Last week I finished watching the HBO Max premier offering Zack Snyder’s Justice League. A reworking of the feature film release from 2017 of Justice League.

A very brief summation of the history of two Justice Leaguemovies. Zack Snyder helmed the DC Comic feature film adaptations for Warner Brothers he was in postproduction of Justice League when a familial tragedy pulled him away from work and off the production. WB hired Joss Whedon, yes, the now scandal ridden writer/director, to complete the feature. The fan and critical reaction to Snyder’s darker vision of these characters prompted the studio to use the opportunity to have Whedon do reshoots, and rewrites transform JL into a more colorful and lighter-toned movie. Which did not garner the fan or critical reaction the studios had hoped. Sunder’s dedicated fanbase began a campaign to ‘release the Snyder cut’ version of the film but a completed film did not exist. Once HBO Max became the studio’s premier streaming services, they greenlit Snyder to reshoot and rewrite Justice League to the tune of 75 million dollars producing the edition now streaming. Whedon’s Jl clocked in at about two hours and Snyder’s is a hair over 4 in length. Making it a very different beast from the theatrical release.

Is it better?

Yes, but it’s still not a very good movie. This version is tonally consistent, the color pallet matches the tone throughout and while there are moments of levity it is not quippy. Much more time is given the characters, Flash and Cyborg, that were represented mainly as mere supports in the theatrical cut the subtraction of the Ukrainian family who existed in Whedon’s version solely to be rescued strengthens the overall film but aside from Cyborg and Flash the film is long on plot and comic references and short on actual character dependent story.

Far too much of the film’s lengthy run is devoted to the ‘building of the team’ without any real feeling for who most of these characters are and what motivates them. They are iconic to the point of being statuary and without inner lives. They are also terribly inconsistent. Much of one act is devoted to the resurrection of Superman because the rest believe that they simply cannot win without him. When it goes badly resulting in a writer-driven fight between the league and Superman and Superman departs for locals unknown the League carries on as though they never required his immense power.

The effects are mostly good and fights mostly entertaining, but the overall sensation is one that fails to stir the blood, speed the heart, or engage in any real empathy for the characters. While this version is better it’s not really worth the 4 hours it requires.