“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is a movie about a man who wanted to make a bigger, sadder version of the film he was forced to abandon. That impulse shows everywhere, and it mostly pays off. The director’s cut of the 2017 Justice League film runs four hours and thirty minutes, and it earns nearly every second of it. This is a dense, exhausting, frequently beautiful mess of a superhero movie, and it stands as one of the best examples of fan-driven filmmaking ever released.
Trailer, via HBO Max.
The Story, Briefly
The film opens with a funeral for Bruce Wayne’s parents. It closes with the planet saved, barely. In between, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg face a monster from beyond our universe, and a villain named Steppenwolf who wants to conquer Earth. The plot is simple. The execution is anything but.
What Snyder Added
Snyder’s version adds scenes that were cut from the original release. It also reworks existing material, sometimes drastically. Here is what changed most:
- A longer, darker tone throughout.
- More screen time for characters like Barry Allen and Arthur Curry.
- A deeper look at Bruce Wayne’s grief.
- A quieter, more grounded ending than the one audiences saw in 2017.
The Good Stuff
The film’s strengths are easy to see. The action sequences are spectacular. The visual effects hold up. Gal Gadot delivers one of the best performances in the cast as Diana Prince. Ezra Miller gets more room to be weird and wonderful as Barry Allen. Ray Fisher finally gets a moment to shine as Cyborg. The score swells at all the right moments.
The film also handles its villains with surprising care. Steppenwolf is a threat, but he is also a tragic figure. His army of Parademons feels less like a cartoon and more like a war machine. The film takes its mythology seriously, even when the logic behind it strains credibility.
The Bad Stuff
The runtime is a problem. Four hours is a lot to ask of any audience, and some stretches feel padded. The pacing drags in the middle, especially during the flashbacks to Bruce Wayne’s childhood. The film also leans heavily on exposition, explaining its world and its rules again and again.
Some of the new material feels like filler. The added scenes are often quiet, character-driven moments that slow the momentum. They are not bad scenes, but they are not essential either. The film could lose twenty minutes and still work.
How It Compares
| Element | Original Release | Snyder Cut |
|---|---|---|
| Tone | Lighter, more hopeful | Darker, more somber |
| Runtime | Two hours and twenty-one minutes | Four hours and thirty minutes |
| Bruce Wayne focus | Minimal | Central |
| Barry Allen/Cyborg focus | Limited | Expanded |
Why It Works Anyway
The film’s heart is in the right place, even when the pacing isn’t. The central relationship between Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince carries the film through its slower stretches. Their scenes together, especially the ones set in the past, are the emotional core of the entire project. The film understands that these two characters need each other, and it plays that truth out across four hours.
The action sequences are also worth noting. The battle against Steppenwolf is a spectacle that rivals anything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film knows how to stage a fight, and it uses its budget well.
Where It Falls Short
The film is not perfect. The pacing issues are real, and the runtime will test anyone’s patience. Some of the new scenes feel like they were added for the sake of adding content, not because they serve the story. The film also struggles with its villain. Steppenwolf is a threat, but he is not a memorable one. He lacks the charisma that made Lex Luthor or Thanos compelling.
Final Word
“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is a flawed but fascinating film. It is a love letter to the DCEU, a corrective to the version that was released, and a bold statement about what a director can do when given the chance to finish his vision. It is not the best superhero movie of the decade, but it is one of the most ambitious.
The film’s score is 8.1/10.
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