Justice League ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE - RATE & REVIEW THREAD (SPOILERS!!!)

[heatvision38]

Which is a bit stupid imo. If the Old Gods could take on Darkseid and almost kill him, Diana should be able to take on a minion of Darkseids just as well. But thats jsut Snyders hard-on for making Superman powerful enough to move an Earth which is boring to me.

Old Gods, plural, plus races of men, Atlanteans, and Amazons, and a GL for good measure.

 

[CowCommando]

Well no offense to Wonder Woman but she couldnt do to Steppy what Supes did. We just had a 4 hour movie prove that

Interesting choice of words. Snyder’s horrible depiction of Wonder Woman doesn’t “prove” anything other than the fact he doesn’t know the character at all

 

[weezerspider]

People whining over the aspect ratio are hilarious.

The movie was pretty solid. Not a masterpiece or anything. It might be his best film.

 

[Captain Tired]

But thats jsut Snyders hard-on for making Superman powerful enough to move an Earth which is boring to me.

Dude the guy barely got any screen time, let him have something! Saying Snyder has a hard-on for Superman in any capacity is laughable to me tbh.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Poor Lois, all sad over a relationship that largely happened off screen...oh there is the pregnancy test! One part that I am 100% happy was cut out as I dont care who the baby daddy is, it's a stupid plot. My biggest problem with Snyder is that none of these things feel earned.

So Clarks fight the League wasnt changed much and seeing Henry looking so good just makes me miss him as Superman SO MUCH MOREEEEEEEE. Im still mad at WB/Snyder for screwing him out of a proper franchise. Batman with tech to withstand heat vision....how very Batgod of him.

They kill off Cyborgs father....keeping the dad alive was better in the Whedon version and the complaint of him cutting out POC seems cheaper after all of this.

Dude the guy barely got any screen time, let him have something! Saying Snyder has a hard-on for Superman in any capacity is laughable to me tbh.

So then how does he view Superman in terms of power? Its clear as day he sees him as this uber powerful guy that cant barely be touched.

People whining over the aspect ratio are hilarious.

The movie was pretty solid. Not a masterpiece or anything. It might be his best film.

People still whine over Whedons, Avengers aspect ratio and that was wide screen at least.

Old Gods, plural, plus races of men, Atlanteans, and Amazons, and a GL for good measure.

Ares and Zeus dealt the biggest and hardest blows to D-man. The Old gods probably could've taken him on without all the help apart from the Parademons that everyone helped with.

 

[inomilan]

7/10 for me. Much better than Whedon's, makes you think wth WB was thinking. However, it's far from perfect. 4hrs is still too long but I understand that a lot was needed to be set up and could have been shortened if we had the origins done in other movies (not Snyder's fault, putting the blame on WB for rushing their universe). Also, if they just cut the heavy use of those slow mo music videos scenes, it might been muuuuch shorter. Batman was just the rich guy, didn't get to show anything else, Aquaman had less personality. Superman was awesome and had great scenes but had less personality. That certain MM cameo. . . yeah that was very useless lol. Leto's Joker was improved here, I still didn't like what we got. And the epilogue was tooooo long. Oh and that aspect ratio. . . yeah did not like it at all. With that said, Cyborg and Flash were VASTLY IMPROVED! Ezra Miller was less annoying, and I could see how much Ray Fisher was cheated with what he got with Whedon. Wonder Woman is also back to her WW 1 form and that totally erased my memory of WW84 lol. Steppenwolf was an actual threat and villain here too. The action was much better too, and the climax/team-up was earned. Overall, an enjoyable movie, and I hope they continue Snyder's story in streaming.

EDIT: Just wanted to say, while that WW scene with her saving the children from the terrorists was badass, just couldn't help but think how she just obliterated that guy in front of them. Then a girl goes like I want to be like you. If i were there, I'd be scared the hell out and be scarred for life HAHA.

Second Edit: Oh right, just remembered, Darkseid. . . yeah overhyped lol. We only see him get beat down like a wimp lol. And so generic. Still, wished we'd have him in a future movie, give him a second chance to be actually good because I really didn't care for what we got from him haha.

 

[JtheDreamer]

Just finished watching it.

