Zack Snyder’s Justice League (DVD)

“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” features the titular director’s original vision for the film before he had to bow out following a family crisis. While the 2017 theatrical cut often felt disjointed, with Joss Whedon’s re-shoots clashing with the prior material that Snyder filmed, this movie is more tonally consistent, particularly when viewed as a continuation of Snyder’s first two DCEU films, “Man of Steel” (2013) and “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016). Snyder is easily one of the greatest cinematographers of our time, though some of his original plots struggle, but this film is a fascinating example of auteur theory and an unheard-of instance of a major Hollywood studio bringing a director back to extensively re-shoot a previously-released film in order to better fit the director’s vision. Unlike most “director’s cuts” in which a director re-cuts the film using footage they filmed previously, Snyder was able to film entirely new material and create all-new visual effects to execute his vision.Overall, the major story beats remain the same as in the theatrical version. After all, enough had been filmed before Snyder’s departure that Joss Whedon couldn’t change too much. That said, the extended runtime allows for more scenes expanding the backstories of the Amazons, the Atlanteans, and others. This is particularly beneficial as this story was originally intended to follow David Ayer’s 2016 film, “Suicide Squad,” and Patty Jenkins’s 2017 film, “Wonder Woman,” but preceded James Wan’s 2018 film, “Aquaman.” Though delays in production pushed the release of Andy Muschietti’s “The Flash” to 2022, Snyder’s reference to “Injustice” in “Batman v. Superman” coupled with the extended Knightmare sequence and Barry Allen’s own reference in this film to time getting strange as he approaches the speed of light helps to set the stage for the alternate timelines that “The Flash” will explore. Snyder also includes more references to the Green Lantern Corps even though DC disallowed a direct appearance of Hal Jordan as they have not yet decided how to use the character following the flop of Martin Campbell’s 2011 film. To that end, he only shows a Green Lantern in the flashbacks, brining in Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix) for a cameo in the present. Also, where Whedon relied on Steppenwolf for his main antagonist, Snyder includes appearances of Darkseid both in flashbacks and briefly in the present while making Steppenwolf himself look more monstrous. Snyder gave Steppenwolf a more defined backstory and included a conversation between him and DeSaad about the Anti-Life Equation, helping to set up future stories with Darkseid. Barry Allen similarly receives greater attention, including a more emotional sequence with his father, a scene in which he briefly meets Iris West, and a greater examination of his powers. Barry himself is far more likeable in this than he was in the theatrical cut, where Whedon’s forced humor often made the character annoying. Barry and Cyborg, as the youngest members of the team, have a great rapport in their scenes together. Victor Stone receives a full flashback origin story as well, helping to humanize his character and the tragedy surrounding his transformation into Cyborg. Finally, Snyder’s story for Aquaman works well to set up the events in James Wan’s subsequent standalone “Aquaman” film. As a result of greater backstory development for these characters who receive their first significant time on-screen in this film, their characterizations are altogether more consistent while the members of the Justice League have greater chemistry together than the disjointed interactions of the theatrical cut.Structurally, Snyder’s film feels like a collected story that would play out over multiple issues of a comic book, perhaps even across different titles as is common in DC’s big stories. This works to its advantage, unlike the theatrical cut which had a story resembling a quick promotional comic book. That said, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” feels like something between a film and a miniseries. The closest comparison would be the extended editions of “The Lord of the Rings,” except that this features a great deal of entirely new footage. It’s a satisfying continuation of the narrative that ran through “Man of Steel” and “Batman v. Superman,” though the increasing reliance on standalone stories in the DCEU and Elseworlds-type films means that any connection between this version of “Justice League” and future DCEU films remains to be seen, though this gives both filmmakers and fans the freedom to choose which version they consider canon. The work itself and the behind-the-scenes story of its creation will doubtless become the subject of innumerable scholarly film analyses with time while this version should satiate those fans left disappointed by the 2017 theatrical cut of “Justice League.”

The first release of this film was disappointing and a hot mess. Even as a hardcore sci-fi fan by the time I'd finished watching i knew there'd be no second viewing on down the road.Then i heard about the campaign pushing for zack snyder's vision for the film to be released. They were successful and scenes cut from the first release were included as well as a few new ones being shot for the re-release.The snyder version is essentially a completely different film compared to the first. While it may not be perfect it still turned out to be a very enjoyable film to watch. For any who have only seen version 1.0 and were disappointed absolutely give this snyder version 2.0 a shot as it deserves to be watched. Unfortunately that's not something i can say much these days with guys in suits sticking their figurative fingers where they do not belong.Lastly because this comes with both the dvd and bluray versions you can give your spare copy to someone, a friend or family member so they too can see just what a difference allowing the release of the snyder version did for the film.Not to forget the jaw fropping crystal clarity. Besides a 4K television, 4k bluray player and a small yet important bit, the hdmi cable. I had good picture quality using 2.1 cables but thankfully i had gotten a new set of 4K cables(newest standard available) and swappedthem out.That made all the difference for me to get the best video quality. Point being if you lack any one of those three items even the cheapest part, the cables, you'll be missing out on as said jaw dropping visuals provided by this format.

GR8 movie, enjoyed immensely.

Explains a lot left out of the theater release. Loved it and would love to experience the spinoff teasers in this. I would have liked to see more of Cavill since Man of Steel was so great.

Okay, it is still not the best superhero movie I've seen, however the extended cut provides a much better and fleshed out story.I had seen the original version in a theater and wanted to see what the hype of the new cut was.