24 Mar Zack Snyder’s Justice League Analysis

BLUF: Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a remarkable achievement on many levels. It is arguably Zack Snyder’s best film, utterly vindicates his DC efforts, and depending on your persuasion, either borders on or fully earns the label ‘epic masterpiece’.

INTRODUCTION

I really don’t want to dwell on the massive, insane backstory of why this film exists, but I don’t think you can fairly judge this film without some basic level of detail. This will be (hopefully) brief, but necessary, because the circuitous path this film has taken explains both its excellence, as well as my nitpicks.

Zack Snyder was chosen by Warner Brothers and DC Films to spearhead their post-Dark Knight DC Extended Universe of films. He started with Man of Steel, moved into Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and immediately started production on Justice League as his third of a planned 5-film arc of Superman films. Along the way, he advised on spin-offs like Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman.

Man of Steel is incredible but was overshadowed by the MCU and many viewers who were unprepared for such a serious, non-Marvel take on Superman. While MoS has become more of a cult favorite among many fans, BvS was received less well, followed shortly by SS, which was financially successful but was lambasted by critics and, eventually, fans. At this point, WB and DC started pressuring Snyder to make sure that Justice League was more fun, shorter (two hours max, for more theater viewings per day), and less reliant on potential sequels they were clearly not promising anymore.

On top of all this, Snyder’s daughter passed away early in post-production, and he and producer/wife Deborah Snyder rightly stepped back to spend time healing their family. DC hired Joss Whedon to rewrite and re-film about 75% of the authorized two-hour film, and eventually, Whedon’s Justice League (Josstice League, or just JL) hit theaters in 2017 and was a complete piece of shit; it literally got worse each time I watched it.

I say complete PoS because now that I’ve seen Zack Snyder’s Justice League (ZSJL), any affinity I had for Josstice League is dead and buried forever.

In the aftermath of Whedon’s underwhelming cut, Snyder made peace with the fact that his DC days were over and settled for an unfinished black and white work print of his version of a Justice League film on his laptop. He famously avoided watching Josstice League after his wife and Christopher Nolan (an Executive Producer on the film) did see it and told him it would break his heart to see what was done; this seems a tender mercy at what was undoubtedly an awful time in Snyder’s life anyway.

And then a remarkable set of circumstances began to coalesce that eventually led to March 18, 2021 and the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. First and foremost, fans of Snyder and his DC films began a vocal, intense, and escalating campaign asking for the ‘Snyder Cut’ of JL. Then BvS had an Ultimate Edition that improved the film immensely. Then the world turned to streaming, and WB had a new streaming service in HBO Max, which was competing with Netflix and Disney+, who were spending billions on new and popular content of all kinds. Finally, a pandemic hit that left all of Hollywood facing the reality that theaters were shut down and filming new content was not only more expensive than ever, but unlikely to recoup costs due anytime soon.

And there, in a WB vault somewhere, sat a near-finished, mostly unseen movie featuring the Holy Trinity of Superheroes: Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. Against literally all odds, Snyder was authorized to complete his version of Justice League. Although the original production cost a rumored $250 million; followed by an estimated $100 million in Whedon reshoots; and then a theatrical run that probably didn’t even break even, WB spent an estimated $70 million more to led Snyder do whatever it took to complete his movie.

And now, the world can see Zack Snyder’s Justice League. I have taken the opportunity to see it three times now, and here are my thoughts…

Josstice League is dead, Long Live Zack Snyder’s Justice League

By nearly every conceivable measure, ZSJL is not only superior to its theatrical abomination, but transcends above many, many other CBMs into the realm of genuine masterpiece. It is the clear vision of a single filmmaker who had planted all the seeds necessary to pay off in the biggest way possible.

Josstice League was plagued with a schizophrenic tone, characterized by a plethora of jokes that were not only typically indicative of Whedon’s distinct writing style, but were also completely divorced from any connective tissue to the characters they were attributed to in the movie. Those are gone.

And it gets worse.

