Even a good superhero flick (and this definitely isn t) shouldn t be this long.
TWITTER
3/18/2021
Snyder returns with a four-hour version of the comic-book film he left during postproduction in 2017.
By the time this review appears in print on Thursday, March 18, the web should offer many breakdowns of every single difference between
Zack Snyder s Justice League and the 2017
Justice League, which is credited to Snyder but was largely helmed and written by Joss Whedon. So let s focus on how the two films are alike: Each, at the time of its release, could reasonably be called the most needlessly solemn, chore-like and joyless feature ever made about superheroes.
It s a big week for superhero programming, with Marvel taking us into the future with
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier at Disney+; and DC restoring a relic of the past with Zack Snyder s four-hour cut of
Justice League on HBO Max. If you re looking for something less super, we also have freaky horror, alien shenanigans, and a whole lot more.
Along with the flagship superhero stuff, this week also brings a couple of notable finales. Disney XD s beloved
DuckTales revival wraps up its run with an extended finale; and Apple TV+ s positively freaky horror series
Servantputs a cap on its second season. SYFY has new episodes of its hit alien comedy
Even before Superman rises from a watery grave, eyes aflame and chest bared, the resurrection metaphors pretty much write themselves in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” By “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,”
Batman v Superman, failed to match the impossible billion-dollar revenues of
The Avengers, Warner Bros., according to Snyder, began to push back on his plans. At the same time, Snyder suffered a terrible personal tragedy in the death of his daughter Autumn, and made the decision to leave the film rather than engage in a long creative struggle.
Following Snyder’s exit,
Justice League was handed off to
Avengers writer/director Joss Whedon, who rewrote and reshot significant portions of the film, to mostly disastrous results. That sense of disaster extended to his behind-the-scenes conduct, a still-unresolved scandal that has overtaken discussion about the film. Since last summer, actor Ray Fisher, who plays the mechanically enhanced hero Cyborg in the film, has said that Whedon exhibited “abusive and unprofessional” behavior on the set during reshoots. Fisher has also accused DC Entertainment then-president Geoff Johns and producer Jon Berg of enabling Whedon. While Fishe
For better or worse, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a reclamation, and a blow struck for unchecked artistic ego in the face of the endless notes of meddling studio execs.