Zack Snyder's Justice League

Except for the fabulously overstuffed chapter where Steppenwolf's headquarters is attacked, this is the first Snyder film where I'm sort of willing to accept digital mess. It is tempting to make a screenshot of each frame and add text bubbles to the characters, this is a living comic book, like from Crew or BB Art. Thanks for that feeling at least, but I can't say I'm jumping in joy. What works on paper doesn't work in the film, the 4 hours of perceptual inferno and the fuckton of slow motion make you tired, so you are grateful for every subtle scene where two characters just talk, which are few and far between. I could have easily done without the pathetic epilogue and Leto's awkward Joker. (20.03.2021)

Four years of annoying whining by teenage fanboys turned into a four-hour long comic book flick packed with a digital mess and an ugly style, and with heroes that are so cringe-worthy that it’s almost embarrassing. The only good thing is that I don’t remember anything about the original shite (Whedon’s cut), so I could take Snyder's cut as a fully new experience. What should be acknowledged is that at least the story doesn’t have any narrative gaps – that’s the only thing I remember from the original version: that it was very rushed and senseless as a result; Snyder's version is certainly not rushed. The problems for me remain: the characters are not even a bit likeable and the moment things go from the realistic interiors and exteriors to CGI action set-pieces what we get is an aesthetic holocaust. That’s something that hasn’t change from last time. That said, it’s nice to make people happy, especially in times like these, and if Snyder's cut fulfilled that goal, I’ve got nothing against it. Though I’d wager that 99% of the people that will like it already know it before watching it. (18.03.2021)

Ineffektiv, wenig kohärent, lang, aber wenig motiviert, hohle Handlung, psychologisch lächerlich. Im Grunde genommen sind es vier Stunden vergebliche Versuche, den Eindruck von etwas Schicksalhaftem zu erwecken, indem man ins Leere starrt, Zeitlupen überstrapaziert und kommentierende Musik verwendet. Aber so etwas gibt es hier nicht. Die Charaktere haben keine Beziehungen zueinander, und alles, was Snyder hier im Vergleich zur schrecklichen Whedon-Version hinzugefügt hat, ist mehr masturbatorischer Fanboy-Füllstoff als irgendeine Art von substanzieller und kreativer Erzählung. Das DC-Universum fühlt sich an wie eine epische Skulptur, bei der man merkt, dass sie nicht aus Stahl, sondern aus Gips ist, sobald man ihr einen Tritt versetzt. Gut, dass es Legionen von Fanboys gibt, deren Ansprüche durch eine Reihe von Kinokatastrophen so abgestumpft sind, dass sie sich sogar vor diesem falschen Idol verneigen. Zurück zu Marvel. (25.03.2021)

Not impressed. It's undeniable that this is in line with Snyder's vision from the Ultimate Cut of Batman vs Superman, but whether it is for the better, that’s another question. It doesn't feel like a complete film with a four-hour arc, but like an episodic miniseries (and it is divided in chapters), where for every passable action set-piece there are a few minutes of interchangeable mind-numbing CGI mess, and for every successful scene like "Diana bantering with Alfred over the tea-making process" there's one WTF scene (though nothing in the style of “Martha”). At times it's light, at times it's in the spirit of heavy Wagnerian opulence "about gods and people (only without people)" and at times it's completely different. At times it's very spectacular and at times it looks like filmed in a soundstage with unfinished visual effects. You will be convinced that Affleck is a great Bruce but a mediocre Batman, and the same can be said about the rest. Basically, it’s full of contradictions. What saves a lot is that Aquaman and Wonder Woman have already had their movies in the meantime, so there's time for Cyborg (which sort of works) and The Flash (which doesn't work that well). The advantage is that it feels like a team effort, where everyone plays an important role, something that couldn't be said about the cinematic version. The villains are again punishingly bland (but at least with motivation). There is no justification for the four-hour runtime, it could have easily fit in three. Sure, Snyder does have a vision, and it’s clear he’s had it all along, but a vision a film doesn’t make, and his looks better on paper than in practice. It is still not a good film, it's a film with more than one good to memorable scene and moment, but as a whole it's an uninteresting hodgepodge of everything and nothing. At least compared to Whedon's cut, it's a watchable, uninteresting hodgepodge of everything and nothing. (18.03.2021)