Recently, Whedon has emerged as being an alleged abuser (verbal, emotional, and possibly worse) of many of the female actors he has worked with throughout his career. This was a result of many of these women being emboldened when actor Ray Fisher came forward with his own accusations about Whedon’s treatment of Fisher and other JL cast members. The floodgates opened, and suddenly, some of the things that seemed funny in his previous movies suddenly became…gross. The most overt example in JL was the scene where Flash saves Wonder Woman from begin crushed in a fall but lands with his face in her breasts. It emerged that Gal Gadot refused to film that scene, rightfully pointing out that it was condescending to not only the character, but to women in general. And then people noticed that Whedon did a similar gag in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Then people began wondering why he often treated female characters in his films and TV shows so poorly. It turns out it was not because he was good at writing strong female characters, but because he seemed to simply have a thing for putting women in awkward-to-abusive situations. And Fisher pointed out that this extended beyond misogyny and crossed over into overt racism, which initially seemed to be aimed at his behind-the-scenes treatment of not only Fisher, but other PoC involved in the film.

Why bring all this up? Because ZSJL completely and utterly shines a light on very strong circumstantial evidence that this is all true by excising literally EVERY questionable and terrible choice made by Whedon and presents a FAR SUPERIOR film in tone, characterization, narrative cohesion, and in pure, unadulterated superhero indulgence.

I’ll go through the multitude of improvements, then highlight the few nitpicks that I have with the film.

ALL THE GOOD THINGS EVER

ZSJL has the same basic narrative structure as JL. The best real-world analogy I can think of is the comparison between Michael Mann’s L.A. Takedown and Heat. L.A. Takedown was an early TV movie Mann wrote and was early-80’s TV movie quality: poorly acted with a limited budget, but the essence of a good story. Heat is a cinematic masterpiece directed by Mann from a revision of his L.A. Takedown script. Heat has endured as one of the best crime dramas ever made, and a highlight of many cast and crews’ careers; and possibly Mann’s best film, which is saying a LOT from such an accomplished director. There is no comparison between the two, despite an identical story. Anyone who has seen both will attest that Heat is objectively superior in every measurement. And if you haven’t seen or heard of L.A. Takedown, I rest my case.

It is the same with ZSJL and JL: same basic story, some identical dialogue, but…utterly different in every way.

Here’s the list of improvements, which should be considered partial because, at every level, the entire ZSJL is improved—it’s simply a matter of degrees across every facet:

• Danny Elfman’s trash score is gone, replaced by Tom Holkenborg’s newly recorded score. Holkenborg, AKA Junkie XL, worked with Hans Zimmer on BvS, and delivers a score that incorporates and/or improves on all the previous themes he and Zimmer developed for the characters. Elfman, who seems to have completely given up for over a decade, delivered a bright, non-descript score that questionably incorporated themes from his own Batman (1989) score and John Williams’ Superman score from four decades ago—this made no sense whatsoever.
  Holkenborg’s new score complements the new film and contains genuinely great moments, such as The Flash’s final time travel cue. Despite having moments strongly reminiscent of his Mad Max: Fury Road score, Holkenborg knocks this score out of the park, and again proves to me that DC films have universally superior film scores than almost the entire MCU.
  Hearing Superman’s Man of Steel theme was genuinely touching at times, and reminded me of how good Zimmer’s superhero themes can be…
  
• Cyborg, a virtual non-entity in JL, is a major character in ZSJL to the point that he is the emotional core of the film. Ray Fisher’s performance is nuanced and beautiful. My biggest take-away from ZSJL was that I went from not caring about Cyborg one iota, to REALLY wanting to see his solo movie, which is, sadly, dead and buried, by all accounts. Cyborg’s story in ZSJL is not just fleshed out but expanded in ways that made me truly question the motives of any filmmaker who would utterly excise them. They are so good. And Whedon’s removal makes it REALLY easy to give him more than a little side-eye when accusations of racism come out of the reshoot process.
  I cannot overstate how good Fisher is in ZSJL. It was revelatory, given the fact that we knew nothing about him before ZSJL. His scene as he learns his powers and chooses to help a poor Asian woman struggling to feed and house her children while working as a waitress was wonderful filmmaking in every way: emotional, concise, beautifully filmed and acted.
  
