ONE THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIES I’VE SEEN
The Snyder Cut should be a good reason to subscribe to HBO MAX. And, I’m dead serious when I say that. As of now, I don’t think you can buy the Snyder Cut, even on Amazon Prime. You definitely can’t watch it in the theaters, because it’s too freaking long. And even if you could buy it on Bluray, I’m not sure if you could store 4 hours of 4k footage onto a single disc.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the Snyder Cut is far from perfect, but it’s a great movie. Batman, looked a little too fluffy sometimes, and what is up with the Flash having the worst running form in the world? But overall, for me, there were times when I couldn’t stop smiling, moments when I just wanted to clap. This was the Justice League Movie I always wanted to see.
So why was it great?
LET’S START WITH THE SCRIPT
I am pretty sure this cut of the Justice League was never intended to happen, because it’s far too long. Most scripts are “supposedly” no longer than 120 pages. This script was probably around 240 pages long, or in laymen’s terms, two movies.
The Snyder Script is much stronger than the Whedon Script because it has a much stronger antagonist, Darkseid. One of the key ingredients to any script is the antagonist, as everyone else reacts to the “bad guy or bad girls” movements. When the villain jumps, travels, burps, or even farts, someone in the hero world reacts. Darkseid, could probably wipe the floor with Thanos, that’s how strong he is.
By inserting Darkseid into the Justice League, and giving him a rather colorful backstory, Snyder was able to give Steppenwolf more character, than just being a bad guy.
Steppenwolf was now a three-dimensional character. He feared and worshipped Darkseid, longed to be part of a world he was cast out of, and would do anything to prove his worthiness. This included his discovery of the anti-life equation, a little foreshadowing of what is to come down the world.
On top of that giving Steppenwolf more character, we got a glimpse of Flash’s heroics before joining the Justice League, and the backstory to Cyborg, which explained his trust issues.
Lastly, we got a bit of payoff from the nightmares that haunted Bruce Wayne, which was foreshadowed in Batman Vs. Superman. Apparently, in the future, Lois Lane is dead, Superman is the villain, and the Joker is working with Batman. DC is dark, isn’t it!
Again, I want to say that the script to the Justice League was far from perfect. But the characters were solid, based on real personality types, and Snyder basically turned the “epic dial” to full in the 3rd act. Turning points were very strong. There weren’t any subplots in this movie to develop a character more. There were just a lot of main plotlines, kinda like Star Wars. A script doesn’t have to have a subplot to be successful, by the way. A successful script just has to be entertaining. The fact that this movie was able to entertain for 4 hours, is incredible.
GRADE: A
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
There’s a lot of characters to break down here, so I’m just gonna list their names and personality type, with a quick synopsis, to not waste your time. Remember, characters should always be based upon real personality types, not something you conjured up in your imagination.
THE FLASH: Type Five Intellect – Highly Intelligent, socially awkward
SUPERMAN: Healthy type Two Helper – Earth’s handyman with superpowers
CYBORG: Unhealthy Type 6 Loyalist, with a Five Wing – Major Trust Issues, also is highly intellectual
WONDER WOMAN: Type 8 Challenger – Independent, even though she is a natural-born leader.
BATMAN: Unhealthy Type 1 – Rule and morally driven, but enforcing those morals comes at a cost for Batman
AQUAMAN: Unhealthy Type 8 Challenger – All about himself, just like Wonder Woman. Breaks the rules compulsively.
STEPPENWOLF: Unhealthy Type 6 Loyalist – Steppenwolf longs to be part of his old world, even though he has been excommunicated. He has found his rescuer in Darkseid, and will not leave his side. This is not the same type of Type 6 personality we find in Cyborg, but both he and Cyborg suffer from abandonment issues. Their resolutions just differ.
DARKSEID: Unfortunately, not enough was said about Darkseid to slap a personality type on him, even in a few backstory scenes. He’s just an ambitious leader, and well, any personality can be one of those.
Overall, the characters were great. Make no mistake, this was a character-driven movie. Coincidences just didn’t fall out of the sky. Every action that happened on the screen, right or wrong, was a decision a character made according to their personality type, which is an example of honest writing. For that, I give these characters my highest grade.
GRADE: A
DIRECTION
There is no doubt that the Snyder Cut is a much better movie than the Whedon Cut. It is lightyears better than Josh Whedon’s cut, hands down, but there’s a good reason for this. See, movie making, in the very modern age, is not what it used to be. Everything is chromakeyed. It’s not just the backdrops, it’s the foreground, even some of the characters. So when Snyder abruptly left his position on the movie, when 70% to 80% of all the shooting was done, Josh Whedon was left with a lot of chromakey footage he probably didn’t know how to put together. Could you imagine, putting together a puzzle where the pieces are pretty much all the same color? Well, this is what Josh Whedon was faced with. A situation that set him up to fail. Whedon did his best, and even rewrote portions of the script to fit the footage that was already shot, and well, unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough. I’m sure if Zack Snyder had to step in at the 9th hour on a Josh Whedon film, he wouldn’t succeed either.
So did Zack Snyder do a great job at the Justice League? Yes. Most definitely. It’s an epic movie. Easy grade
GRADE: A
Steve Young
