Zack Snyder's Justice League: A Beacon of Hope For The DCEU

At long last, 4 years after the failed adaptation from Joss Whedon, after a nonstop movement from the fans, the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League has finally been released by the DCEU with the help of the HBO Max streaming service. 

The first movie was no doubt a mess. For a highly popular and loved DC franchise like The Justice League to recieve such a disappointment for a live action movie adaptation, it was definitely scarring for the fans, leading to the start of the "#ReleaseTheSnyderCut" movement worldwide on social platforms. Joss Whedon's take on the Justice League was truly a letdown, it was especially painful to the DC fans after seeing the mass success of the Rival Comic book Cinematic universe Marvel in the release of its extremely epic team up movies in the Avengers franchise.

In the fall season of 2020, the long awaited Zack Snyder Justice League was announced to be released this year, and being born from a widespread movement, this was a movie bound to leave a huge impact on the fanbase no matter how it turned out.

Okay, firstly I'll just put it out there that I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. Although I didn't really anticipate it as much as a blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, being a huge fan of the comic and animated versions, I was really excited to see what the Justice League movie of 2017 was actually meant to look like.

The runtime of this movie was 4 hours which was twice as long as the first movie. The first question that'll immediately occupy a typical fan's mind on noticing this is  "will it be worth it?". I mean it's not easy gathering the resolve to sit down for 4 hours on a single movie, talk more of one that's already been horribly adapted once before under the same company. With all the Uncertainty and low expectations that are bound to follow this movie, the one thing I can assure all who are yet to see this movie is that whether you end up loving it or not, it's certainly worth the time and effort.

The foundation laid out on each character of this take on the movie was more solid and detailed. The characters don't just seem superficially relevant because of an impending danger that lead to their unity. More focus was put into the arcs of each character, especially for the characters who didn't have prior origin movies.

I personally loved Victor Stone (Cyborg) as a character the most in this movie. Out of all the characters in this show, I personally feel Snyder brought Cyborg's character to life the most, highlighting the tragic events that made him how he was, his convictions, his relationship with his father and honestly I just love how amazing he looks and how visually interesting his powers were. After being given that much development, his valid role in the plot felt all but satisfying. Not just him though, Right from the Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice movie, I've always hated Ben Affleck's batman, he's honestly not fit for the role in any way to me, but in this movie I got a nostalgic feeling of the overwhelming sense of duty Batman possesses. Bruce burdened himself the responsibility of putting together a team to stop the impending danger spurred by the event of Superman's death which served as a fuel to his convictions as a leader. The other characters were also given ample focus and development in their character introduction arcs, Arthur Curry (Aquaman), Diana Prince (Wonder Woman), Barry Allen (The Flash) as well as the big surprise Clark Kent (Superman), all characters that seemed better written and more believable characters than in the first movie.

Aside from adding more room for Character developments, the longer runtime also made possible a more solid foundation for the extreme events in the climax of the movie. A legendary tale of a grand alliance between the races of warriors; The Amazons, The Atlantans, The Humans, The gods and The alien heroes all to face a force of evil so terrifying, literally thousands of worlds have been conquered by it, by the being known only as Darkseid . I particularly loved the antagonists in this movie this time around. Actual effort was put into the writing of the antagonizing force of this take of the movie, unlike the Joss Whedon Justice League. Darkseid being introduced as the great evil to come and Steppenwolf standing in as the forefront villain of the movie and as the one to clear the path for the coming of the one known to have conquered tens of thousands of worlds. In the first movie, Steppenwolf was the main antagonist and the conqueror of worlds, his writing was very similar to that of a basic Cartoon villain. But that wasn't the case this time, in this take, Steppenwolf was nothing but an emissary to the coming of the great evil, sent by Darkseid to retrieve the 3 "Motherboxes" , unite them to form the "unity" and thereby conquer earth in his name as a form of redemption for his past failures. Upon discovering that Earth was the one world that was able to successfully resist Darkseid's conquest in the past due to the "anti life equation" present on earth, the pressure becomes more intense on Steppenwolf in his mission.

This sense of creativity and depth put into the writing of the antagonizing end of the movie was severely lacking in Joss' adaptation of this movie. I could honestly say I loved Steppenwolf as an antagonist in this movie as well as Darkseid.

