Zack Snyder’s Justice League has started streaming on HBO Max and it is worth the wait! This is one of the most unusual director cut movie stories. Zack Snyder had to stop filming in May 2017. Joss Whedon was brought in for re-writes and then complete the film by directing in April 2016. The movie’s budget rose to $300 million and was finished in October 2016. It was released on November 2017. Part of this studio hybrid was that scenes were teased in trailers, but missing in the theatrical cut. The US box office was a disappointing $229 million. Still, I thought there were enough memorable scenes to be satisfying: http://geektruth.blogspot.com/2018/09/retro-review-justice-league.html. There was a campaign for the Snyder Cut and the opportunity of the HBO Max streaming service had the twist that Snyder announced the new filming and cut in May 2020. There was a significant budget for additional shooting with many of the actors brought back to film new scenes. The story is by Snyder, Chris Terrio (also screenplay), along with Will Beall who co-wrote the screenplay for Aquaman (2018). At four hours, it could have cuts made, but there are scenes left out of Movie A that harms some of the story continuity.
The opening of the movie has Superman (Henry Cavill) pierced by the Kryptonite spear, he screams sending out sonic waves. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) watches him. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) also sees his death. Batman (Ben Affleck) looks on with his rifle. This is of course the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) directed by Snyder and nicknamed BvS (Beavis). Superman’s dying cries spread through the ruins of Metropolis. It is heard by a young man in a track suit with cybernetics (Ray Fisher). Cyborg is given more of a relatable side with his back story. The downside is that the CG cyborg body still skews to an impossible to be a man in a suit with too-thin arms and legs. He turns to see the whirring light in the next room. Superman’s sonic waves pass by a partially submerged Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). He sees the image of three Mother Boxes assembled by the figure of Steppenwolf. The sonic waves continue underwater passing an Atlantean soldier. It is heard by Mera (Amber Heard). She turns to see the Mother Box shuddering and then stops. The waves continue to the island of Themyscira. It goes into the dome with the Mother Box guarded by Amazons. The wave strikes the Mother Box and the Amazons ready their weapons. The Mother Box rattles and Phillippus (Ann Ogbomo) approaches it.
A crack of light runs down the Mother Box, Phillippus steps back, and sends word to the queen. Interesting to see the death of Superman affect everyone and set up the Mother Boxes. Breaking camp, is a horse rider, in snowy Iceland. The music is by Tom Holkenberg (who worked on Beavis) which is an improvement over the Danny Elfman score, more dramatic. The rider reveals himself to be Bruce Wayne, Batman, and looks down at an Icelandic town. Bruce walks towards a building, the pub, and this moves to “Part 1, Don’t Count on It, Batman.” We have his business card being considered by Icelandic elder, he gives it to another bearded man, a translator (Jason Momoa). The assembled people laugh at his offer to see the person who arrived with the King Tide. The elder asks him to leave and Bruce defies him also speaking Icelandic. The translator holds Bruce against the wall and he identifies him as Arthur Curry, the Aquaman. He walks and talks with Bruce, but doesn’t want any part of his alliance. Arthur takes off his sweater for an ice cold dip and then is suddenly gone. Next, it is night with Martha Kent (Diane Lane), Martha!, going to her truck and trailer. She is leaving the gravestone of her son. If you are not depressed at this point, she passes the sign of the foreclosure of her farm.
A helicopter drops off Bruce and he meets with Alfred (Jeremy Irons) from a white jet. Bruce says that Arthur rejected his offer and Alfred says that it is only two in the draft. They board a black jet. Then, we have a close-up of a coffee, Lois Lane takes it from the coffee house. She gives the coffee to a police officer, Jerry (Marc McClure), and then walks over to the Superman memorial. Jerry?, a nod to Superman creator Jerry Siegel? This cuts to a bridge with the Superman black banner, I remember this scene from the theatrical release. This follows two white trucks. This is the gunmen walking to takeover the museum. There is gunfire as the museum patrons are cut down. The leader brings in a group of school girls to be taken as hostages. We have Wonder Woman standing on the statue of justice. The leader opens the case to activate a bomb. The language is just to push for the R rating though there are some bloody moments. A gun man is pulled up by the Lasso of Hestia and he explains the plan. Wonder Woman shatters through the door, strangely there is a wind blowing through her hair even after the blast.
