by Mack Olmstead
If you thought Avengers: Endgame was long, you’ll really need patience for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. This is a movie that has been in the making for five years. This is a director’s cut of the 2017 film Justice League. In the 2017 film, many scenes and chunks of dialogue were left on the cutting room floor because the film changed directors. But what was the reason for this and what’s the story behind it? In March 2014, Justice League Part 1 and Justice League Part 2 were announced by Warner Brothers with part 1 set to come out by November 17, 2017. On March 12, 2017 director Zack Snyder tragically lost his daughter Autumn to suicide, so he decided to leave Justic League to spend more time with his family. On May 22, 2017 Zack Snyder stepped away from Justin League and Joss Whedon was announced as the new director of the film. When director Joss Whedon became the director of the film, Warner Brothers Studios gave more creative control to him. Joss Whedon was allowed to rewrite and reshoot scenes from the movie, and his version ended up in theaters. Fans didn’t like Whedon’s version of Justice League and they demanded that Warner Brothers release the Snyder Cut. On May 20, 2020 Warner Bros. announced that Snyder’s cut of Justice League would be released on HBO Max. On March 18, 2021 the film that Zack Snyder worked on for five yearswas finally released to the public.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is more or less the same story as Justice League 2017. The plot is that an Alien General named Steppenwolf goes to earth for these machines called mother boxes. Steppenwolf’s master Darkseid tried to use these weapons on Earth a long time ago but was stopped by an army of heroes and the machines were left behind. Now that Earth has gotten weaker over the years, the aliens decide it’s the best time to take action. Batman knows a threat is coming to earth because he had a vision of an apocalyptic Earth where almost everyone is gone. With Superman dead, Batman and Wonder Woman realize they need to gather more heroes to help protect the world. Throughout the movie we’re introduced to the Flash, Cyborg, and Aqua-man. They team up and fight Steppenwolf but even together they aren’t strong enough to stop him. Then the team realizes there could be a way to bring Superman back from the dead. They bring Superman back but he isn’t himself and the team has to fight him. Lois Lane then speaks to Superman and reminds him that he’s Clark Kent and that she loves him. He then goes to the Kent farm to reunite with his mother before joining the Justice League team.
Meanwhile, the Justice League is at Steppenwolf’s base where he is beginning to use the Mother Boxes to destroy the world. The team has a plan to stop the machine and Superman arrives at the scene to join the action, but the Mother Boxes combine and begin to kill everyone. Batman, Superman, and the rest of the team dies except for the Flash. He begins to run and, with each step he takes, the world begins to go back to normal and the team comes back to life. The Flash stops the Mother Boxes and Steppenwolf is furious. He roars as Aqua-man stabs him in the back with his trident, Superman punches him, and Wonder Woman decapitates him with her sword sending him back to Darkseid. Darkseid then stares at Earth’s new heroes in anger wanting revenge for stopping his plan to change Earth for the second time. We then get an epilogue to show where the characters will go next. After that, the movie cuts to black with a message that says “For Autumn” as it goes to the credits playing Autumn Snyder’s favorite song.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League spends time introducing the audience to each character and their personalities. We get at least one scene with everyone that shows who they are and how they use their powers. The movie is long, but it is also divided into six sections and an epilogue. This allows the viewer to decide how they want to experience Zack Snyder’s Justice League. I don’t mind the runtime because you can easily watch it in multiple sittings, and it doesn’t feel like it was randomly edited. Plus, by keeping the long runtime, it allows viewers to connect more with the characters and learn more about their backstories. My favorite character was Cyborg, and the film had a lot of scenes dedicated to showing his powers and his origin. Almost all of Cyborg’s origin story was cut from the original 2017 version
Overall ,most of the movie is great. It’s long, but it spends time showing the audience the characters and what kind of people they are. I think this movie has a great story and is more rewatchable then Avengers: Endgame. I’m glad Zack Snyder got to share his vision and fans got to experience the original story of Justice League