Zack Snyder’s Justice League is an okay, if not exceptional lengthy, film and well worth checking out, especially if you’re a DC fan or just curious, plus splitting it into parts does help if you don’t want to watch in one sitting.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
(2021)
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
Warner Bros. | R – 242 min. – $49.98 | September 7, 2021
Date Published: 09/01/2021 | Author: The Movieman
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Note: The screen captures were taken from the included Blu-ray disc.
THE MOVIE — 3¼/5 |
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Note: This review does contain some spoilers so please beware. Plot Synopsis: Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne (BEN AFFLECK) enlists newfound ally Diana Prince to face an even greater threat led by the alien Steppenwolf. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman (GAL GADOT) 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 (JASON MOMOA), Cyborg (RAY FISHER) and the Flash (EZRA MILLER) — it may be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions. Quick Hit Review: 2017’s Justice League was a project rushed into production before the (now dismantled) AT&T/Warner merger (delayed due to anti-trust issues), Joss Whedon took over production after director Zack Snyder stepped away after the tragic death of his daughter. While the word from Whedon and the studio said they were going to keep to Snyder’s vision, what we got instead was an abomination with forced jokes and some sort of attempt to Marvel-ize the film.
After many years of the whole #releasethesnydercut hashtag , the fans finally got their wish after it was announced Warner Bros. was moving forward with finishing Snyder’s version with an expensive production as many scenes were never shot and Snyder was supposedly not going to use very much, if any, of Joss Whedon’s footage. And I will be perfectly honest, back in 2018, if I were a betting man I would not have wagered Zack Snyder’s Justice League would ever happen. Kudos to the RTSC folks and some within the studio who moved forward probably as a marketing ploy to drive subscriptions to the recently born HBO Max streaming service. Whatever the reason, what we got was an entertaining experience but a bit uneven. Even though the movie is a whopping 4 hours long and Superman himself doesn’t even make an appearance well over the halfway point, I never lost interest even with what felt like a tacked on ending that continued the nightmare sequence from Batman v Superman (which was a jarring segment that I generally skip during re-watches). Otherwise, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a decent movie and perhaps even better considering the limitations even with a significant budget (reportedly around $70 million), not to mention the logistics with renewed actor contracts.
Generally, albeit probably because I am a DC fan and have liked most of the other projects (yes including the much maligned Wonder Woman 84), Zack Snyder’s Justice League has its moments and the performances for the most part were fine even when the dialogue was on the stilted side. Where the movie really excels is when the League does come together and the dynamic between the team was a lot of fun; even Batman thankfully didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. There a few nice little scenes such as a conversation between Diana and Arthur discussing the contentions between the Amazonians and Atlanteans, or a sweet scene with a resurrected Clark and Lois, a bit of which was seen in the Whedon cut but fledged out more here. ZS’s Justice League does have some fan service, which likely will confuse anyone on the outside, the biggest one was the reveal of Henry Lennix’s General Swanwick (seen in both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman) to be Martian Manhunter in disguise. A shame his introduction will be for naught since it does appear the Snyderverse is done (course, I’ve been wrong before, so who knows…).
As a whole, I did enjoy the movie. It’s not great and there are still open threads that won’t be completed. That being said, I can only hope in 10-15 years some aspiring filmmaker will embark on making a documentary akin to 2015’s The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, directed by the late Jon Schnepp. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2¼/5 |
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This four-disc release comes housed in a standard black HD slim case. The only feature is Road to Justice League (24:40), an interview with Zack Snyder as he reflects on his trilogy of films in the DC Universe with some behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew. |
4K VIDEO – 4¾/5, BLU-RAY VIDEO – 4½/5 |
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Warner Bros. releases Zack Snyder’s Justice League onto 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray where it is presented in the director’s preferred 1.33 full frame aspect ratio. It is odd to have a major studio film, a superhero film to boot, get that aspect ratio but that was Snyder’s choice because, at least what I read, some sequences were shot using an IMAX camera and this was to keep some uniformity rather than shifting the ratios from, for example, 2.39 to 1.78 for the IMAX sequences. But in any case, as for the picture quality itself, does not look bad at all. Detail is incredibly sharp for both formats with a slight upgrade on 4K. Colors of course are really muted, not really much splash or vibrancy in any scene, so this one is really dark yet you can still discern what is happening on the screen, even when Batman and his dark gray/black suit is front and center. As such, black levels are stark but never crushed. From memory, this is in-line with how Batman v Superman looked as well. |
AUDIO – 4½/5 |
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Both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs come equipped with Dolby Atmos tracks. I will admit, I wasn’t exactly blown away by this track, dialogue does come across of course with great clarity as I would expect from any big budget (or massive given the combined cost was $370M+) project. The action scenes did provide some solid depth, I didn’t find it entirely exceptional or imposing but rather on par with your standard action film. I was especially disappointed with the LFE channel that did rumble some but was on the underwhelming side. Still, as home theater tracks go, it’s still above average, however I do remember Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Wonder Woman sounding better. |
OVERALL — 3½/5 |
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Zack Snyder’s Justice League is an okay, if not exceptional lengthy, film and well worth checking out, especially if you’re a DC fan or just curious, plus splitting it into parts does help if you don’t want to watch in one sitting. That being said, I think the behind-the-scenes story is probably more interesting… |