'Zack Snyder's Justice League' Review Thread

Rotten Tomatoes: 70% (71 reviews) with 6.70 in average rating

Metacritic: 53/100 (21 critics)

As with other movies, the scores are set to change as time passes. Meanwhile, I'll post some short reviews on the movie.

The new version is an improvement in some concrete ways. Its plot and tone are more coherent, with occasional puzzling exceptions. Its FX are substantially improved, though still sometimes fakey, and in general the photography looks better — though viewers may resent the frame's nearly square aspect ratio, which was designed with IMAX, not widescreen TVs, in mind. But the movie's soul, such as it is, remains unimproved, and at 242 minutes, very few of them offering much pleasure, it's nearly unendurable as a single-sitting experience. If it were watched in parts — title cards identify six chapters and an epilogue, and some rumors suggested it would be released as a series — those segments would fail to deliver the shapely balance of energies and pacing that one expects these days from even a merely competent TV show. This expanded version may be exactly the product desired by the legion of Snyder fans who cried to the heavens for its release. But nonmembers of that cult will find it just as unenjoyable as the original.

-John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter

If you like what Snyder does with superheroes, here’s a big four hours of it; if you don’t, same deal.

-Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a surprise vindication for the director and the fans that believed in his vision. With a mature approach to its superhero drama, better-realized antagonists, and improved action, Snyder’s version of Justice League saves the movie from the dustbin of history, something that likely only could’ve happened on a streaming platform like HBO Max. Though not every addition feels totally necessary, and some new visual effects stick out as unpolished, it's hard to overstate how much more enjoyable this version of Justice League is.

-Tom Jorgensen, IGN: 8.0 "great"

The film has something preposterous but surreal, and there is a disturbing epilogue in which Wayne is confronted by his personal demons. Snyder’s film may be exhausting but it is engaging. Justice is served.

-Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian: 4/5

While it feels like cultural factions have been fighting over “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” for years, the winners ultimately will be the fans. ‘ZSJL’ is a fan cut as much as it is a director’s cut, with all the indulgence that the notion applies. As for any continuation of the story as the fans hope, that seems gravely unlikely considering the direction Warner Bros is headed. But for a director who had to abandon his grand superhero project because of a family tragedy and because a big movie studio tried to wrestle control of the film, which was too much to bear at the time, one supposes, this postmortem collectible for die-hard, is about as good as an outcome as one could get.

-Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist: C

In the end, I have to admit that, for all its longueurs, Zack Snyder’s Justice League possesses its own kind of integrity. The possessive nomenclature of the title is deserved. I’m glad the clamorous fanboys agitated and made enough noise to see their dreams come true. We’ll learn soon enough if their faith is rewarded.

-Todd McCarthy, Deadline

I truly hope that Snyder found some sort of solace in making this new version. I don’t know the man personally, but he seems like a good enough guy, and if this cut of Justice League brings him a modicum of peace, then at least we can say that in the film’s defense. But for the audience, Zack Snyder’s Justice League fails to make the case for its existence. It doesn’t radically change what we know about this approach to DC superheroes and given the underperforming box office returns of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Justice League there’s not much audience appetite for it either. For those passionate, intense fans who demanded this new cut, now you have it. I hope it brings you peace.

-Matt Goldberg, Collider: D+

The Snyder Cut has its share of problems — when you get the best of Snyder, you also get the worst — but it’s an undeniably passionate and moving work. It earns its self-importance.

-Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

For long stretches, Zack Snyder’s Justice League feels more like a rough assembly than a director’s cut. It appears to include every single shred of footage Snyder shot, no matter how superfluous to the story. It will absolutely delight the hardest of hardcore Snyder heads. I’m not sure how more casual viewers will react to a longer and bleaker version of the same movie they already saw and dislike. That’s not to say Zack Snyder’s Justice League is worse than the theatrical cut. It is clearly an improvement. But it feels like a three hour cut could have been legitimately great. Anyone up to #ReleaseTheSlightlyShorterSnyderCut next?

-Matt Singer, Screen Crush: 6/10

"Zack Snyder's Justice League" is so fragmented that it could've been titled "32 Short Films about the Justice League." It often makes momentous promises or sets up seemingly important relationships which it promptly forgets. It's so bombastic that it makes "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" seem modest. It will mainly please the people who clamored for it. Even fans of the genre might consider it a bit much. It owes as much to rock concerts, video games, and multimedia installations as it does to commercial narrative filmmaking. It's maddening. It's monumental. It's art.

-Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com: 3.5/4

The overall effect often makes the Snyder Cut feel like an action video game where the goal is to tally up the number of knockouts each character can land. The film isn’t without its pleasures; it’s fun to see Aquaman and Wonder Woman beat people up and smirk afterward. I didn’t realize that watching Superman blow on stuff and freeze it with this super breath was something that would bring me immense happiness. And I’ve sunk an afternoon or more into video games in the past. But it would’ve been nice to see Snyder knock this out of the park and supplement his eye for visuals and his unique style with a story that had a bit more soul, especially with his very rare $70 million second chance.

-Alex Abad Santos, Vox: 3.5/5

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PLOT

Following the death of Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman and Wonder Woman recruit the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg to form the Justice League and protect the world from Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons, who seek the three Mother Boxes.

DIRECTOR

Zack Snyder

WRITER

Chris Terrio (story by Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder & Will Beall)

MUSIC

Junkie XL

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Fabian Wagner

EDITOR

David Brenner & Dody Dorn

Release date:

March 18, 2021 (HBO Max)

STARRING

• Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman

• Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman

• Amy Adams as Lois Lane

• Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman

• Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg

• Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman

• Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash

• Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko

• Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor

• Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth

• Diane Lane as Martha Kent

• Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta

• J. K. Simmons as James Gordon

• Karen Bryson as Elinore Stone

• Kiersey Clemons as Iris West

• Peter Guinness as DeSaad

• Amber Heard as Mera

• Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf

• Zheng Kai as Ryan Choi

• Harry Lennix as Calvin Swanwick

• Jared Leto as the Joker

• Joe Manganiello as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke

• Joe Morton as Silas Stone

• Marc McClure as Officer Ben Sadowsky

• Ray Porter as Darkseid

Submitted March 15, 2021 at 11:06PM by SanderSo47 https://ift.tt/3s2E9JW