• Ben Affleck’s Batman is far superior, as all footage was from Snyder’s original shoot. It became apparent that during the reshoots, Affleck was suffering in his personal life: his divorce led to heavy drinking, compounded by having to refilm an entire movie in a matter of weeks, and JL featured an Affleck visibly struggling to do his job.
  That’s gone. Affleck’s Batman and Bruce Wayne are on point, and demonstrate a very clear character development from BvS, where Affleck’s Batman as downright cruel. Snyder’s story for BvS and ZSJL dictated that Batman evolve from the angry, isolated iteration of BvS into a rejuvenated version of the character who openly admits his previous failure while proclaiming that he is doing the right thing on faith and hope.
  His scenes with the excellent Alfred, played by Jeremy Irons, are fantastic, and in every way, Affleck NAILED the characters of both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Infinitely better than JL…
  
• Speaking Jeremy Irons, Alfred Pennyworth not only has more screentime, but is clearly a big component of Snyder’s response to criticism about a lack of humor in MoS and BvS. Irons is great as Alfred, and the fact that it is obvious Snyder was willing and able to respond to criticism is manifest in this character throughout the film.
  
• Henry Cavill’s Superman is, still, the best iteration of the character. He has a few additional scenes in ZSJL, and they expand on the character in meaningful ways, especially in more coherent interactions with Amy Adams’ Lois Lane. In a trait found throughout the film, Clark is given moments of quiet with Lois, where the dialogue and the setting are telling he story. ZSJL gave characters time to breathe with moments that allowed the actors to emote without a smash cut to another scene. The entire Kent Farm scene is just smoother and more quietly beautiful in ZSJL, and Cavill truly encapsulates the best of the character in these peaceful, silent moments.
  Most importantly, the problems caused by Cavill’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout mustache are gone, as everything in ZSJL was filmed before Cavill’s villainous M:I role. The absence of Cavill’s shady-as-shit CGI face from JL was, in and of itself, a massive improvement. The fact that the characters of Superman and Clark Kent got better portrayals is just gravy…
  
• Ezra Miller’s Flash is better in every way. Not only is his introduction in the movie better, but he becomes the key to saving the world and the entire Justice League in the end. His JL role as forced into simple comic relief, but ZSJL shows that without Flash, everyone dies. In fact, everyone does die, as the Justice League fails to stop Steppenwolf in the climax of the movie and everyone is annihilated except Flash, who, in the most spectacular scene of the film, reverses time and saves everyone’s life. The special effects surrounding Flash’s powers are SO GOOD in ZSJL, and the character is rebalanced from Whedon’s excessive comedy to being more tragic and more useful across the board. And Miller’s performance is great…I’m now even more excited that his solo movie starts shooting next month (April 2021) for a release in late 2022.
  
• Steppenwolf is vastly improved, both visually and as a character. In JL, he was a sad sap who said the word ‘mother’ about 500 times. Not only is his visual appearance improved, but he becomes a real threat, especially with the freedom of the R-rating, which allows audiences to see just how brutal and dangerous he really is, establishing him as a genuine threat.
  ALSO, there is actually some character development to explain why he is doing what he is doing. His strained relationship with Darkseid makes him a better character but instills a sense of dangerous desperation in his actions, particularly during the climactic fight with the Justice League.
  
• The action scenes are all improved, mostly by added footage that fills in gaps from the truncated version found in JL, as well as simply benefiting from the context of improved characters. I learned an important lesson once by watching just the action scenes from The Matrix, skipping over anything that was not fighting and gunplay: they were less enjoyable. I learned that characters that the audience feels emotionally connected to make an action scene tense and thrilling. Whedon chopped down every action scene so much, in addition to removing most character development, that his JL action scenes were perfunctory at best. No emotional connection meant they were just CGI-fests.
  ZSJL has action scenes that contain moments explaining why we care about the people involved. For example, the opening scene on Themiscyra, where Queen Hippolyta and the Amazons attempts to stop Steppenwolf from stealing their motherbox, benefits immensely from the sacrifice of the Amazons and the added connective tissue of playing keep-away with a being as powerful and dangerous as Steppenwolf. EVERY action scene has more and better context and cohesion.
  
• The color grading is improved. Whedon took the entire film and brightened up the scenes to give the impression that the movie as a whole was happier in tone. Sure, color grading can influence scenes and the subconscious impression left on an audience, but it has limits. Snyder shot ZSJL to match the style and tone of MoS and BvS; in other words, a lot of it was dark. Just lightening it up by orders of magnitude made the entire movie look cheap. Reverting to Snyder and Director of Photography Fabien Wagner’s original vision aesthetic improves the entire palette of the movie.
  
