Binge:  The “Snyder Cut” Justice League

HBO Max

 

First, let me say that I did not mind the original Justice League by Joss Whedon.  I have watched it several times since, actually.  I do not share the universal dislike for it.  I say “universal” because even our tour guide at a whiskey distillery in Ireland made fun of it.  A little back history:  The original director, Zach Snyder, had a family tragedy that caused him to drop out of the director’s chair the first round.  Since then, there have been complaints against the fill-in Director, Joss Whedon, both as a person and as the director of this movie.  There was an outcry by fans that the “Snyder Cut” would have been much better.  Hence, we now have the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League available on HBO Max.  As I watched, my first reaction was, this is just the same movie with longer scenes and less funny stuff.   I literally texted that to my two Binge Watcher partners.  The next day, armed with a pint of Magnum Sea Salt Caramel ice cream, I gave it a more thorough look and while it is still the “same movie”, here are the major differences I noticed:

 

1) Run time: They could really drag out a scene and the slow-mo would make John Woo proud!  There were no doves, but they had time for lots of things like letting a blonde trio serenade Aquaman as he swam away.  The longer battle scene during the first war with Steppenwolf was pretty cool though.

2) Superman:  The weird “let’s remove his mustache digitally” thing was gone, and he upgraded his suit.  He also seemed even stronger in this version.

3) Steppenwolf:  he looked different and was less concerned about pleasing “Mother” (aka the Mother boxes) and more wanting to get on the good side of Darkseid … see what I did there?

4) Backstory: We got a lot more history about the boxes, Steppenwolf, and the wanna-be-Thanos: DarkSeid.

5) Cyborg!!!!:  um, I know the actor had issues with Joss Whedon’s personality, but some of that may be related to the fact that Joss cut almost all of his story!  For the others (Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman and Flash), we have the benefit of a lot of backstory due to their movies or the CW show, but this movie lets Victor Stone shine.  His story is a superb addition.  It was also nice to have his Dad do the voice over at the end instead of Lois Lane.  No offense to her, but it was more powerful from him.

6) Other characters:  There were a few more appearances from DC in this one: Martian Manhunter, the Joker, DarkSeid, Iris West (though they don’t say her name, Flash just saves her), Kilowog (Green Latern) and Vulko who we know from Aquaman.

7) Less quips and funny one-liners:  That is more of a Joss Whedon thing.  I like it but it doesn’t work in a Snyder movie or, at least, not this one.  Thankfully though, they let Barry Allen/Flash still be the adorable comic relief.

8) Time Travel: or time reversal …  time manipulation … dangit – the messing with time thing that Barry/Flash can do.  It gave his character a bit more depth to go with the adorableness.

2) Junkie XL:  Who is that you say?  Tom Holkenberg, the man who wrote the Score of Justice League (Danny Elfman, also great, did the other) did great – uplifting and majestic.  I have already added it to my workout playlist.  Yes, I work out to scores.  I like to feel epic!  Quit judging me!

 

The Council Rules:  Yes – watch.   Especially for the Cyborg story arc.   It is still not as good as Marvel Movies but hey – it has the Super Friends which makes my inner Saturday-morning-cartoon-watching child happy!