It's obviously head and shoulders better than theatrical version. Hardcore fans will and do obviously love it. Cyborg and The Flash definitely got the much needed fleshing out, as did Steppenwolf's arc. I dunno though, I'm just not a fan of the writing for this at all - especially the interactions between the team. There was also an over-abundance of green screen and slow-mo. Visually speaking I wouldn't even put this among Snyder's best work, didn't like the musical choices at all, and the fight scenes were mostly generic.

Given its gratuitous bloat - streaming was perfect for it, but even if a slimmer version of this made it into theaters I still don't see this being the billion dollar behemoth they expected it to be. I'm glad he got to make his movie though.

6.5/10

 

[djsunyc]

they spent like what, 1 billion in total to release the justice league they originially wanted and it's a 5-6/10.

zach, you had your 3 movies. dc needs to move on and find someone else. the slow mo - the try to be epic music for every little thing - the everybody sad all the time - ok...thanks.

what's interesting is that if they just released the solo movies first, then you wouldn't need to waste 40 mins on flash and cyborg's backstory. and the funny thing is that this was now released AFTER the wonder woman and aquaman solos. sadly ironic.

much better than the original but still not a great movie...very mediocre.

the epilogue was clearly zach's sizzle reel asking for another movie lol.

 

[Superherofan123]

they spent like what, 1 billion in total to release the justice league they originially wanted and it's a 5-6/10.

zach, you had your 3 movies. dc needs to move on and find someone else. the slow mo - the try to be epic music for every little thing - the everybody sad all the time - ok...thanks.

what's interesting is that if they just released the solo movies first, then you wouldn't need to waste 40 mins on flash and cyborg's backstory. and the funny thing is that this was now released AFTER the wonder woman and aquaman solos. sadly ironic.

much better than the original but still not a great movie...very mediocre.

the epilogue was clearly zach's sizzle reel asking for another movie lol.

Where do you get the 1 billion number? lol

 

[Primal Slayer]

they spent like what, 1 billion in total to release the justice league they originially wanted and it's a 5-6/10.

A billion is a bit of an exaggeration lol but very close to, if not, $400 million which is just crazy. But WB doesnt have anyone but themselves to blame for that.

Endgame cost 356 with 4x the cast members.

 

[The Shape]

Snyder Cut

 

[heatvision38]

Ares and Zeus dealt the biggest and hardest blows to D-man. The Old gods probably could've taken him on without all the help apart from the Parademons that everyone helped with.

Again, Gods plural. WW had a tough time with Ares alone. Now throw in Zeus in there. And even if they dealt the hardest blows, Darkseid still had to fight against many others which left him more open to attacks from 2 of the most powerful beings to ever walk the planet.

And Steppenwolf isn't just any ol' Darkseid baddy. This guy is a general, one of his best warriors. I would expect present day Darkseid to be incredibly powerful. Look at how easily he squashed Steppy's head at the end.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Again, Gods plural. WW had a tough time with Ares alone. Now throw in Zeus in there. And even if they dealt the hardest blows, Darkseid still had to fight against many others which left him more open to attacks from 2 of the most powerful beings to ever walk the planet.

And Steppenwolf isn't just any ol' Darkseid baddy. This guy is a general, one of his best warriors. I would expect present day Darkseid to be incredibly powerful. Look at how easily he squashed Steppy's head at the end.

And Diana was still able to harm and ultimately kill Ares so she should be able to take on Steppenwolf and ultimately kill him. Not easily, but still. Darkseid. Just as I think Superman shouldnt have been able to treat Steppenwolf like he was nothing of a threat. Needed more balance.

 

[Karelia]

I enjoyed this version of the film immensely more. Still felt it dragged in a few spots but I guess that's a given being 4 hours long. Everything Steppenwolf/Darkseid was so much better/good. The film itself actually made sense...

I know a lot of people are loving Cyborg, but I guess I'm just use to the more upbeat take, which I get wouldn't really work in this film. I'm not sure I really liked the actor for the role either. His brooding just got a little much to me.