• Snyder’s scene transitions are a vast improvement on not only Whedon’s literal hack job, but an improvement on his two previous DC entries. I read a critique of BvS once that pointed out that it did not have a lot of coherent, planned scenes, so much as a massive series of impressively shot moments that were strung together. While I’m not sure I entirely agree with this, particularly in consideration of his Ultimate Cut, I think Snyder also responded to this criticism in ZSJL by not only constructing excellent, self-contained scenes, but also editing them together in a far more coherent, flowing way. One of the best examples of this is a scene between Lois Lane and Diane Lane’s Martha Kent. Whedon had chosen to reshoot this scene and drop it earlier in the film, and his version as patently terrible, with some truly tasteless jokes and inuendoes scattered throughout.
  In ZSJL, both characters are given a far more intimate setting, allowing them to share their thoughts and feelings about the loss of Clark Kent/Superman, as well as talk about how they want to be there for each other, and encourage their mutual emotional recovery. It’s a wonderful scene, showing up at the exact right moment when the Justice League is beginning to realize how much they need Superman. Again, quiet moments of character development are the key to an audience connecting with characters.
  There is one aspect of this scene I didn’t like, but I’ll mention that later, and it doesn’t diminish from how well acted and staged this scene is in ZSJL.
  
• Whedon’s JL unfathomably excised terrific character work in building the relationships between Justice League members by shooting scenes that created an artificial schism between members in not only every scene relating to the resurrection of Superman, but also the preparations for the final battle. There is nothing wrong with creating tension, but this film felt like the wrong time to do it, especially when done poorly. Getting the League together convincingly requires some scenes demonstrating unit cohesion. Undermining the relationships from the beginning, especially with a truncated runtime, makes their eventual “coming together” in the climactic battle seem forced and unearned.
  ZSJL not only does away with the poorly executed scenes of internal League conflict, but actually has some great scenes showing the team bonding. My favorite moment was a conversation between Flash and Aquaman about Cyborg. Instead of being a complete dick to everyone, as he was in JL, Aquaman shows actual emotional intelligence in his empathy for Cyborg and the death of his father in the prior scene. Flash is impressed by Aquaman’s compassion, and the result is the subtle reveal to the audience that a real bond is forming between members of the League.
  
• Joe Morton as Cyborg’s father, Silas Stone, has infinitely more to do and capitalizes on every scene. His love for his son is clear, but Morton’s performance also shows how much Silas struggles to convey that to Victor. Both Morton and Fisher were powerhouses in taking the material given them and making every second count.
  Unless you’re watching Whedon’s JL, where both Victor and Silas Stone are blank slates, barely registering as present, much less as the fulcrum of the story. Kudos to Snyder for writing both characters to show how Cyborg is, arguably, the most powerful superhero on Earth, thanks to his father.
  

There is more, but I think this conveys the idea that Snyder’s version utilizes emotion, context, quiet moments of character development, and unadulterated action filmmaking skill to construct a movie that is infinitely more satisfying than Whedon’s.

That said, I would be remiss not mentioning some clear nitpicks.

THE NITPICKS

No movie is perfect…that is objectively true; in large part because every person has a subjective set of conscious and unconscious expectations and standards. Here are some of the problems I had with ZSJL:

• The runtime: while I freely admit that the 4 hours of ZSJL flew by, I also recognize that this is most definitely NOT the version that he would have released in theaters in 2017, had he been able to deliver a theatrical version.
  Curiously, I think the four hours is a concession to the intense #SnyderCut movement, which demanded his full version of the film. I am reasonably confident that Snyder recognized that the last thing any of the fans of the #SnyderCut wanted to hear after seeing ZSJL was that there were deleted scenes.
  So I think he threw in everything…probably nearly every second of footage he shot, including the few minutes he was allowed to shoot for HBO Max.
  I suspect that there is a nearer perfect version of this movie in the 3-to-3.5-hour range.
  There are several scenes that could have (and probably should have been) trimmed. To me, the most overt example was when Aquaman departs the remote Icelandic village at the beginning, and some lonely women spend a couple minutes singing a lonely song and one sniffs his discarded sweater. Yeah, it reminded me of Eowyn in The Two Towers, singing at her brother’s funeral, but I also thought that could have been trimmed as well.
  Similarly, there were duplicate scenes of Steppenwolf communicating to DeSaad about the parademons smelling out the location of the motherboxes…did we need two? Probably not.
  I am also on the fence about some of the many Epilogue scenes, including the long-overdue Batman/Joker scene. Most of the Epilogue set up sequels we will probably never get, so it was a bitter tease of what might have been.
  But again, when the primary reason Snyder is allowed to make the #SnyderCut, you had best deliver all of it…and for being 4 hours, this movie felt much shorter than some 90-minute trash-fests I’ve endured.
  
