Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) – Movie Review
10th June 2021 Written by Peter Walkden
Continuing from Batman v Superman, the world is still mourning the tragic loss of Superman. Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman (Ben Affleck), has significant concerns about the safety of all people on Earth. Teaming up with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), they investigate a new enemy that has appeared and begin to enlist new metahumans who might be able to help.
Unlike the previous Justice League (2017), Zack Snyder’s Justice League has many changes, especially in the film’s general tone, story, and visuals. Thankfully, this cut has decreased the amount of silly humour, and the visuals are darker and grittier than being all bright and pretty. As for the runtime, Zack Snyder’s cut is rather lengthy at a surprising four hours and two minutes. I found it challenging to complete the film in one sitting. Broken up, I found the film far more enjoyable to view.
It was exciting to see Justice League introduce so many new characters from the DC world, and I feel many comic book fans will also be pleased with this. With so many characters, director Zack Snyder enjoys taking his time to give each character a proper introduction, which I found welcoming rather than the rushed and brief introductions we saw in the last cut from 2017. The characters here are undoubtedly more likable and fun to watch as they come together.
Visually, it comes as no surprise that Zack Snyder’s cut is stunning to look at. Creating a darker film, I was pleased with the grittier look and feel. The director deliberately selected the aspect ratio, which looks like a 4:3 square box rather than the standard widescreen format like most films we see today. As stated by Snyder himself, this choice was made to preserve the creative integrity, to make each character even more prominent and to give them a primary focus. Those who love a good action film will also be pleased with what is on show here, but I found the use of slow-motion rather tiring.
Thankfully, the audio track is something else. Unlike the digital release from the streaming service Binge Australia, the audio format on the 4K UHD disc is a significant improvement. If you can, I highly suggest watching this film in the premium disc format to obtain the best experience.
Overall, I am pretty thankful to witness the final version and passionate vision of the director, Zack Snyder. We get to see his Justice League cut the way he intended. The film itself is a significant improvement to the previous release, which came in 2017. True, the runtime of four hours and two minutes is undoubtedly a challenging watch for one sitting, but I found it more pleasing spaced out. With greater depth given to all characters and a far more dramatic and detailed storyline, there will naturally be fans who will want more as the credits roll.
8.5/10
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