Many years ago, a tyrannical ruler named Darkseid (Ray Porter), with his legions of enhanced species called Parademons, tried to conquer Earth using three powerful devices they call the Mother Box. These boxes hold tremendous power and combining them into one means destruction.
But his attempt was unsuccessful as the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, the humans, and a Green Lantern joined forces to drive him off. The boxes were then separated and hidden in secret locations around the planet.
Fast forward to the present time.
The world is mourning the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), and without him, the Earth is defenseless against otherworldly beings. So Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), or The Batman, plans to build a superhero team consisting of metahumans.
Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), or Wonder Woman, is the first to join the team. Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), and Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) follow afterward.
Together they are called the Justice League.
Meanwhile, a powerful being visits Earth to find the three Mother Boxes. His name is Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), and he wants to offer the devices to his master, Darkseid.
Bruce Wayne knows that Steppenwolf will do anything to complete his mission. Although he has a team now, it turns out that the enemy is far more powerful than they expected. And there seems to be only one person that can defeat him, Superman.
The DC Extended Universe is far less successful than its Marvel counterpart. It feels all rushed, forced, and undeveloped. It eventually leads to a series of below-average movies.
After directing two sub-par movies under the DCEU, Zack Snyder helms the 2017 film the "Justice League". But far into production, he had to leave the project due to an unfortunate event.
Joss Whedon takes over shortly. However, his vision clashes with the dark and gritty Justice League that Snyder already created. Hence, the end product is an underwhelming superhero movie that failed to stick to its landing with the audience.
Soon enough, fans rally behind the "Snyder Cut" or a version without Whedon's directorial inputs. And after a lot of action and drama, Warner Bros. finally bestows upon us the “Zack Snyder's Justice League”.
“Zack Snyder's Justice League” is far better than its predecessor with more solid pacing and score. The story is more coherent and understandable. And there are new scenes that will blow the minds of everyone.
Though, the 4-hour runtime feels a little too excessive. But Zack Snyder makes sure that every bit of it counts. The extra 80 minutes establish the backstories of all of the characters. It is satisfying to watch that each Justice League member finally got their moments to shine and introduce themselves. It is like watching three origin movies and two sequels at once.
However, the #SnyderCut still suffers from the problems that the first movie has. The characters are still thinly written. And there is not enough context in the film for the audience to care about the ambitions and motivations of Darkseid, Steppenwolf, and the Justice League.
Even more so, the film tolerates an awful script and terrible CGI despite the big additional budget.
Zack Snyder is a visionary, and this film gives justice to a superhero team that people love and adore. But the Justice League movie is already a sinking boat, and not even a new cut will keep it afloat.
What this movie proves, though, is that there is hope for the DCEU.
“Zack Snyder's Justice League” is a vindication and a better version of the 2017 feature film.
4/5
