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Sunday, March 21, 2021

Cindy Prascik's Review of Zack Snyder's Justice League

 


My dear reader(s), this weekend has brought us a great gift. No, it's not the first day of spring or even the (hopefully) impending end of Covid, but rather the long-awaited "Snyder Cut" of Justice League.

Spoiler level here will be...mild(ish), I guess.

Probably everybody - or at least everybody who'd bother to read this - knows the story of 2017's Justice League. Midway through building his DC Universe, a personal tragedy caused Snyder to exit the film. Joss Whedon stepped in and made a very Marvel-colored DC movie, maligned by critics and fans alike. In anticipation of the release of the Snyder Cut, I rewatched the original last week, and was reminded that I did enjoy it in a very Marvel-ish way, that is, I laughed at its goofiness and forgot it the minute it was over. The four-hour Snyder Cut...*that* I enjoyed in a very DC way, that is, I loved every minute and will hold it in my heart forever.

Let's start with Master Wayne. Batman is my favorite A-List hero (the Tick is my overall favorite, if anyone wondered), and Ben Affleck is my favorite Batman by far. Cocky but world weary, strong but fading, his take on the character wouldn't be out of place in any dramatic awards darling. In the theatrical release of Justice League, Batman was basically reduced to comic relief, an insult to the Caped Crusader's legacy. The Snyder Cut reinstates him as the quarterback of this team of heroes.

While the movie retains the darker tone for which DC is noted, there is a good bit of humor, mostly from Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Flash (Ezra Miller). Gone are the Iron Man-esque wise cracks in every scene that were forced into the theatrical release. The movie does not miss them.

Gal Gadot shines as Wonder Woman, Diana doing her part to lead the team and perhaps temper Bruce Wayne's hardness and cynicism. It's also worth noting that Wonder Woman has the coolest musical cue of all the heroes.

Henry Cavill remains a perfect Superman, and maybe the very best news about the Snyder cut is that it's missing the awful CGI moustache erasure that made such a laughingstock of the theatrical cut from its very first moments.

Finally, we come to Victor Stone. Snyder has called him the heart of the film, and he definitely benefits from added screen time and a more fleshed-out backstory. A leader though he's just a kid, Ray Fisher's Cyborg is the glue that holds Justice League together. I know I speak for many when I say, if DC made a feature with Fisher's Cyborg and Miller's Flash, I'd be there with bells on.

The Snyder Cut boasts some super effects, especially on the villian Steppenwolf; in fact, its visuals are quite stunning nearly every step of the way. The film features an epic score by Junkie XL. There are plenty of surprises/Easter eggs for DC fans, and I don't mind admitting that I got a bit choked up by certain frames of the movie. If the picture has a fault, it's that all that super slo-mo does get a bit exhausting, but mostly it is, in every way, the epic big screen endeavor that the world's greatest heroes deserve.

Zack Snyder's Justice League runs a whopping 242 minutes and is rated R for "violence and some language."

As a DC fangirl, I am happy to report Zack Snyder's Justice League is everything I'd hoped for. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Zack Snyder's Justice League gets all nine...and I'm watching it again as I type this!

Fangirl points: Song to the Siren makes a brief appearance here, and even though it's a cover instead of Tim Buckley's original....I'll take it!

Zack Snyder's Justice League, along with his director's cut of Batman v Superman, is now streaming on HBO Max.



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