‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ is supersize and super brooding
At one point in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” the supersize re-imagined version of the original film, Cyborg is working on a problem and says, “I could fix it if I had a little more time.”
Well, buddy, you are in luck. Because time is what you’ve got a lot of this time around. The newly cut film, streaming on HBO Max, is 4 hours and 2 minutes long – twice the length of the original, which debuted in 2017.
That doesn’t make it twice as good. It doesn’t even make it twice as different. Snyder left the original production after his daughter died by suicide. He had been in a lengthy battle with the studio, which wanted changes to lighten it up. Joss Whedon took over. What came out in theaters was lighter, with more humor than Snyder’s dark “Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice.”
It was also somewhat stupid, with an unsatisfying villain and a muddled story. Lots of laughs – or at least attempts at them – at the expense of a compelling narrative.
If nothing else, Synder has taken care of the laughs by eliminating most of them. A few of the funnier lines remain,
like the Flash (Ezra Miller) asking Batman (Ben Affleck) what his superpower is.
“I’m rich,” he says.
Zack Snyder’s cut of ‘Justice League’ plays like a dirge
Mostly, though, this is a dirge, an obvious exercise in making a Serious Statement, and on that front it doesn’t succeed. Darker, supposedly edgier scenes do not, by themselves, improve the story or make it more meaningful. It
doesn’t really make it any worse, either. Just a lot longer. That opens up a lot of time for super brooding.
At the 2 hour and 51-minute mark, someone says, “So begins the end.” Don’t make promises you can’t keep, pal – there’s still more than an hour to go.
It would spoil things to go through and talk only about the changes. This film needs to stand or fall on its own, as the first one did (or didn’t, actually). However, it’s fair to say that the nature of the villain, Steppenwolf (voice of Ciarán Hinds), is markedly different, as is the notion of the villain entirely.
But Steppenwolf’s basic mission is the same: He wants to round up three mystical Mother Boxes and unite them to destroy Earth. He has his reasons, which differ from the original film. And he’s really hard to defeat in battle. As are the Parademons he commands.
Making matters worse, as the film opens Superman (Henry Cavill) is dead, killed at the end of “Batman v Superman.” Lois Lane (Amy Adams) feels sad. Batman feels guilty. The world feels less safe.
But to Batman, Superman is more than a safety net. He’s a beacon that the world looks to for hope. So he and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), who run the operation, recruit others to help fight what Batman knows is a coming war. There’s Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and the Flash to recruit.
We get more backstory for the Flash and Cyborg, and less humor
This film includes more backstory for each, Cyborg and the Flash in particular. The Flash, thanks in large part to Miller’s enthusiastically goofy portrayal – more welcome than ever in this telling – is a jolt of energy, cutting through the gloom and doom. One new element of his backstory will mean something to serious fans, but to causal audiences, it’s just kind of there.
Which brings up an important question: Who is this movie for? Fans who hated Whedon’s version took to social media to campaign, sometimes in ugly fashion, for what they called #Thesnydercut – Snyder’s unadulterated vision for the film. It seemed like one of those social media moments that would pass, but it didn’t. Whether Snyder’s ultimate version will please them is anyone’s guess.
But “probably” is the educated guess. There are characters and developments and even omissions that likely will satisfy their pleas. If a change in the color of a superhero’s costume is the kind of thing you get worked up about, this is your film.
If you’re looking for a brisk, compelling story, maybe not. It’s as if there is a third version of this film, something in between the two in terms of tone and fan service, that would be the best way to tell this story. That’s unlikely to happen, of course. How many “Justice League” movies do we really need, anyway?
“It’s a long story,” one character says during the film. No kidding.