man of Steel, Superman vs Batman, and Wonder Woman and it all makes more sense. As far as my DC film preferences go I would put this version 3rd on my list.
1st – Man of Steel.
2nd – Aquaman.
3rd – Justice League (Snyder Cut).
4th – Batman vs Superman.
5th – Wonder Woman.
6th – Suicide Squad.
7th – Wonder Woman 1984.
8th – Birds of Prey.
9th – Shazam.
10th – Justice League (Whedon version).
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
Bruce – and yet you don’t believe the SNP fairy stories 🙂
Brian
LOL.
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I thought this was a completely new lockdown-made film, but it’s a rehash of an existing film. I liked the other one (a bit of mindless derring do never hurt anyone… Well, mostly not anyway…)
I’ll give this a bash though, since the other one was decent.
(I thought The Green Lantern was decent. I have no taste…)
Pa
I hated the first one, the Directors Cut made a bit more sense but this proper version as it was originally intended is far better I think, I enjoyed it. I hated the Green Lantern with the Reynolds actor but I don’t like him either way or Deadpool lol. Take a break during the film, it’s a long one.
Thanks for commenting. Bruce
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