 

[heatvision38]

So here are a few of my thoughts now that I have some time on my laptop:

• I'm ambivalent at the moment. Then again, I was ambivalent on MOS the first time I saw it and it grew on me a lot on successive viewings, just as Watchmen did, and I came to love Watchmen. BvS I really liked on first viewing.

• One of my issues is that they didn't really show how the world is still dealing with the loss of Superman. That's one of the things that Joss did that I thought worked really well. I thought the movie was missing that. And then what was needed was a followup at the end with how the world reacts to Superman being back. I don't understand how that can be left out. If this is supposed to effectively close the Superman saga, then you have to show what it means now that he is back in the world. BvS spent a lot of time in the epilogue with how the world felt about Superman's death. Now he is back, so what does that mean to people? That's a huge missed opportunity, and as such, it's hard for me to see it as a Superman trilogy now.

• This movie felt more straightforward. There doesn't seem to be much to dissect and get into. MOS and BvS brought up a lot of cool discussions but I'm not sure ZSJL does. Now, if they were to make the sequels, then that might explore some cool stuff, but this movie unto itself is pretty straightforward and doesn't have much depth, imo, at least on first viewing.

• Another thing is this movie, without the sequels focusing on Darkseid, really doesn't work on its own. This is, in effect, like having the Two Towers be the end of the LOTR story. Defeating Sarumon, which was really tough to do, having to fend off 10,000 uruk hai at Helms Deep and the Ents going to war against Isengard, all that was built up through the movie, but in the end, we also knew that Sarumon still wasn't even the big bad, that as tough as he was, the bigger threat still looms and the toughest battles are still to be faced. That's effectively what we get here. Steppenwolf was a tough battle and the whole movie builds up to this invasion, but in the end, he still is just a herald of a much larger threat. On its own, Steppenwolf as the main bad guy is a good starting point and appetizer for the main threat in the way Sarumon is for Sauron. This movie works much better knowing that it's only part 1 of a much larger threat. So if we don't get those sequels, then I'm not sure this movie holds up as well. Tihs movie mainly works as a Justice League 1 in a larger story.

• The score, while good at times, on the whole, felt underwhelming. Now, this may change on repeat viewing as its not uncommon for movie scores to connect with me on a second viewing, but as of now, I felt the score was inconsistent and felt rushed at times. Even when we did hear some good music, maybe a call back to MOS or some other music, it would end really quickly. I did like WW's music (made me think of Xena or Witcher 3) and Flash's music in a couple of scenes was great (the scene where he pushes the sword towards Diana and the time travel scene). The music in the History Lesson was really good and I wish that was used for the Justice League in the final battle. How many of us were looking forward to the League's fight against Superman with actual Junkie XL music rather than the Elfman score, even listening to youtubers rework that scene over the past few years with Zimmer/Junkie music, but I didn't find the music in that scene having much power or impact. And I didn't care for Batman's theme. I'm not sure why Junkie couldn't have used a modified version of the BvS Batman theme, so that it's still true to his journey in this movie but still has resonance of what came before. I still reserve the right to change my mind on the score after another viewing, but that's my feelings on it so far, and music scores go a long way for me.

So, this is just some of what stood out to me on the first viewing.

 

[Lone]

Such a bittersweet feeling. We got our bookend to Snyder’s trilogy but we’ll never see the pay off to the things they set up in this movie.

I didn’t want this movie to end.

 

[heatvision38]

And Diana was still able to harm and ultimately kill Ares so she should be able to take on Steppenwolf and ultimately kill him. Not easily, but still. Darkseid. Just as I think Superman shouldnt have been able to treat Steppenwolf like he was nothing of a threat. Needed more balance.

She did harm him. It wasn't like WW didn't get hits in on him.

In her own movie, she had the benefit of using Ares' power against him because she is from the same family. Also, Ares might not be at full power in her movie. Typically, when it comes to Greek gods in fiction, their power levels are related to how many followers they have. They would have been more powerful thousands of years ago.

 

[FatRobin]

I need to watch this a few more times to really digest it, since MoS and BvS also got better in subsequent viewings. But so far it's an 8.5/10. It's really a blast to watch through and for better or worse, for all its flaws, is still the JL movie that deserves to be seen. The TC is really an abomination.

