Tag: HBO Max

The Snyder Cut: Tempering Expectations

Last Thursday, Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released on HBO Max, a long awaited cinematic experience that was not only a whopping four hours in length, but was also presented in a 4:3 format to apparently “preserve the integrity of Zack Snyder’s creative vision.” While Justice League (2017) was tonally inconsistent and incomprehensible in terms of character motivations and plot, people, when anticipating the release of the fabled Snyder Cut, seemed to have forgotten that Batman V Superman, the director’s previous film, while consistent in its tone, still suffered from the pseudo-intellectualism that the DCEU has gained a reputation for.

Image via IGN

Which brings me to my point: Zack Snyder’s Justice League is still a film directed by Zack Snyder, and while I can’t speak for everyone when I say this, but I was disappointed. It’s important to stress, though, that it’s not the movie’s fault, at least not entirely. The Snyder Cut has gained such a mythic reputation amongst the geek fandoms that I couldn’t help but expect a movie at the very least on par with the first Avengers. It only took the first ten seconds, when HBO Max informed me that the movie I was able to spend the next four h

ours of my life watching was going to be shop in a 4:3 format, did I remember that a significant number of Zack Snyder’s creative decisions lack anything substantive to add to the overall experience, and only exist to give off the impression that the film you’re watching is artistic and deep.

The Snyder Cut has gifted me a very particular and beneficial lesson: to temper my expectations. I felt a very similar disappointment when I was watching Avengers: Endgame. I couldn’t help but feel that all too familiar sting of dread when Steve Rogers suddenly appeared as an old man after he went back in time to return the Infinity Stones, completely violating the time travel rules that were established. Don’t get me wrong, Endgame was one of the best cinematic experiences in my life – the culmination of twenty-two films and over a decade of childhood memories – but it wasn’t perfect (even if it was damn near close). I was prepared to witness the greatest movie in history, and, I admit, I was prepared for something similar last Thursday.

But this is just my experience. You may have thoroughly enjoyed the Snyder Cut – you may have even found it as mind-blowing of an experience as Endgame – but, for me, Zack Snyder’s Justice League was ultimately a longer Batman V Superman. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the film and was more than glad I experienced it, yet it’s important to note that its the natural inclination of fandoms to overreact; what else should we expect from fanatics?

 

featured image via den of geek

‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’: Will It Be Good?

For years, the Snyder Cut has existed as the Holy Grail of nerd culture, a lost artifact that has gained an almost mythical status, an artifact few even believed truly existed. Snyder loyalists, however, stayed faithful, and were ultimately vindicated on March 2019, when Zack Snyder confirmed that his original cut did in fact exist, and two years later we were finally gifted the official trailer, yet many have already asked: is the Snyder Cut going to be as spectacular as people are claiming?

Image via Mashable India

If you were interested enough in Zack Snyder’s Justice League to click on this article, then chances are you already saw the trailer, so I’m not going to waste your time with a trailer breakdown (though it will be included below for your re-viewing pleasure). What I will be doing instead is reminding you of Batman V Superman, and it’s, at best, polarizing response from general audiences. Now, I wouldn’t dare make the argument that a film’s quality is determined solely by the most prevalent opinion of its viewer base, but Batman V Superman, while containing a number of interesting ideas (such as the relationship between power and morality), they were never explored beyond a pseudo-philosophical understanding. Unfortunately, I don’t see why Zack Snyder’s Justice League will be any different in that sense.

Batman V Superman also suffered from poor character motivations. From Lex Luthor’s widely convoluted and inconsistent plan to Batman distrusting superman because he believes him to be a dangerous vigilante (despite being a dangerous vigilante himself) to, worst of all, him subsequently gaining trust for the Krpytonian when he learns the name of his adoptive mother, these few examples of the wretched characterization in Batman V Superman was the film’s most prevalent issue. Instead of truly learning who the characters were through their actions, the plot was a paint by numbers, with story beats progressing the plot not in such a way that would organically result from the character’s choices, rather to culminate in Batman and Superman fighting.

Yet, despite all of this, I am excited to see Zack Snyder’s Justice League and will be watching it when it releases on March 18th on HBO Max, because while I am convinced it will still suffer from the same issues as it’s predecessor in the Snyder Trilogy, it will at least possess a consistent creative tone, even if many might claim that tone to be overly dark, especially for a comic book franchise. No forced jokes in a futile attempt to capture the magic of Marvel’s The Avengers, the Snyder Cut – while excessively gloomy, pretentious and more than willing to sacrifice proper character for beautifully composed shots and fantastic fight scenes –  will grace our television screens as a complete and singular vision, as opposed to the Frankenstein’s monster of a film we were unfortunate enough to pay thirteen dollars to see in 2017, and that will make it a far greater movie.

 

featured image via ign