I thought the Snyder Cut was gonna be eh. Mostly because it was overhyped, and the fanboys….well. But, despite all that- The Snyder cut is great- with flaws, but nonetheless great, especially when you take it as its own film. However, it becomes unbelievably great when you compare it to the Josstice League. Nevertheless, this is a film worth watching if you give a d*mn about any of these characters, like some good action, and especially if you give a d*mn about superheroes.
This film does a much better job telling the actual story of what’s happening and answers
some key questions we never got fully answered before: Why does the Justice League need to get together? Why is stronger together an important theme? Why the heck is Darkseid scary and why the heck does Steppenwolf go to such great lengths to do his bidding? This movie makes you CARE, something that the Josstice League couldn’t do- even for those of us that WANTED to like it so bad just because it’s what we got.
I want to focus most of my review on the characters because that’s what we all care about the most, right?
It shows Batman, Bruce Wayne, being the makeshift father of the team. To those that love seeing Bruce and his Batfamily, this is for you. This is the first time we see that fatherly side to Bruce on film, far more than just protecting whatever Robin is on the screen with him. While Batman doesn’t serve much purpose other than that, it’s a necessary and important purpose and he gets some GREAT action scenes as well. Just wait till later in the film for most of those.
Wonder Woman is given more than just being a pair of tits and a lasso- she’s actually given character and a brain cell, thank god. Cringey moments with her and the other men are removed (other than Barry making a bad joke about trying to date her, but at least Cyborg put him in his place there). I would’ve loved to see MORE of her exploring things on her own, learning, etc. I enjoyed the Lara Croft vibes there. Now, don’t mistake this Diana getting LOTS of character development. She really doesn’t get development here- just an actual personality and a well-written one at that. I’ll take it.
With that said, I can't talk about WW without talking about the Amazons. They are mainly important for the first hour of the film, but god are they important, and do they get their scenes! YES MAAMS! Wow wow wow. Enjoyed every scene of theirs. Gotta say the first hour of the movie was probably my favorite hour. Including that ONE scene with Diana telling the story. No spoilers, but if you’ve seen it- you know. Absolutely mindblowing. I’m incredibly grateful they were given an overall justice here. (Other than their outfits- y’all really couldn’t decide if they should wear armor over their stomachs or not, huh??).
Diana also serves as a great mentor to Victor in this film, and this film truly serves to drive Victor’s (Cyborg’s) story and develop him. And my god, Snyder did him justice. He could’ve done a solo Cyborg film. Diana serves to remind Victor of his humanity, despite her being a demigod, and it WORKS. Cyborg was the biggest hero of this film and, as much as I love Wonder Woman and Batman especially, I stand by that. What a joy it was to watch. He got his backstory, which made SENSE. He gets to be a character, not just a random droid thrown into this team just to be there. He is both human and machine and yet I feel his pain and growth as if he were as human as me. He gets the most character development in this film, and honestly, I’m not mad about it. He deserves it. Ray Fisher IS Cyborg and WB better be crawling back to him with a contract with whatever that man wants.
Now, I know what you’re saying- but SUPERMAN!
Superman’s comeback is huge and important! While this is true, I didn’t feel it was big enough. Superman deserved a few more beats of coming back to himself emotionally before he came back to himself, maybe a moment with his mom before he was back to “normal”. But I digress. Additionally, I dislike that he is shown as far more overpowered (OP) than Wonder Woman when they are at LEAST equal in terms of abilities and powers. Yet, Clark is shown as far more powerful than her, and I strongly dislike that. I have no problem with them bringing him back (not a spoiler, it was in the Josstice League too), but I hate that they do it because they “need” him for his strength and powers- why not make him the beacon of hope and additional leadership? I mean, Diana is right there, a literal demigod, and -arguably- more powerful than him. This is the same from the other film, and while Snyder does a much better job telling the story of the team getting him back and developing and nurturing the theme of “stronger together”, he still seems to forget just how powerful Wonder Woman is. That said, Superman has great moments here, and I know fanboys are sobbing tears of joy over his badassery in this film. And that’s well warranted- I love the action! Just don’t diminish other heroes’ strengths and abilities while you show how strong he is.
Aquaman gets a more cohesive story, which is great, but god do I want to be past emo Aquaman already. That said, the cohesive story helps a lot. He has some nice action moments too.
As for the Flash- I don’t want to say too much on Barry, because I still don’t care for Ezra’s version, but he got more cohesiveness too, and some good solid Flash moments. Oh, and the tiny bit we got of Iris- I’d like to see more of Kiersey Clemons as Iris. I feel like she could be really great.
Steppenwolf actually feels like a villain now rather than a random bad CGI thing thrown in to tease the heroes. He has a backstory, and man do I love the Thanos/Death relationship he was with Darkseid. I eat it up! This is the kind of thing we read in the comics. Darkseid was well done, even though I wish he wore all armor on his design, his voice was great and his overall purpose served to tease another JL movie with him becoming the actual forefront. I’m sitting here waiting for the next film right now, to be honest.
So, what about the LENGTH of the film? Is it worth 4 hrs?
I definitely feel like some scenes could’ve been cut, or cut shorter, and Snyder could have lessened the use of slow motion. Slow-motion is great when used as NECESSARY, but I believe he overused it a bit. I also believe the last 2 epilogue scenes are pretty pointless, but again, he is showing what he originally intended despite current circumstances at WB. That said, this movie needed to be at least 3 hours. And honestly, cut off 30min-1hr of this film, and it's pretty perfect to me. It’s worth the 4 hrs but would’ve been perfect at 3-3.5 hours.
Overall Consensus:
Overall, a great cohesive, feels-like-a-comic-book superhero film that DC desperately needed but fought against for their BS reasons. I’m not a Snyder Stan, but I can admit when something is good. I’m not even sure if I want a Snyderverse for DC, but he definitely made his case here. This is truly an event worth watching.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Bi gives this:
4 out of 5 Finger Guns
(because I'm bi)
You can find Your Friendly Neighborhood Bi, Lauren, on Twitter:
@FriendlyNBHDBi
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