What is Zack Snyder’s Justice League?
With only a week until the long awaited release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, many are asking. What the hell is a ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League?’ and “How is it different than what we saw back in 2017?” We hope to clear that up and give you a better understanding, as well as give you a glimpse at the overall story on how we got here.
So buckle up kids, we are in for a bumpy ride!
Not a Director’s Cut!
As one could expect there is a misunderstanding that Zack Snyder’s Justice League (ZSJL for short) is simply a Director’s cut of the 2017 Justice League film. Given that we are getting something that, to my knowledge, has never been done before in the world of movies Its an easy misconception to have. Especially given that we have all of the same characters and actors reprising their roles from a film we saw in 2017, as well as footage shot at that time being re-cut to tell a modified story.
It needs to be understood and re-iterated that ZSJL is not simply a longer version of what released in 2017. This concept may seem a bit confusing, especially if you haven’t followed the #ReleasetheSnyderCut movement on social media, but to put it simply Zack Snyder’s Justice League will be a different movie than what was released in 2017. It will be considerably longer with more story that ties back to the previous installments in Snyder’s DC Universe.
What Types of Changes Can We Expect?
Most notably, and easiest to see is that the runtime of the film has expanded by adding an additional 2 hours from the 2 hours released in 2017 (that’s 4 hours of content for those not wanting to do the math). Snyder is doing this to allow further exploration of characters and giving the deeper story lines established in the previous films time to breath. This will allow for the original goals and motives of Snyder’s vision to shine through. It’s widely know that when Whedon took over production to finish the film when Snyder stepped down a lot of changes to the over all tone of the film as well as the direction of the story where changed to fit a shorter run time and a more comical approach to the story.
There will be more emphasis on a larger world that Zack Snyder was creating (as seen in the previous films in this franchise) with the culmination of previous story-lines (Hello Flash scene in Batman v Superman) and foreshadowing to future events in this universe Zack has been creating. This will allow us to see characters long gone or even new unseen versions appear in ZSJL adding depth to this intricate world. Sadly no word on if Snyder will correct his ultimate mistake of killing off Jimmy Olsen in BvS without a second thought.
The Music which was poorly thrown together in quick fashion by Danny Elfman for 2017’s Justice League (understandably on a short time frame to fit the Whedon tone of the movie) will feel more organic to the previous two films in the franchise. This is due to Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) returning to compose the music for the film.
There will also be changes in character design, scene placement, tone and overall narrative of the story to fit more into what Snyder was originally shooting for in this film. Remember, this was supposed to be two movies shot back to back to tell one massive story. This truly will be a whole new experience than what was seen in 2017 with Josstice League (as it’s called online, cause you know, Joss Whedon took over).
Why is there So Much Excitement?
The story on why and how everything got to this point is both heartbreaking and joyous which makes discussing this aspect so difficult. Be sure to check out our previous Pod Essay on the topic by clicking here.
The excitement surrounding ZSJL is not simply about the film itself but rather the victory and good the #ReleasetheSnyderCut (RTSC from here on) movement accomplished. Justice League was released on November 17th, 2017 (October 26th in Beijing) and by November 21 the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement had begun, with a simple tweet from a fan. @BobDigi69 tweeted out on November 16th that there will be a petition to release the Snyder Cut and @movieBuff100 add the hashtag on November 17th. From here the movement was born.
While many outside the movement may see the victory simply being Warner Bros. releasing Snyder’s vision of the film, there is so much more behind this movement. During the past 3.5 years those within the campaign have had many victories to hang their hats on including raising more than a half a million dollars for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. As you may or may not know, Zack’s daughter Autumn was a victim of suicide and the aftermath of which was the driving factor, along with studio meddling and constant pushback from producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg, in Zack deciding he needed to walk away from production on Justice League to not only mourn the loss of his daughter but to be there for his family. Something he explains excellently in an excerpt from the upcoming Release the Snyder Cut Book.
I just was kind of done with it. I was in this place of [knowing] my family needs me more than this bullshit, and I just need to honor them and do the best I can to heal that world. I had no energy to fight [the studio], and fight for [the movie]. Literally, zero energy for that. I really think that’s the main thing. I think there’s a different world where I stayed and kind of tried. And I’m sure I could have . . . because every movie is a fight, right? I was used to that. But I just did not have the [energy]. There was no fight in me. I had been beaten by what was going on in my life and I just didn’t want to, I didn’t care to . . . that was kind of where I was
Zack Snyder (The Release the Snyder Cut Book)
After Zack left the project Joss Whedon, Director of 2012’s Avengers and Avengers Age of Ultron, was brought in to complete the project. Despite the Studio promising the fans that the film would be completed in Zack’s vision, Costly re-shoots and questionable editing proved otherwise.
Why Should Everyone Watch It?
This film is more than just a continuation of what began in 2013 with Man of Steel and continued with 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. This movie symbolizes all that the RTSC movement stood for, allowing a creator to fulfill his vision. The in-depth story of what transpired behind the scenes at DC Films and Warner Bros. has yet to be explored and revealed in full, but there have been clear signs of unfortunate events going on, whether it is from the investigation Ray Fisher demanded or of what people close to the projects have revealed over the last few years.
Supporting this film shows Warner Media that movie goers and fans demand a respect for artistic integrity and that they should too. Besides all of that the film should be a wild ride and one that everyone should experience to better grasp what Snyder had planned all along. Even if you enjoyed what came in 2017 there is no denying that Zack Snyder’s Justice League will easily blow you away with an adventure like you’ve never seen before.
For more on all things Zack Snyder’s Justice League and the Release The Snyder Cut Movement check out the following.
For Snyder Cut
The Release the Snyder Cut Book