Review of Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) by Player2-Water — 24 Jul 2021

E-Value: 9.

Acting: 9.

Plot: 9.

After the critical mixed reception and box office bomb of 2017’s Justice League, fans have been campaigning for the original cut of Justice League, known as the Snyder Cut, done by it’s original director, Zack Snyder. After years of many fan campaigns, the Snyder Cut have finally arrived and is available in HBO Max. What separate this movie from the theatrical cut is both of them are totally different movies and this movie is not an extended version. This movie is using footage originally shot by Zack Snyder only. None of the footage shot by Joss Whedon (who took over as the director of the theatrical cut during post production) will be use. Another difference in this movie is R rated and the runtime is 4 hours unlike the theatrical cut which is PG-13 rated and runtime is 2 hours.

On the night that Superman died, his death triggers the three Mother Boxes’ reactivation where the first two Boxes are guarded by the Amazons and Atlanteans respectively while the third Box is under the possession of Star Labs. Some time later, the reactivation of the Boxes attract Steppenwolf’s attention. He and his armies of Parademons successfully retrieve the first Mother Box from the Amazons in Themyscira.

Queen Hippolyta warns her daughter, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gadot), about Steppenwolf (Hinds) and the upcoming threats. Having been warned, Diana learn some history regarding Darkseid’s failed invasion of Earth five thousand years ago and losing the three Mother Boxes in the process. Diana meets up with Bruce Wayne/Batman (Affleck) and inform him about the threats they are going to face. Together, they seek out the three metahumans with superpowers: Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Barry Allen/Flash and Victor Stone/Cyborg to fight Steppenwolf and stop him from obtaining the other Mother Boxes.

Meanwhile, Steppenwolf made his base in an abandoned Russian town. He reports to DeSaad, Darkseid’s loyal follower, about the his progress hoping to regain favour with Darkseid, who is also Steppenwolf’s nephew. With progress have been made, Steppenwolf hunts the remaining two Mother Boxes.

As I have mentioned earlier, this movie is a completely different movie. There are no scenes from the theatrical cut at all. That means there are no Russian family subplot, Superman being interviewed by some kids, Flash landed on top of Wonder Woman and more. This is definitely a Zack Snyder movie and his style of directing absolutely matched in this movie. The visual effects are now better and polished. The cinematography is beautiful and many of the shots are great something which Zack Snyder is good at.

All the major characters especially Cyborg have great character developments from the start till the end in this movie. In addition, the cast performance are even better than how it was in the theatrical cut now that many of their original scenes have been restored. Ray Porter, who voiced Darkseid, have done a great job in voicing the character considering that he was an unknown actor and audiobook narrator. Nevertheless, he gave a menacing and threatening voiceover performance in his role.

While the basic plot remained the same as the theatrical cut, some elements used by Joss Whedon such as Parademons being attracted to the sounds of sirens and smelling fear have been removed. Batman does not have some one-liners quotes and awkward moments anymore. As for Superman, he does not have weird CGI mouth and he wore his iconic black suit instead of the traditional suit. This version of Superman is more true to the version established in the previous movies. The humours in this movie is more natural instead of feeling more forced. Other characters such as Darkseid, DeSaad, Iris West and Nuidis Vulko have played some roles in this movie. The most important one is Steppenwolf. The character is no longer a generic villain. He is given a sympathetic backstory with his original intended design as depicted in his cameo appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He is even more threatening and a gruesome warrior in this movie compared to the theatrical cut.

The only bad thing about this movie is the movie is way too long. Putting a 4 hour movie in cinema is impossible. There are people to who are unable to watch the whole movie in one sitting even myself. Some scenes that did not contribute to the story can be easily remove to shortened the runtime. Fortunately, the movie is split into six chapters and an epilogue so that you can continue watching the movie on your preferred time. I felt the final scene is kind of pointless because the scene look more like a sequel bait considering this is the last time Zack Snyder direct a DC movie.

Last but not least, this movie is the true version of Justice League. If you have been disappointed by the theatrical cut, then watch this movie. I guaranteed that you won’t regret it. Don’t bother staying back for post credits scene because there are none.