I love Cyborg and the villains here. They're the obvious standouts for me. The others are pretty much the same, though treated with more respect, felt grander, and less forced to be quippy and ridiculous.

The movie flows much better than the TC despite the long runtime. It's just a more gripping movie in general. I remember feeling so bored watching TC whenever there's no action, the exposition and dialog scenes just felt dragged out.

I also love the worldbuilding that Zack does. Even small details like the rituals the Amazons did before shooting Artemis' arrow (that was cut in the TC) made the world feel more immersive and thought-out.

All in all, I have some gripes with it, but I'm also blown away by it. I loved Snyder and still love his movies, but got detached from him and the fanbase due to all the drama and division. So, my feelings toward the whole thing might have affected my experience quite a bit. I wish I had been able to watch this in 2017 instead of the Josstice League, prior to all the things that have happened, because I would have loved it to bits. It's quite a nostalgic trip watching this movie.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I finished it and I can give it an easy 7/10. It wasnt as big of a cluster as I thought it'd be but also would've been a stronger film had it cut out a bunch of unnecessary scenes.

Snyder is someone who I think has great ideas but poor execution. His visuals for the characters are A+, the mythology he wants to create is great but he needs someone who can fine tune it and imbue life into it. If only I had the power of The Flash to turn back time and somehow help steer this ship on a course where it was successful and turn into a full blown universe that DC deserves.

The Snyder-trilogy wasn't fleshed out enough, Superman surely wasnt, everyones relationship with Clark/Superman/Kal-El just falls flat to me.

I do appreciate that the Amazons were slightly more competent in this version as it always annoyed me with how useless they were as guardians of a mother box. Even Mera in her added scenes was great and given the proper backup could've held off Steppenwolf a bit longer.

 

[Kane52630]

My review:

 

[Primal Slayer]

This was to ridiculous to me to really enjoy.

 

[Quasimod0]

I really enjoyed everything up until the future scenes at the end. I’d say 7.5. I would like to see a sequel with this cast, but not a continuation of where Snyder wanted to go with the story. Maybe it would be better to start fresh. The movie feels like a new beginning but it’s also filled with elements that I just don’t care for. Mixed emotions really, but I definitely liked this more than the 2017 version.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Just finished this thing. This isn't so much a review as it is just a few things I jotted down to myself while I powered through it. Let me begin by saying that I truly WANTED to like this thing. I even said "F*** it" to the keto diet I've been adhering to for the past few weeks and got a pizza and some booze to kick back, relax and indulge after a really hard couple of weeks on my end.

But... wow. I will say that I enjoyed this movie, but not for the reasons I was supposed to (the aforementioned booze helped quite a bit).

The beginning of this movie with Superman's deathscream on loop made me laugh. It felt like Snyder was trying to make up for Cavill's lack of dialogue in BvS by forcing us to listen to him going into his death throes for 10 minutes. I hope that this moment becomes the new Tom Cruise Mummy Scream because I feel like there's a lot of fun that the YouTube and TikTok geniuses could have with it.

What... is this scene of these catatonic Icelandic women singing? Does Snyder think Iceland is populated by musical zombies?

WB really needs to figure out some consistency with Wonder Woman's powers. Why does she even need to dodge bullets when she can just plow through a ceiling like it's nothing? Still, Gal is the best thing about this movie.

Roose Bolton seems better used here than in the theatrical version. I can only assume that he wants to blow up London here to take revenge on Guy Ritchie for talking him into appearing in that stupid King Arthur movie.

If I hear Steppenwolf say "the great darkness" or "the scent of the mother box" one more time, I'm going to lose my ****. This is your reminder that an Oscar-winning screenwriter wrote this dialogue. Argo was a fluke.

Speaking of Steppenwolf, he looks like one of those pin art toys from Spencer Gifts had a lovechild with a minotaur. He looks better than the theatrical version, I guess? But he still looks like a Playstation cut scene.

I didn't think I could hate Ezra Miller's Flash more than I did in the theatrical version, but boy was I wrong. He's like Jar-Jar Binks crossed with Topher Grace's Eddie Brock. Every time he opens his mouth I find myself rolling my eyes. This is Snyder's biggest problem (or one of them). Similar to George Lucas in the SW prequels, Snyder doesn't understand how to inject levity without making it completely jarring. Characters are either 100% solemn and serious (Batman, Cyborg, etc.) or 100% comic relief (Flash). Diana and maybe Alfred are the only ones who balance brooding and wisecracking.