The slow motion speeds up almost comically with the Wonder Woman theme from Beavis. She takes down some of the gunmen, takes the bomb case and flies upwards crashing through the ceiling. There is a nice shot of Wonder Woman flying upwards and then flinging the case as she descends out of focus. Then, an explosion with the overused cougar scream. The hostages just look up, not much reaction, the leader takes up a machine gun, the group all stays together to be shooting targets. Then, we get Wonder Woman dropping down to deflect a bullet with her bracelets. He switches to automatic fire and Wonder Woman moves in slow motion to deflect the bullets, takes one in the back, and pushes a hostage away. The leader reloads and Wonder Woman brings her bracelets together in her super move. The face of the building explodes sending the rubble down on the police cars along with the leader’s hat. Wonder Woman checks on the group of school kids. One girl asks if she can be like Wonder Woman and Diana replies, “You can be anything you want to be.” A much better sequence except for the beginning than the theatrical. Wonder Woman is not the leader like in the 2017 version, this is left to Batman to take charge, but she is still a great fighter.
This moves back to Themyscira, the Amazon riders reach the temple including Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen). Menalippe (Lisa Loven Kongsli) notes the status of the Mother Box. Suddenly, it starts whirring again. Hippolyta orders the Amazons to be ready for battle. The energy column of the Boom Tube drops down from the sky. Amazons around the island see it. This is a better depiction of the Amazons as a people than the movie release. Parademons start swarming out of the Boom Tube and then we have the appearance of Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds). He announces the “Great Darkness”, this refers to The Great Darkness Saga that was in Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294 (1982), nice. Steppenwolf says they will know fear, Hippolyta tells her Amazons “to show him your fear!”, yes!, this is Amazons as the lethal warriors in Wonder Woman (2017). I still don’t get why they have fought Darkseid’s legions in the past, but use bows and arrows against laser guns. The Amazons pile on Steppenwolf, he tries to reach out for the Mother Box, but it is taken by Hippolyta. The wounded Epione (Eleanor Matsuura) tells her queen to seal the temple. The Amazons smash through the wooden supports with hammers and Hippolyta slides through at the last moment.
Hippolyta races with the Mother Box away from the temple that crumbles into the ocean. She hands the Mother Box to Amazon riders and then looks solemnly out to the lost Amazons. The sacrifice of the Amazons is more clearly felt in this version. The waves stirred by the fallen temple is a weak effects shot, but no matter. The Parademons and Steppenwolf leap from the wreckage. The chase begins with Steppenwolf getting brutal with CG horses. Hippolyta rides to help with the Mother Box Keep Away, but Steppenwolf manages to take it, before legions of Amazons ride in. Then, we get “Part 2 The Age of Heroes”, the Boom Tube appears at an abandoned nuclear plant. Steppenwolf appears with his Mother Box. He inserts the Mother Box into a broken wall and it corrupts the nuclear plant. He sends the Parademons to find the other Mother Boxes to form “the Unity.” Bruce is shaving his beard, his razor looks like Steppenwolf’s helmet, and asks Alfred about the “kid at the liquor store.” Alfred has been trying to track Barry Allen of Central City. He thinks Bruce is obsessing over what Lex Luthor told him. Bruce says it really is the promise he made to Superman. He fears that the invasion has already begun.
Then, there is an overhead look at a stadium, that goes to a scientific lab. Silas Stone (Joe Morton) leaves S.T.A.R. Labs saying goodbye to the maintenance worker, Howard (Anthony Wise). He in turn sees a hole in roof and comes upon a Parademon. No security for the breach? This turns to Themysicra, Amazons are bringing a long box to Hippolyta. She is presented the Arrow of Artemis, a harpoon-long arrow. She ignites the arrow and sends it from Themysicra through the clouds. This makes more sense than the earlier version since it is a magic arrow. It strikes the floor of a Greek temple and sets a fire. Diana is working on touching up a statue at the Louvre. Reports come in about the fire at a temple in Crete. A reporter calls it a shrine to the Amazons. Military officials are checking the breach at S.T.A.R. Labs when Silas arrives. He talks to his colleague, Ryan Choi (Ryan Zheng), this is the character who will become the Atom in DCU: Brave New World #1 (2006). He was played by Osiric Chau in the CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. An official questions Silas about a stolen object. He is shown the Superman ship and also sketch of the thieves from a witness. Others were taken from the lab. Silas returns home to his apartment and warns his son, Victor, about the break-in. He is in his track suit and we can see the red light from his cybernetics. I like in flight Cyborg has a helmet that locks on to help him breathe.
