It's weird to discuss this wholly original production as just a film since it has taken on such a life of its own with the continuing surge of interest online, but that is part of the charm as well. DC finally has their moment in the sun, so to speak, and they seem entirely uninterested in entertaining it (and us).
I like Zack Snyder's work. Hell, I like Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. It's a good film!
As a Superman stan, I was happy that he was taking the reigns to develop the first film since Returns, which would see Superman reimagined for the big screen. I personally loved Man of Steel. It's an imperfect film (the third act is tough) but it hit the notes I wanted for an origin story. The fact that it remains so utterly polarizing to this day is something I acknowledge and have come to understand is part of Zacks' work. He can be a bit heavy-handed and he does trend towards the grimdark of the spectrum at times. People who I both trust and respect have wildly different experiences with his films. It's a thing.
I really didn't like Batman vs Superman though (although the Ultimate Edition read: watered down Snyder vision is way better) and I was pretty much done with the DCverse after it. I was pissed we didn't get MoS2 and a standalone Batfleck film before they tried to desperately hurry up to Marvel. They fucked up. What has become clear is that this is way more on WB than on Snyder though.
Marvel has been knocking it out of the park and leaving DC eating dust for the last decade and it hasn't been even close. I always thought Zack had the right idea but that the studios were pushing to get on "par" so to speak and it hurt what we got to see. This whole thing was meant to take 3-4 films more and then move into the Justice League era. All the more impressive that we get such a cohesive work finally given the fuckery Zack had to deal with.
Man of Steel seemed like a launching off-pad to do something original and interesting but BvS just felt wrong and the tragedy that befell Zacks' family left the 2017 release of Justice League in shambles. Enough has been spoken of this so I won't go over it again. It was bad. It's a bad film. OK.
So here we are. Social media nonsense did one of its rare feats of doing something good and against all odds, we get this 4 hour monster of a film. HBO/WB? gave him 70 million to take what had been left on the cutting room floor and sure up the vision that he wanted. We all heard about it. It was meant to be so much better. This revelatory experience. I wish I could pretend I was convinced. And whilst I remained intrigued, I wasn't.
And yeah. It was really good and I'm really happy that's it's good. It's a film with a bountiful number of issues but it's also an obvious labour of love that could have never been released in theatres. For the record, I still think a Snyder theatrical cut would still be way better than the 2017 bullshit but the film really breathes with the added runtime. You kind of have to go into it without being cynical. If you don't like superhero films I doubt this is going to change your mind but it is not only a lot of fun but it is uncompromising. This is what you get when you don't have a room full of suits and endless focus groups deciding what we get to see. Wow, who would have thought, give a talented filmmaker the chance to make what he intended, and it might result in a good fucking film. Shocking.
Cyborg. Not only is he a thing now he's arguably the MVP of the entire film. It's annoying to keep referring back to how bad the 2017 film was but this goes to show just how much of a travesty it was. This film tells us why he's important and why we should care about him. What a novelty!
Every member of the Justice League is important and integral to winning the day. Sure, they all have to be smashed together pretty quickly but it doesn't feel forced. Batman is on the mission to get the crew together and it works. Batfleck is probably a better Bruce Wayne than he is Batman but you buy the jaded and older version of the character and when it does come time to go to war with god-tier enemies it's done really well and he holds his own.
Wonder Woman is just way better here despite Gal's porn film-level acting. Remember WW84. LOL. Yeah.
The action is tight, the story MAKES SENSE, and Steppenwolf, whilst not reaching the heights of the greatest classic movie villains of all time or anything is compelling throughout.
Just as an aside: the voice acting for both Steppenwolf and Darkseid was fucking excellent.
A few of the song choices didn't work for me (although the overall score is great), it definitely lags in the last chapter and it falls prey to Zacks' penchant for the overly melodramatic in moments; but it's such a triumph otherwise that none of the shortcomings ever make you feel that this is anything but a fan-fucking-tastic superhero film that cares about its lore, the characters and giving the viewer a great time.
And when it comes to visuals. It's Zack Snyder. It looks insane.
Maybe you can point to the Joaquin Phoenix Joker film buzz but other than that what has DC done that has rivaled Marvel? Fuck all. That's why it is so perplexing that they seem so adamant to draw a line under this and not pursue what I imagine the vast majority of people that just watched this want. More.
WB reportedly wants J.J Abrams over Zack Snyder to take the DC universe forward?
We truly do live in the darkest timeline although (and I'm aware retweets don't make films) the sheer love and outpouring the Synder Cut is receiving is more than just flash in the pan stuff. Just yesterday #RestoreTheSnyderVerse was the highest trending topic in the world and the highest tweeted film-related topic OF ALL TIME.
WB may be acting coy but how much can they hate money really?
Uh, it's great.
