In an age of sequels and reboots, it is an exciting thought and experiment when a film is considered both, simultaneously. Zack Snyder’s Justice League can be regarded as these two items, as it is a sequel to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and a reboot to the 2017 Justice League film.
This version of the film came to see the day of light because of passionate fans calling for its release. Once the news broke that Joss Whedon had taken over directing duties upon Zack Snyder’s departure, fans were intrigued by the unreleased version that Snyder had initially envisioned.
Now that the film has arrived, here are my thoughts. The director’s cut of the pic is a much-needed improvement to what was initially released. The tone and characterizations are much stronger and even more uniform in this version. Perhaps the consistency can be attributed to the studio leaving Snyder’s vision of the film intact, in which he was given free rein to execute as he saw fit.
Characters like Cyborg, sidelined in the original cut, were given further development and became the emotional anchor to the film. The biggest issue that the film faced was its four-hour run time — as the first act does not conclude until an hour and a half in the screening. Easily about thirty minutes could have been cut from the picture, and the pacing would have been supreme. However, the feature-length epic is still a fun and good time.
This film is the perfect example of how a big-budget blockbuster can be made when a creator is given complete creative control to execute their vision. It is a practice that is not often seen in Hollywood. I highly recommend Zack Snyder’s Justice League on that basis alone.