Diana arrives at the temple and takes the Arrow of Artemis. She makes a torch and lands down in a cavern. The torch reveals an impression of the arrow in a door, she places the Arrow of Artemis, and this opens the door. Diana enters a chamber that reveals the history of the ancient battle and ultimately a depiction of Darkseid. A storm tosses a small boat and it is about to sink. The captain tries to make a distress call as his boat is about to go under. Aquaman appears on top of the sinking boat. He brings the man into the Icelandic bar, the fisherman who of course is dazed, and gets some whiskey. Arthur heads out into the storm, waves crash, and he is suddenly propelling through the ocean. I’m not clear what is the propulsion, Atlantean body jet pack? He accelerates past fish to a ruined temple. I like the underwater effects with particulate matter and distortion better than Aquaman. He sees the statue of a king with a trident. Arthur hears the voice of Vulko (Willem Dafoe) and walks through his water bubble. He rejects his role as king and leaves that to his brother, Orm, but Vulko wants him to protect the Mother Box. Vulko offers Arthur his mother’s trident and throws it down. The bubble dissolves and Vulko swims away.
At the nuclear plant, Steppenwolf calls for DeSaad. The hooded figure (voiced by Peter Guinness) appears from the broken wall. This is the twisted scientist who works for Darkseid. He was introduced in Forever People #2 (1971) and appeared in Smallville played by Steve Byers. Steppenwolf wants to return home and DeSaad says he has to conquer more worlds for his betrayal. Steppenwolf says Earth has no Lanterns or Kryptonians, nice connection, and we get a sense of the villain more than the theatrical version. At a dock in Gotham City, Bruce is working on a ship, as Diana walks in. She tells him about the invasion in the past, this is still an unspecified time, thousands of years ago. We see the flashback of Zeus (Sergi Constance) giving Ares his axe, Atlanteans whom Diana says before they went underwater, and Amazons. Zeus throwing thunderbolts strangely reminds me of the Immortals (2011) movie. Darkseid (Ray Porter) lands and strikes his weapon causing a volcanic shock wave. Diana explains about the three Mother Boxes coming together in the Unity. Queen Hippolyta leads the attack with a Green Lantern and all of the others. This is a terrific battle, more clear than the released film, Darkseid is defeated and Zeus shatters the Unity. The Mother Boxes are separated. Then, we get Diana asking Bruce about the other heroes.
Next, we get “Part 3 Beloved Mother, Beloved Son.” A truck drives into Central City, the listing is “Gard’ner Fox”, I nice nod to Gardner Fox, the co-creator of the Justice League of America. Heading to a pet store for his job interview is Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), he bumps into Iris West (Kiersey Clemons). I do like the moment at the truck accident when Barry sees Iris suspended in time and in the air. The film really needed Barry earlier, a youthful contrast to the brooding Cyborg, similar to the Batman and Superman duo. The Flash is more of a hero in this cut. At the pet store, the owner sees the broken window, the accident, and Barry feeding the hot dog to some dogs in a pen. A funny, light moment with some great superhero action. Atlanteans are being dragged by Parademons through waves on a beach. Steppenwolf questions the Atlantean. He tosses the Atlantean (his back is bloody, but not his mouth?) and then uses a spider-like device to project the location of the Mother Box. It seems random, but this gives more a dimension to Atlanteans than Aquaman. Still, two ancient people have knowledge of the Mother Box, but no humans? It is a slow start, but really moves when the story goes into familiar territory. The expanded and missing scenes give more context to the story. Plus, there are cameos that give more scope to the film. Though there is still some silliness, the moments are still memorable. A bit long, but Zack Snyder’s Justice League leans heavy into the superhero drama, but has some great moments!
Four Mother Boxes out of Five!
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