ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE
Arthur Curry? You’ll have time for a full one watching this extra-long cut.
OUT NOW SKY CINEMA/NOW TV
Justice League is a risible film with few redeeming qualities. As for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, that’s a little more complicated. Clocking in at a whopping four hours, two minutes, this greatly extended cut represents Snyder’s unadulterated vision for his troubled DCEU team-up. Born of a vocal fan campaign, JL XXL is a much-improved revision of a film it would be hard to make any worse, existing almost exclusively to satisfy DC die-hards.
To Snyder’s credit, this new cut makes it clear he wasn’t the one calling the shots for the majority of Justice League 2017’s most bewildering moments. The disorientating plot? Given ample context here. That comically rubbish Russian family? Gone. Henry Cavill’s dreadful digital wet shave? Snipped. There’s nary a scene here that isn’t completely new, substantially expanded, or drastically improved. The upshot is that this finally feels like the cohesive work of a single filmmaking team, rather than the shambling Frankenstein’s monster of the original.
Cyborg (Ray Fisher) is the biggest beneficiary. Previously, there was little more to robo-boy Victor Stone than a
mopey spin on Iron Man. Here he’s given a relationship with his father (Joe Morton), which resonates throughout the entire film. Likewise, Ezra Miller’s Flash gets some visually spectacular ‘Speed Force’ moments that make the most of Snyder’s knack for a striking slow-mo tableaux, while Barry’s overbearing quips are mercifully dialled down – dasvidaniya, Dostoyevsky...
Tonally, it’s an odd mix. Worldending stakes sit alongside awkward attempts at levity that typically land with a thud. Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) is a better realised antagonist here, but in the pantheon of comicbook villains he’s still more Malekith The Accursed than Thanos. And while ultimate DC big bad Darkseid (Ray Porter) has a presence this time round, he does little more than scowl and get his ass kicked in a flashback, making him a neutered threat.
Taken as a four-hour film, it’s unwieldy, indulgent and frequently impenetrable, with all-new cameos and subplots upon subplots that will mean little to all but the most DC-savvy viewers. What’s more, hints at plans for future Justice League films involving Batman, Jared Leto’s Joker and others don’t give the impression you’re missing out on much in the likely event they’re never made. But for all the controversy that has surrounded Justice League, it’s almost a relief to have the question of what should have been answered. Neither the magnum opus some may have expected, nor the catastrophe of the original, it’s a fascinating, flawed climax to Snyder’s grand DCEU experiment. Jordan Farley