In 2017, in an effort to catch up with the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Warner Brothers and DC comics released “Justice League,” as their own version of the Avengers. Unfortunately, the movie was extremely unsuccessful with both fans and critics, who took aim at hastily introduced characters, a horrific screenplay, and poor humor. After this catastrophic failure, Zack Snyder, the director, claimed that he had an original cut that was supposedly superior to the released version. The only reason his version didn’t get finished was his departure from the movie halfway through filming due to the passing of his daughter. Fans immediately petitioned for Warner Brothers to release this cut, but they went radio silence until January of 2021, when Snyder announced the cut was being released in March on HBO Max. Released at 4 hours long, it took multiple sittings to finish this movie and fully digest it. For this review, I want to ask myself “Is this movie good, and is it an improvement over the last one?”

The first aspect of the movie I want to highlight is the much improved character work for characters like Cyborg. In the first movie, there was virtually no backstory for him and therefore my emotional investment in him was minimal. However, in this cut, his strained relationship with his father is explored in a deeper way by highlighting the death of his mother in a car crash that also ruined his future. The same thing can be said for characters like the Flash and even Steppenwolfe, who is no longer the big bad but a pawn for Darkseid, the “Thanos” of the DC universe if you will. Steppenwolfe is no longer a whiny warlord obsessed with “mother,” but the servant of Darkseid who must please him with every action. The next thing about this movie that is improved upon is the style in which scenes are shot. In the original, the color schemes and choices made by Joss Whedon, who took over directing, turned a grim movie into a messy tonal clash. However, Snyder maintains his bleak shots all the way throughout the movie, which helps keep consistency with the tone of the movie. Snyder also removes all the awkward “Marvelesque” humor and substitutes it for humor that makes sense. The way Snyder fully embraced his vision here is an admirable thing that makes watching this version a much more enjoyable experience.

However, this movie is not perfect by any means. After all, it is 4 hours long, and that number seems way too high for a movie like this. There are scenes that could be trimmed and even scenes that could be cut completely and would not subtract from the movie's quality. As I stated above, it took multiple sittings to finish this, which usually isn’t a good thing and this movie is no exception. My only other complaint with this film comes in the form of Snyder trying to fit too much lore into one movie. Snyder introduces concepts like the Anti-life Equation, which sort of spoils the potential for the rest of this series, as it is the “Infinity Gauntlet” of DC comics. He also plays around with alternate timelines such as the “Knightmare” universe, which is random and feels out of place despite how well the scene is shot. 

When all is said and done, I believe that this movie was an extreme improvement over the last mess of a Justice League film, and is definitely a good movie. Despite some glaring flaws like its length, fans of comic books should be happy with this movie and I definitely recommend watching this if you have a lot of free time. My personal rating for this movie is 7.5/10.