I have finally, finally watched the Snyder cut and I'm glad I finally got the chance to see it.
I have no idea where to begin. So much to take in, and I'm so overwhelmed. Well in another sense, I'm actually underwhelmed. So much to get into obviously with its very long runtime. I don't want to forget anything. But where to I start? Did I love it? Well...how can I elaborate? I would say I feel very close to loving it. It is close. Is it better than the Joss Whedon version? Well...yes. I cannot argue with that. Having said that though, I thought this film had so much more potential to be the best.
Did I think it was the greatest? Not really. Did I expect more? After seeing the trailers, and knowing we wouldn't see Superman come back in his classic suit, my expectations for this film lowered. So in a way, I was already prepared not to be overly-excited.
I have been very critical of Man of Steel but especially Batman v Superman in the past. (No, the Martha thing didn't bother me, no, it was everything else in between, not counting its few cool moments such as Wonder Woman) Regardless of how I viewed Zack Snyder as a filmmaker, I was always advocating to see his true vision of Justice League, and after 4 years, we finally got to see it. Did it live up to the anticipation? For me, I'd say just almost. I have been a hardcore DC fan all my life, but even bigger Superman fan.
I always thought Snyder had potential to make a great DC film, but did I think Justice League reached his full potential? No, but I'd say perhaps that Snyder only achieved the bare minimum. I may have more receptive of this film being potentially the best DC film--or even superhero film--if not for Superman's lack of presence. His presence and even his lack of presence had an even smaller impact than it did in the Whedon version. As I afraid as I am to admit it, Superman's presence and lack of presence was more significant in the Whedon version.
I can't say much about Superman's role in this movie, because he is barely in it. His screen time was probably even shorter than it was in Josstice League. Compared to the Whedon cut, Superman only says one line in the entire final battle sequence. If there was anything I liked about the theatrical version, it was that Superman did have character interactions with Cyborg, Flash and Batman. Superman spoke.
In this film, Superman is essentially the Justice League's version of the Hulk. No real character development. He was just there to smash things up and kick Steppenwolf's ass.
If this film had given Superman a larger role in this story, I think this could potentially have been the greatest DC film of all time, fully embracing the DCEU. Of the few scenes Superman was in however, I did enjoy it.
Still to this day, after having watched Snyder's Justice League, I am not entirely sure Snyder cares enough about Superman in comparison to the other characters which he did work on building their arcs. But in both versions, we don't see the world reacting to Superman's return from the dead, or getting any real impact. Unlike the Whedon version, we don't see that much of the world mourning over Superman's death, whereas in the Whedon cut, we did. That was a big problem for me. By contrast however, it almost felt as though Superman didn't need to be in Snyder's Justice League at all. He is seldom ever mentioned in the movie. But all we really got to see was Superman beating the crap out of Steppenwolf. Although it wasn't emphasized so much, it was as if Superman was key to stopping Steppenwolf, but why couldn't Superman have been in the movie longer? The film didn't really touch on why "the world needs Superman". As I kept arguing about Snyder, the way he criticizes Superman--or we could call it, "constructive criticism" that Superman is a character who "notoriously does not grow"--killing Jimmy Olsen off--not sure how much Snyder truly respects Superman. We see Superman fight and use his heat vision, but not to mention--Superman cut Steppenwolf's right horn off his head with his heat vision.but there's so much more to the character than just his physical strength. We saw Wonder Woman being a symbol of hope and comforting all the school girls at in the terrorist attack scene. Snyder just won't show us a scene like that with Superman in Justice League?
But let me go over the good things again. Out of all three of Snyder's films in the DCEU, I think Justice League was by far his best. Things that improved for me was the soundtrack. Well I didn't think it was the greatest, albeit, better than Danny Elfman's lame score. Having said that though, I thought Wonder Woman's new theme with the ancient Persian operatic singing was overused. I didn't dislike it, but it just felt like sometimes, if not always--every time Wonder Woman would appear in another shot, you would hear that exact theme again. Exact same theme, same tone, but no variant. It just felt redundant.
Other things that were an improvement over the Whedon cut--Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman's had more back stories. Steppenwolf having a bigger backstory made a huge difference in this film. His costume design made him look more threatening and intimidating. The fight in the tunnel was so much better, I actually enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy the same sequence in the original theatrical cut. I didn't expect I would like it more in the Snyder cut. That wowed me. Steppenwolf was not a cardboard villain like he was in the original theatrical cut, and actually had real motivation this time. He didn't say generic things like "primitive beings".
Things that didn't work...well honestly, the reshoots. As much as I did actually enjoy the Knightmare part II scenes, it didn't seem to have a place in this film. Both of Martian Manhunter's scenes didn't seem to have an important part in this film either. There was almost no need for it.
If I would have changed anything, Superman should have returned during the middle of the movie. The league should have put his black suit on his body before resurrecting him with the mother box, thinking it might help Clark remember, in order to avoid confusion. Then that could have later led to Superman going back to the ancient scout-ship like he does in the movie, only this time, putting on his classic suit. However, definite additional scenes would have needed for the final battle that actually features more Superman. I mean even Superman lifting that building with civilians from the theatrical cut wasn't bad. Superman needed to have dialogue. He needed to shine. He was in the final battle for possibly just 2 minutes and said almost nothing except for "Not impressed"--compare that to the number of lines he had in the Whedon version. But so much for bringing Superman back from the dead only to have a few more lines.
Wrapping up. I enjoyed this film, but it lacked Superman. After giving Snyder three chances though, I conclude that I don't think Zack Snyder was the best filmmaker to helm the DCEU or Superman. This film is somewhat mediocre and could have been better. It was the best of his three films, but ultimately I don't think Snyder reached its full potential, but Snyder's Justice League is still better than the original theatrical version, despite the lack of Superman. I wouldn't mind seeing Snyder's films possibly get a continuation, although I'm iffy about what Snyder planned for its sequels. I hope the DCEU can at least continue where Snyder left off. Keep the same actors at least. But just Superman aside, Snyder seems to want to make these characters very dark. I mean Wonder Woman actually kills one of the terrorists, or all of them. She punches one one of them with the head hitting the wall splattered in blood. I mean she does kill, but like that...or cutting heads off (like in his original intended version with in the Crimson war photo?)
7.5 out of 10. Cyborg was the heart and soul of the movie, but I think Superman should have been instead, then that way, I think this film might have actually worked better. While it's slightly mentioned that the world is mourning over Superman--we don't see enough of that. Bruce remarks that he made Clark a promise, and that the world needs Superman...but it didn't seem that central to the plot. Cyborg got most of the spotlight, but all Superman really did was show up and finish Steppenwolf single-handedly.
