Zack Snyder's Justice League

 
Released: 18th March 2021 

BBFC Rating:15

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Cast: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Jason Mamoa, Hanry Cavill

In 2017 Warner bros released what should ahve been a massive hit; a film which brought togther the most iconic characters in the comic book world, a film to bring the DCEU together and to set up the next stage of DC films for years to come. What we got was a film with bad dialogue, poor story, no direction and terrible CGI which for most people, including myself, was a massive letdown. As a result fan outrage pushed Warner Bros to release the original cut of director Zack Snyder which brings us this 4 hour long passion project. Question being, is it any good? Well I think it is ! I think this story is so much better and more true to the previous films as well as the characters, who this time aren't pushed aside and taking massive u-turns but intead feel more human and less characature, espeically those of the Flash and Cyborg. The action is also tonnes better, with Zack Snyders classic take bring a much more viseral setpeice. The villains are also much improved, with Steppenwolf no longer looking like bad cosplay but an actual intimidating threat,as well as gaining an actual script and some charcater development. his arc is so much more improved and makes him stand out as a villain rather than just a barrier for our heroes to get through while spewing out some cringworthy lines. Then we come to Darkseid. Now for someone like me, a nerd, this was somewhat of a particular excitment. This answer to Thanos is so much more than expected, with a presence which makes you tremble depsite such short screen time, and really does make you want a sequel to this film. This is of course ontop of the Deathstroke scenes, the continuing nightmare sequences from Batman V Superman and the retunr of fan favorites which really do define the film as what I would describe as pure boldness. You also get this feel with the end of the film with the directions it takes, just showing how brave they are going with this film. other improvements include junkie XL's soundtrack, with a notable stand out themes for Flash and Wonder Woman, as well as Ben Affleck who was really hard done by in the last one actaully being one of the stronger points of now. There are still issues with it, the long runtime suprisingly not being one of them, managing to keep me engaged for the full 4 hours ( with a bit of an interval ), but there are still dialogue issues, especially near the start, as well as other things such as some CG issues and underdevleopment for some characters ( mainly aquaman ). I think the main issue however is that with all these cliffhangers in the film its just a shame now that we know that they all won't be resolved, with a sequel still up in the air and the Bat-Fleck film all but cancelled. However, at the end of the day it is still such an enjoyable ride, and one I would certainly revisit. I mean sure not the most watchable movie ever with jarring aspect ratio and the fact you have to book a holiday to get through the whole thing but it still delivers what we wanted; it still caps off the Batman V Superman preludes and delivers a Justice League film which fans can enjoy and which actually does these characters justice. All in all a comic book nerds dream.

My rating: 8/10

Contains bad language, frequent bloody violence and threat.

Image subjectand copyright to Warner Bros. I do not own this image