The main fights in this movie were honestly amazing, which is more than I can ever say for the last movie. The struggle of the Amazons against Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons for the first Motherbox in the first part of the movie gave an incredible feel of the strength and unity of these warriors as well as their undying resolve even when faced with a seemingly unbeatable threat. The flashback scene of the great war in the past of Darkseid's failed conquest of earth was honestly very well presented, the "age of heroes" being a major driving force for the plot, it set a path for the future events as a new team of defenders stand up to face this apocalyptic threat.

The unity of this new age of heroes came with even more epic fight scenes. The visual effects team made a valiant effort to bring these fights to life, but as far as visuals go in modern sci-fi movies, I can only say the visuals were good, not great because it's still lacking greatly, especially when being compared to the works of the rival company, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But I'll admit the visuals were impressive, I particularly loved the added visual effects shown whenever Cyborg uses his ability. Whenever he hacks into a system, It gave a realistic feel of him literally being in the system, I really appreciated this and it made me love Cyborg even more in this movie. The visuals in the fights were cool, but the one thing I didn't appreciate was the effects put into the Flash's powers. I've never been a fan of Ezra Miller's flash, in my opinion, he just isn't good for the role. The movie didn't make it any easier to love him, I didn't at all like the scattering lightning effect whenever he runs, it made things very disorderly. Then again, right from the comics and well adapted animations, The flash has alwaly been a fun character, one who jokes around using his speed with ease, making both intense and hilarious scenes. But Ezra Miller's Flash didn't seem like the Flash I knew and loved at all. His jokes weren't funny, I hated his running scenes, they didn't seem natural at all, flapping his hands around with the messy scattering lightning everywhere. This also applies to Ben Affleck's Batman that's way below par in terms of accuracy and delivery. The fact that my two favourite DC characters of all time weren't properly adapted was honestly a downer. However, I did love Batman's leadership convictions and that one scene were The Flash got into the Speed Force.

One character I really appreciated in this movie was Superman, and that's saying much for someone who isn't a fan of Superman, at all. The one scene in Joss Whedon's Justice League that sealed the deal for me in that movie as being complete garbage was the Superman return scene. A villain that stomped the entire unified force of heroes, was taken care of, very blandly by just one Superman. I hated it. I hate it when Superman is constantly pushed as that one overpowered character that takes care of everything and makes the efforts of the other heroes look pointless. That was another clear part of the Justice League movie that was clearly fixed by Snyder. Before the return of Superman, a sense of grief and guilt was channeled into some characters due to his death. Mainly Lois Lane, his lover whose grief made her nearly hopeless. Scenes were literally thrown around where Lois felt despair and lifelessness due to the loss of her one true love. Just as she decided to get back on her feat, he returned and the love they once shared served as the key to returning his sanity.

The return of the beacon of hope prompted many climactic peaks in the movie. After coming back to life and regaining his sanity, he goes to the famed "fortress of solitude" where he's reminded of his convictions and the oaths he took as a hero. His motivations regained as he dashes toward the battlefield.

The Superman entrance scene was a winner to me, a true goosebump inducing moment. As all hope was about to be lost, he rescues Cyborg by intercepting Steppenwolf's attack and leads with the words "Not Impressed". 

The end fight was a hundred times better than the first movie. This time, it wasn't just a one-sided solo beatdown by Superman as it was in the Joss Whedon JL. This time the fight was a wholesome team up between the United forces of new heroes as they took down Steppenwolf, foiled his evil plans and restored peace to the world again.

The main plot of the movie at this point had been completely realized. The epilogue created a leading path to a sequel movie from Zack Snyder which may never come. Well, It's left to the fans to see if the "#RestoreTheSnyderverse" movement which started after this movie release can be successful like the Snyder cut movement. All in all, I can honestly say this movie was very satisfactory to me and whether the story gets continued or not, the Zack Snyder Justice League movie was one that lived up to the hype with only a few limitations and flaws. I'm not normally one to give movies scores but I'll give this movie a 7/10. So, whether it ends up being loved or hated by the vast majority of comic book fans, the one thing I can say about this movie is that it wasn't perfect but definitely a great improvement from the previous Justice League movie by Joss Whedon.

Although I said this movie wasn't perfect, it was definitely significant, maybe the most significant DC movie out there. It greatly signifies that , Yes, the DCEU can get better and that the voices of the fans can accomplish something, and if that isn't beacon of hope for the DC fanbase in the cinematic world then I don't know what is. 

Those are my thoughts on the Zack Snyder Cut of The Justice League movie.

 it's a long review, but if you've viewed up to this point, Just know your viewership is greatly appreciated.

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