Delayed Reaction: Zack Snyder's Justice League

Premise: It's that Justice League movie you've already watched, but longer and darker.

 

A large part of me wanted to skip this movie altogether. I haven't cared for a lot of DC's post-Nolan direction. The Justice League movie in particular was a failed attempt at an Avengers: a backdoor pilot that thought it was a crossover. I don't believe any other the issues with the movie were something that could be fixed with a new cut. Still, the "Snyder Cut" became a thing on the internet. While I don't encourage recutting the same movie until "it's right" as opposed to spending time making new content, I heard enough positive-ish reviews of this that I just had to know if it was better.

 

There are two analogies that I use a lot that came to mind watching this. The first is The Count of Monte Cristo. I read the abridged version of the novel in high school and adored it. Later, in college, I decided to read the unabridged version for fun. It was more than twice as long. Despite being that much longer, I couldn't tell you a single thing that the abridged version left out. I didn't dislike reading the unabridged version. It didn't feel like it was dragging or padding things out. Yet, I can't point to any added value with all the extra pages. The same goes for Zack Snyder's Justice League. I know it's a much longer cut. I couldn't tell you how it's so much longer though. I hardly recall anything of note that's in the Snyder Cut that wasn't in the original. I'm sure there is. There must be. And if I'm sure if I was someone who loves what Snyder is doing, then I'd welcome the chance to bathe in this world even longer. However, I got nothing out of it except an extra 60-90 minutes I couldn't spend watching something else.

 

The other analogy is one of my favorites. Say I get a 6% on a test. The teacher then let's me retake it, because I clearly had a brain aneurism the first time. I get a 60% the second time. That's a massive improvement. It's still a failing grade. That's where I stand with the Snyder Cut. I guess it's an improvement over the original (although the long length really hurts it. Efficiency is a key part of filmmaking). The new characters are better introduced. It has a more consistent look throughout. But it's not like it's a jump from good to great. It's a jump from 'meh' to 'Meh'.

 

Next time, let's just leave well enough alone. The Snyder movies were largely rejected even before he couldn't see his Justice League vision through. Man of Steel opened big with a small multiplier. Batman v Superman was ridiculed immediately. We collectively forgot about Justice League for a reason. Just because a portion of the internet is loud, doesn't mean a project is a good idea.

 

Verdict: Strongly Don't Recommend

(This is more a verdict assuming you've already seen Justice League. If you haven't, I guess this is the better version to watch.)