Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Comics Movie Reviews
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
By Hervé St-Louis
September 28, 2021 - 20:52

Studios: Atlas Entertainment, DC Entertainment, HBO Max, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, The Stone Quarry, Warner Bros., Warner Max
Writer(s): Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher Ray Fisher, Ciarán Hinds, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, J.K. Simmons, Connie Nielsen, Diane Lane
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Produced by: Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder
Running Time: 4h 2 minutes
Release Date: 18 March 2021 (streaking), September 7, 2021 (Blu-Ray)
Rating: PG13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
Distributors: Warner Brothers

When the evil hordes of Darkseid and his parademons attacked Earth centuries ago, men, Atleanteans, and Amazons united to fend off their attack. Darkseid swore vengeance and that he would come back when the time was right. Following the death of Superman, a mother box alerted Darkseid’s minion, Steppenwolf that without a Kryptonite nor a Green Lantern, that Earth was ripped for conquest again. Can Batman and Wonder Woman assemble a new league of heroes that will fight Steppenwolf and his parademons and revive Superman once more to stop the evil menace of Apokalyps?

What a pompous piece of cinema. Seriously, this was supposed to be an upgrade of the original 2017 film? It was not. I enjoyed the quirkiness of the original one better. It was marvelized, but at least, it did not take itself so seriously. The partial existence of this cut destroyed careers. Fans wanted to see this mythical cut and fought for it until Warner Brothers yield. But there was nothing worth seeing mostly.

The few additions that I enjoyed were with the Martian Manhunter but that’s about it. The story is different from the first one in that Darkseid is the original conqueror. Yet, the Amazons and the Atlanteans seem to remember Steppenwolf. Speaking of Atlanteans, in this version of the DC cinematic universe (DCEU), they cannot speak clearly under water and must create water bubbles to communicate freely. Otherwise, they shout screeches at one another. Okay. Morphologically, it makes sense. It’s a good thing that that it does not fit the continuity developed by the Aquaman movie.

The worst part of this movie was the extended epilogue which was set in an alternate reality or time stream that seemed to replicate parts of the Injustice League reality. The exchange between the Joker and Batman were pompous and self aggrandizing. It felt like I was watching a badly paced fan film instead of a serious production. And the bad and fake Jarod Leno’s Joker’s laughter is annoying. I’m glad that they cast him out of the role. After seeing this film, although I have been a DC fan forever, I am not interested in pursuing this version of the DCEU nor anything from the Snyderverse. It's self-important without having actual merit.

The effects and cinematography are nice, but they only mask an empty shell which should have remained on the shelves. Fans wanted this cut and Warner Bros. listened to them. That was a good experiment. Can we go back to film making now? This move was not for the masses and did not compel this long-time comic reader to want to see more from that world. It’s not a good thing as I have always preferred DC to Marvel, but the Marvel cinematic universe is just better and more entertaining. What were they thinking?

P.S. can we stop the slow motion takes?

Rating: 5/10