Since I got my Super Powers Darkseid action figure in 1985 or whenever it was (it was bigger than all the other figures) I've dreamed of seeing the Lord of Apokalips in a movie. And he was... taken out like a loser by Ares in five minutes. And this is supposed to be the guy everyone is afraid of? Then again, Ares is this generation's Darth Vader.

Cyborg is okay but it isn't until the last half hour or so he does anything but brood. And I get it; he's a tragic character and if I was in his situation, I'd be miserable too. But I think you need him to do more than glower at his dad for hours to really connect with him.

Let's take a vote... worst CGI - Steppenwolf, Cyborg or Zeus's abs?

Why do the human characters keep burying these Mother Boxes like two feet underground? Yeah, no one will ever find that.

Amber Heard doing an English accent... sure is something. "The fuuuhst bawwwn of Queen Uhhtlantuuuhhhs."

There aren't enough eyerolls in the world for that exchange between Steppy and Diana where he says something like "She's mine" and she replies, "I belong to no one!" I guess that's what passes for female empowerment in Snyder's world. I never want to hear any DC fan mock the "Girls get it done" scene in Endgame again.

Affleck's batvoice sounds like the evil Santa Claus in A Christmas Story.

Cavill is in so little of this movie but one of the few touching moments was the reunion on the farm. Would have liked to see more of him, Adams and Lane.

Leto... there are no words.

Why bother having Martian Manhunter show up? "Hey guys, I could have totally helped you against an alien invasion but we didn't have the budget for the effects. No worries though... I'll totally show up in a sequel that will never happen!"

In conclusion... I can't say it was awful because I watched it all and the final battle was entertaining. I'm glad it was released so the fans could get closure. But I'm glad we're moving on from this (at least I think we are).

5/10

 

[spideyfan77]

Sitting around an 8 I think. I hope it goes up but it also could go down. Need to see it couple of more times before deciding

 

[kguillou]

Whew.

I'm still digesting this thing. Some quick pros and cons.

Pros:

The look and feel of it all. I felt sucked into the world, the movie felt like it had epic stakes, this felt like an event unlike the Saturday Morning cartoon feel of the Whedon cut.

STEPPENWOLF. What was once the worst part of the C, is one of the strongest of the Snyder Cut. I loved ever single scene Steppenwolf was in. He was an actual character with motivation and felt like a BADASS threat.

The characters: Each character gets their due and their dialogue and interactions in this movie is so so much better. It really felt like a team was forming throughout the movie.

The action was so on point. The Wonder Woman rescue, Themyscira chase, History lesson, Tunnel fight and Climax were all awesomely well done. All the extra bits Zack added to make the battles feel big and epic were just so sweet. And Junkie XL's score complimented it.

Junkie XL's score: nuff said. So much better than Elfman's. There's actual themes and motifs that ran throughout the movie. I was nodding my head and pumping my fist when those signature Junkie war drums went into full, effect during the battle scenes. But leads me into the weaknesses also....

Cons
:

Wonder Woman's new theme. When Junkie brought back the TIna Guo theme it was awesome, but that ancient chanting started to grate on me after a while. I dunno, it didnt work for me guys. I would've preferred they just stuck to the BvS theme and keep that recurring throughout the movie (even though we do hear it several times)

The out of place song choices. Those 3 or 4 songs that played in the first half were really jarring. Really jarring. Wasnt a fan of that creative choice, should've just let musical score play over those scenes instead.

The Length. This movie is a marathon and I have to admit it got a little much at one point where I needed to take a break. I think on subsequent viewings I will watch this in pieces instead of all at once.

Superman: Not gonna lie, guys, I wanted a little more out of Superman from this. His scene with Lois in the farm was beautiful but when he comes back in action to battle...it was cool but...I dunno I wanted more. More dialogue from him, more of a fight between him and Steppenwolf. I was hoping Cavill's screentime was gonna be drastically expanded in this but it wasnt really.