Snyder's comic book dark vision! I honestly didn't believe Zack Snyder could do it, but after Justice League, he's definitely repaired his reputation. I'm not going to lie, I wasn't looking forward to it and I suspected I would slag it, but in the end it's surprisingly good and the thing I feared the most (the fact that I would have to sit through two hours I already knew and didn't care much about) was proven wrong, and I found myself wondering quite often whether a scene was new or an old one, which is probably a plus. At first I was bothered by the 4:3 format because I’m not quite used to it, let along for four hours, so in that respect the film is a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, there are four epic climaxes every hour, so the time passes very quickly, the characters get more space (Flash is excellent with his jokes and slow motion reminiscent of the best of Quicksilver), the action is epic and pleasantly brutal. I really liked the first new featuring Zeus and Ares appeared, that one had balls. I was a a little disappointed by the entrance of Superman, somewhere after three hours and he probably had the least amount of space of all of the characters, and at times I wondered where Batman was at all 😃 But overall it’s more sweeping and compact, the story and the characters fit together better, and thanks to the decent action and awesome music it's a solid dark comic book movie that I won't be repeating, but I had an unexpectedly great experience. 8/10. (18.03.2021)

An uncompromising, sprawling comic book colossus. This time, Snyder arranged for the white collars to fail big time. The movie isn’t perfect, a little creaky here and there (Ezra Miller is awful in the role of Flash), but as a whole it works great. The dark tone is consistent with the two preceding pictures: a somber atmosphere, good character motivation and the action scenes are superb. Mainly, the baddies are not there just for a decoration, but there are motives for their behavior. Theatrical soliloquies, heroic entrances, a thunderous soundtrack. I’m happy. Maybe HBO will pay for the sequel too. (20.03.2021)

Es dauerte fast ein Jahrzehnt, bis wir den Höhepunkt von Snyder Verse erleben konnten. 2013 kam die Neuauflage des Superman-Originals, ein mit Spannung erwarteter Neuanfang und das Versprechen einer ganz neuen Reihe von DC-Spielfilmen. Ganze drei Jahre später eilte Wonder Woman zur ersten richtigen Begegnung von Superman und Batman herbei, und es dauerte ein weiteres Jahr, bis Whedons Version von Justice League in die Kinos kam. Und danach mussten noch einmal vier Jahre ins Land gehen, um den fast vierstündigen Director's Cut von Zack Snyders Justice League freizugeben. Auf wie viele andere Filme hat man so lange gewartet? Und, o Wunder, das Ergebnis ist hervorragend. Der Vertrieb in Covid-Zeiten ist in erster Linie auf VOD ausgerichtet, und selbst in diesem Umfeld behält der Film sein IMAX-Format bei. Die Unterteilung in Kapitel hilft, die Mammutlänge perfekt zu bewältigen und lässt die lockerere Version von 2017 vergessen. Die Charaktere werden wieder ernst genommen, die einzelnen Zeilen sind besser durchdacht, die Zusammenhänge ergeben mehr Sinn, und selbst so ein Cartoon-Bösewicht wie Darkseid weckt wirklich unangenehme Gefühle. Der Vergleich zwischen einem kompromissreichen Schnitt und einem Schnitt mit der ursprünglichen Vision des Regisseurs ist ideales Material für viele spätere Analysen und allgemein für die Verbesserung der Zuschauerkompetenz in der heutigen Welt. Allein die Wiederveröffentlichung eines solchen Films Jahre später schafft einen gewissen Präzedenzfall. Aber natürlich wird die neue Version von Suicide Squad, die nach nur fünf Jahren veröffentlicht wird, ähnlich untypisch sein. (27.03.2021)

Snyder can check off the final box, his League is better overall than the original, but it certainly won't be for everyone. It's more layered, more plot-driven, with more emphasis on all the main characters. It portrays them better, it focuses on their motivations and values better, so the overall emotional impact is stronger, and the same is true for the villains, especially Steppenwolf. But I can't shake the feeling that while the film is a patchwork of beautiful, sometimes darkly gothic, sometimes Sin City-like overstyled scenes, with plain cool shots here and there, that works with good story material, but it's ultimately merely an adaptation of a concept that didn't work then and still doesn’t fully work after the facelift. At times, the whole thing feels too artificial and over-artistic, and I couldn't shake the feeling that Superman was just like a sore thumb and he wasn't the Superman from Man of Steel anymore, as if Cavill wasn't Cavill anymore. And ironically, the most memorable and emotionally powerful scenes are those when Affleck climbs mountains to an impressive musical score, or when Zimmer's Man of Steel theme plays. 3.5 stars at most. (14.04.2021)

