Zack Snyder's Justice League
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Ciaran Hinds, Amy Adams, Connie Nielsen, Diane Lane, Joe Morton, Ray Porter, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, JK Simmons, Zheng Kai, Peter Guinness.
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| "So we'll all get our own spin-off movies, right?" |
I realise I'm very late to the party with this one, but my 10-year-old and I have been doing the DC thing lately, and we just did Justice League. Once again, it's a massive disappointment of a film, but it made me realise I couldn't put off watching The Snyder Cut any longer.
And it's coming up on the fifth Snyderversary of the Snyderest version, so let's pretend that's a good reason to do this.
Many millions of column inches and YouTube minutes have been dedicated to comparing Whedon's OG version with Snyder's troll-satisfying director's cut, so what I'm saying is probably not new.
Except to say, it's a bit unfair to compare the pair.
There are plenty of reasons to hate Whedon, but his version of Justice League isn't one of them. It should instead be seen as more reason to hate the idiots at Warner Bros. Whedon was hired to do a job under very trying circumstances and delivered a film that, while not great (I gave it two and a half stars, it's 39 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes), did what Warner Bros asked - it clocked in at two hours, and it had a lighter tone.
That the film bombed commercially and artistically is on Warner Bros, not Whedon, because of the restraints placed on the last-minute fill-in director, and the evidence can be found in Snyder's cut.
But, as I said, the two versions are apples and oranges in terms of context.
Whedon had to meet a deadline, under very clear instructions. Snyder had years to tinker, and was basically given carte blanche to deliver the film he wanted to deliver. Whedon took someone else's work, hacked and slashed at it, and delivered a film that was probably as good as it was ever going to be in that abridged format (which was not very good).
And as I said, the evidence is there in the fact the first two thirds of the film are essentially the same. The difference is that Snyder's version, unimpinged by studio meddling, is allowed to breathe, and given time to run. Whedon's version trims and trims while ensuring it still makes sense, and little more.
As a result, in Snyder's cut, character motivations are fleshed out and make more sense, at the very least make the characters resonate more. The motives of Batman, Flash, Aquaman and even Steppenwolf become clearer, but it's Cyborg who truly wins in this version. He gets an arc, a backstory, goals, and a goddamn reason to exist in this film beyond "because he's in the comics". Yes, Whedon did Cyborg dirty, but it was at the bidding of Warner Bros, and if you're going to cut stuff, then you cut the stuff that should've been it's own origin movie that Warner Bros should've made first before making a goddamn Justice League movie.
This has always been a problem with the DCEU. Rather than proceed in a logical fashion and introduce characters film by film before doing a big team-up, like Marvel did, Warner Bros seemingly threw darts at a wall and made movies in an order decided almost by chance, as a seemingly deliberate move to NOT do things the way Marvel did.
As a result of this fuckwittery, Cyborg never got his own film, and Snyder instead wedged Cyborg's origin story into Justice League. In Whedon's version, it doesn't work, but when you have four hours to mess around with, it does work. Cyborg becomes the emotional core of the film - he has the most heartfelt arc as he tries to deal with a father he never understood; a father who gets a chance to be a "father twice over", but who is initially rejected by Cyborg because he doesn't understand himself, let his redemption seeking father. It's a rich thread, sewn somewhat awkwardly by either Chris Terrio's script or Snyder's direction, but it's far richer than it was in Whedon's cut.
Aside from giving the first two acts room to breathe, the biggest difference between the versions is the entire third act, which is markedly different, and way better in Snyder's cut. The plotting that Warner Bros considered too complicated is fairly straightforward actually, although that's because we've had three hours to warm up to it, to be honest.
I also feel weirdly vindicated. Here's a snippet from my review of Justice League:
"... a mini subplot involving a family holed up in the vicinity of Steppenwolf's base (is) most likely a direct response to the impersonal carnage of Man Of Steel, but it doesn't work and feels completely tacked on."
That subplot was indeed tacked on by Whedon, who was trying to up the stakes of the finale, and failing. Oddly, Snyder's version of the ending is more direct - the world is going to end, and that's all that matters; not saving a Russian family living near an old nuclear power plant. No one cared about that family - It was bad writing.
I've typed all these words and haven't even mentioned Darkseid. While I understand why Whedon cut him, adding him in helps make Steppenwolf a far more interesting villain. Having said that, both baddies still fall short in Snyder's version because their motives are cliched and typically underdone. The motivations of a good villain should seem reasonable in the right light - destroying a planet to make it look like your homeworld is just dumb. Perhaps one of the biggest faults of the DCEU is its villains. Outside of Zod, I can't really think of a villain whose intentions made sense in a way that just about any Marvel baddie did (Thanos, Namor, Whiplash, Mysterio, The High Evolutionary, Kilmonger, to name a few).
In a different timeline - one where Snyder did not have to drop out amid horrific personal tragedy, and one where Warner Bros comprimised somewhat - Snyder's cut would not have been four hours long, and as a result would've been vastly different. He would've had to pick up the pace in the first half, cut such indulgences as a random Icelandic sing-song or Martian Manhunter's foreshadowing cameo, and might've made some plot changes, such as ignoring the weird subplot about getting Batman's troop carrier to fly.
But with his unfair advantage of time, Snyder's version is easily the definitive one, and it's actually an enjoyable and well-rounded four hours, even with its slow patches. There is no reason for Whedon's version to exist, except to point out the folly of a studio more concerned with money than art, as most studios are prone to do.
