I’ve been very much critical of the whole “Release the Snyder Cut” movement. It’s supporters were, more often than not, entitled, angry, vocal assholes.
Imagine my dread when the studio decided to capitalize on that movement and make it happen to bolster HBO Max.
Much to my surprise, this actually takes a mediocre movie and makes numerous improvements. Dare I say this is a much better film than Whedon’s attempt with Justice League in 2017. It’s by no means free of flaws, but the narrative flows better. The new content does a lot of fleshing out, too.
And even though I’m, by far, not a fan of Snyder’s visual style — I heard someone refer to it as a “motorcycle grease” aesthetic. Visually this film fits better with the previous entries. (I do miss Whedon’s saturation, at least.)
Was it worth the $70 million fucking dollars to fix the film? Absolutely not. Good lord!
But the deed is done. No use complaining about THAT at this point.
The only real black mark on this take: it’s FOUR hours long, with no real justification for that length other than to let you soak in the film’s grease for long stretches as music fills the void.
The length is going to make future viewings prohibitive. It’ll keep this from making it the de facto version of Justice League, I think. And that’s a shame, because it really is a “patch” that fixes a lot.
Finally, against all odds, I can actually say: I’d like to see Snyder do a sequel film. I dislike his style, but I’m finding myself unexpectedly invested now. He’s turned me around on how I feel about this film in general.
That’s nothing short of a personal miracle.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://letterboxd.com/drfortyseven/film/zack-snyders-justice-league/