• Wonder Woman’s introduction to the movie was spectacular, and vastly improved in ZSJL, but the scene in the museum did not seem as focused or tied into the main narrative as it could have been. It does a great job demonstrating her full powers, and there is an iconic shot of her flying into the sky to throw the bomb as high as possible, but WW stopping some reactionary terrorists seemed a bit odd since it had nothing to do with the rest of the film. Perhaps an action scene involving her discovering some clue about the plot might have been better? I don’t know. The scene is entertaining, and improved by the added intensity of WW absolutely destroying the terrorists, but…could have been more? I was honestly surprised it was in the movie, as I thought this was clearly a disconnected action scene added by Whedon.
  
• Speaking of Wonder Woman, she is mostly an exposition device throughout the movie (well, she’s crazy powerful in action scenes, too, but narratively, she performs most of the exposition dumps in the film). Not every character could have a robust character arc, and if ZSJL has been released in 2017, it would have come just months after WW’s solo film, making a focus on her character understandably unnecessary. But in the aftermath of the lackluster Wonder Woman 1984, I noticed that her character didn’t get as much shine as most of the League.
  
• The last thing I’ll mention ties into the scene I mentioned with Lois and Martha. At the end of the scene, Marth leaves Lois’ apartment and it is revealed that it is really Martian Manhunter impersonating Martha Kent.
  I didn’t mind the reveal that Martian Manhunter was General Swanwick; in fact, Snyder revealed that over a year ago. But after such a touching interchange between Lois and “Martha”, I was disappointed that Martha Kent was not actually there, and Lois’ memory of that conversation will diverge from the audiences’ guilty knowledge of who really was present.
  Martian Manhunter’s powers are not explained at all in the movie, other than the visual reveal that he can shapeshift, but my own guilty knowledge tells me that he can read minds, so it was easier to understand how he could impersonate Martha Kent so well and be able to convey genuine emotion and counsel to Lois in her extreme turmoil. But I kinda wish the Martian Manhunter reveal was left for the actual last scene of the film.

I know other people have complaints, and I’ve heard some of them. But by and large, I think that even my list of the biggest problems is a collection of relatively minor concerns in this 4-hour epic.

LET’S FINISH THIS SO I CAN WATCH THE FILM AGAIN

The existence of ZSJL is a perfect storm of so many unique circumstances and events that it feels like a cinematic unicorn. And yet, despite all of the good, bad, and ugly events that brought us here, I am truly amazed that the movie itself turned out to not only be better than expected, but better than a LOT of superhero movies. Snyder’s fingerprints are all over the movie, and it is clearly the result of someone with a clear vision and the skill to pull it off. Fortunately, that vision is an epic comic book movie with amazing characters, massive action scenes, and a story that builds and builds in such a way that time flies by.

There are two things in the film that, to me, remind of why I can forgive almost any fault the movie has and focus on all the good.

The first is a brief view of billboard after Batman recruits The Flash that advertises the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; and the second is the words ‘For Autumn’ that appear as the film closes.

The passing of Zack Snyder’s daughter was the tragic catalyst for he and his wife departing the film. That was unquestionably the right thing for them to do, as one’s family is infinitely more important than a job or a movie of any kind. But her passing was also the catalyst for thousands of fans to come together and not only advocate for the Snyders to be treated right by WB and DC, but more importantly to raise awareness for an important cause and donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to a cause that is, midst-pandemic, more important than ever.

I like to remember that out of all the tragedy, the bad decisions, and the heartbreak suffered by so many in the initial burying of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, there emerges a much greater awareness for an important cause. And, oh yeah, the movie itself! Just as the release of the film was cathartic for the Zack and Deborah, it stands as both a literal and figurative monument to the overcoming of challenges by many, many people.

I consider ZSJL to be one of the best DC movies made yet. It will take time for me to truly rack-and-stack it against Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel, Logan, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and a handful of other CBMs that I consider indispensable. But for the time being, I am supremely confident in declaring Zack Snyder’s Justice League to be a triumph unlike any of them, and likely to be eventually acknowledged as a legitimate, epic masterpiece, particularly within the context of its grand story from script to screen.

Analysis by Jim Washburn