*I mean the movie already came out…

IMDB Synopsis

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists newfound ally Diana Prince to face an even greater threat. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to recruit a team to stand against this newly awakened enemy. Despite the formation of an unprecedented league of heroes — Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash — it may be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

“I don’t care how many demons he’s fought in how many hells. He’s never fought us. Not us united.”

Boy oh boy where do we even begin with this one Juicers? I honestly cannot believe I am even writing this but Zack Snyder’s Justice League has finally seen the light of day, and we are going to discuss it. This will be a little different because we are discussing a movie that technically was already released, but this cut is so vastly different it deserves its own review. Before we get into it let’s discuss quickly what happened with the original version of this movie.

As we know Zack Snyder directed Man of Steel, BvS: Dawn of Justice, and was directing Justice League until a horrific family tragedy caused him to leave the production. After that they brought in Avengers director Joss Whedon to take over, and he basically reshot and changed the tone and structure of the entire story. This was basically considered a failure and over time it was told that Snyder had a cut still of his movie. A community on the internet rose of with #ReleasetheSnyderCut as its calling card, and basically will this movie into existence. It is a once in a lifetime situation that like I said above I cannot believe we are even talking about.

I will also mention under Whedon’s watch, Ray Fisher who plays Cyborg and numerous other people on set have accused Whedon of a very toxic work environment. That is why seeing Cyborg get so much time in this movie really hits close to the heart.

What we got in this cut of Justice League is nothing short of epic. It is long (over 4 hours), it has grandeur, and an absolutely incredible scale. What is amazing though is how each character really gets their due. Lets go through the characters and talk about how each get to play their part.

Batman – Our man Batfleck is of course the recruiter of the JL when he realizes a major threat is coming to earth. Honestly I did not feel his role changed that much in this, but I still think he is such a good Bruce/Batman. He really understand the darkness and pain Bruce has gone through and uses that in his performance. Getting to see him interact with all the different characters was great because he has great chemistry with all of them. That Knightmare sequence felt like it was in a different movie, which is literally was, but honestly got me excited for some DC future that we might never see.

Wonder Woman – Her intro is really one of the biggest changes in the entire movie. We get a full blown Dark Knight style bank heist where the R rating really comes into play. Diana gets to show many different abilities all while of course that incredible Hans Zimmer theme BANGS. Snyder also is able to portray Gal as powerful and beautiful, without sexualizing her in the way the previous version did. I also thought her narration of the Lord of the Rings esque flashback was fantastic and a major upgrade. I do not know where you go from here with her, but there has never been a doubt Gal Gadot is perfect as Wonder Woman.

Flash – Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) who was the major comic relief in the Whedon version, still gets to be humorous at times (even though they took out the “Bro did he just bounce” line), but he also gets a major arc that was not there before. We get to see a full scene in Central City where he saves Iris (Kiersey Clemons) and gives us more emotion for his character. When he finally gets his moment in the climactic battle, it is absolutely earned and it is one of the triumphant moments of the story.

Aquaman – Our King of the sea, who is not yet the King, is basically the same version of himself in this. Indifferent, badass, but willing and able to help when his name is called. Jason Momoa also gets to interact with Willem Defoe here which did not happen originally, that only was in the Aquaman movie. All in all his story is not that much different we just get to see more of the Atlanteans and more of the back story with their mother box.

Cyborg – The man who probably gets the biggest come up of all! We start by seeing him flashback to an actual football game back when he was at Gotham City University. We also see the accident that caused his form, and his mothers death. We just get so much more of him as a character the entire movie, after he was shoved off to the side in the original. I would love to see a series or a movie with his character because he is fascinating and Ray Fisher played him perfectly.

Superman – I know what you are thinking, Juiceman, why is Superman down here. SUPERMAN???!! Well, the guy does not even show up until 2 hours into the movie (I know right) but he still gets a fulfilling story. We see Lois is pregnant, he gets a reunion with his mother (who may be a Martian?), and he gets the dope ass Black Suit. Of course the second he shows up the team is complete but not before we still get one of the great Superhero scenes, where he catches Flash running with his peripherals. It is just so shocking at first but also makes complete sense. It works on so many levels.

Steppenwolf – Our villain who did not have a backstory at all in the Josstice League, gets to be basically a bitch in this story. We are introduced to Darkseid on Apokolips, which is awesome, but the whole time Steppenwolf is just trying to get back into his good graces. So even though we get motivations, he still kinda stinks as a villian.

*A couple other tidbits

• Darkseid was an awesome character but if we are being honest the effects looked kinda amateurish, due to the nature of the movie.
• Martian Manhunter!
• The Junkie XL score was absolutely stunning.
• Zack Snyder LOVEEEEESSSSSSS Slo mo

At the end of the day, this movie existing is a miracle in itself. The fact that it is good is even crazier. I am a fan of this DC Universe I think the mythology and the darkness is a good parallel to the lighter Marvel tone. I hope Snyder gets to keep making these stories if he wants to, but if this is all we got, I am very happy that we got every piece of his creative vision.

Juice Rating:

*You can find my 2021 Movie Rankings here.

*You can find my DCEU Rankings here.

*You can find all of my Movie Ratings here.

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