I was curious and I was hoping it would turn out well. It is probably impossible to say that I had 100% faith in it. But the result exceeded all expectations, because Zack Snyder's Justice League is a completely different film, much better in every way. It doesn’t build on the fateful atmosphere of Batman vs Superman only at the beginning, but instead does it for four hours thanks to a lot of added runtime that has given many characters more space and meaning, also thanks to a lot of scenes (and especially the bad dialogues in them) that have disappeared. Indeed, everything that made me pause in the original film, which was illogical, concise and unexplained, abbreviated or inappropriate, is now either complete, reworked and explained to satisfaction, or removed. The worst attempts at adolescent humor have disappeared, the unsuitable color atmosphere has disappeared, the villain has motivation, the Justice League is no longer a hastily convened gang that has childish arguments... The change to the awakening of Superman is nicely visible, which was something inevitable in the original film that were waiting for from the beginning (and still it was bad, and I'm not even talking about barren scenes with Lois saying things like "You smell good", or “that itches"), while here it is the saving grace of an already functioning League, which is born logically, gradually, and whose realization and meaning feel different. Better. All this is supported and amplified by Holkenborg's music, which gives the preserved scenes a completely different dimension (nothing against Danny Elfman, because his music was again one of the best components last time), and in the end I was extremely sorry that the DC film universe has already unfortunately most likely been written off, and that we will probably only return to it in Flash's film, because after Zack Snyder's Justice League there remains great potential and plenty of ways to go. An amazing superhero film.___P.S. I didn't quite understand the 4:3 picture format at all, but it didn't take long for me to forget about it. (19.03.2021)

Zack Snyder ist ein Meister im Placebo verabreichen. Die Probleme der originalen Justice League hat er bei Weitem nicht gelöst, er hat sie nur verwässert und in doppelter Länge versteckt. Die Charaktere einiger Protagonisten mögen zwar "lebendiger" geworden sein, aber wir sehen immer noch mühsam lange Zeit langweilige (und damit uninteressante) Helden, deren Fähigkeiten jegliche Konsistenz vermissen lassen und sich nur danach richten, wie es dem Drehbuchautor gerade passt. Dazu kommt der generische Bösewicht aus einer generischen Galaxie, generischer Bösewichte, der die Welt erobern/zerstören wollte, einfach so! Und bei den Szenen mit Zeitlupeneffekten, überdrehten musikalischen Einschüben und endlosem Anheizen auf Fortsetzungen und Spin-offs, die nie realisiert werden, habe ich mir nur gedacht, ob ich meine Zeit nicht besser hätte nutzen sollen und stattdessen 2 bis 3 kürzere, aber inhaltlich vollere Filme hätte schauen sollen. (28.03.2021)

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich (abgesehen von ein paar Szenen) die Handlung des ursprünglichen Justice League fast vergessen habe, so dass ich diese Version fast wie einen "neuen Film" angegangen bin (um es etwas dumm auszudrücken). Ich habe vor allem negative Erinnerungen an die schlecht gemachten Superman und Steppenwolf, die in der neuen Version zum Glück zum Besseren gewendet wurden. Allerdings will ich den Snyder-Whedon-Film, an den ich mich nicht so sehr erinnere, nicht "mit Dreck bewerfen", denn trotz der sichtbaren audiovisuellen Reserven und des seichten Drehbuchs habe ich mich überhaupt nicht gelangweilt. Die reine Snyder-Version ist schon besser anzusehen (trotz der allgegenwärtigen Dunkelheit) - mir gefiel die veränderte Darstellung des Steppenwolfs, und obwohl einige der Kampfszenen verwirrend aussahen, war sie nicht ganz so digital verwaschen wie der Originalfilm. Einige der Szenen waren sogar so gut aufgebaut und ausgearbeitet, dass sie sich wie ein "lebendig gewordenes Comicbuch" anfühlten (auf eine gute Art). Auch für die Einbindung von Rückblenden in die Handlung - sei es Darkseids erste Invasion auf der Erde oder Victors Geschichte - Daumen hoch. Aufgrund der Anwesenheit von mehr Charakteren, verschiedenen (übernatürlichen) Nationen, sich überschneidenden Realitäten und Zeiträumen kann sich der Film dem Vergleich mit Marvels Infinity War und Endgame nicht entziehen, wo DC immer noch einen Schritt hinterherhinkt, aber ich denke trotzdem, dass dieses Team-Up es schafft, sich über den DC-Durchschnitt zu erheben. Neben einer Fülle von Actionsequenzen bietet der Film auch etwas Humor (danke, Flash) und familiäres Pathos, aber das hat mich nicht allzu sehr gestört. Erwähnenswert ist auch ein kleiner, aber denkwürdiger Gastauftritt von Joker. Als Ergebnis etwas weniger als vier Sterne! (19.03.2021)