In less than a month, The original version of 2017’s Justice League that the Director, Zachary Edward Snyder, will launch on the WarnerMedia streaming service, HBO Max. It’s surreal that this film is actually coming out. In 2021, I can’t think of any bigger event. Sure, we have new TV shows, new seasons of shows, the potential for new movies to come out, but this is an unprecedented moment in our history as the light is finally being seen in the Covid tunnel.
To me, this not only feels like a win for the Snyders, a win for HBO Max, & a win for the fans, but a win for creativity. Look, no matter how good or bad this film turns out, the fact is we are getting closure. Because no matter what happens, life will go on. We will see more entertainment put out in some form whether the pandemic allows us to go back to business or not. Zack Snyder gets to make the movie he wants to make.
And I have to say, this was a journey for me too. My dream for the longest time was to live in a world where Superheroes share the screen together. We got that dream in 2012, they weren’t my preference but it was something special when that first Avengers movie came out. And I think a lot of DC fans were feeling that anticipation too.
I remember first hearing about the news of a Christopher Nolan Superman film was in the works, Me and my Nolan friends were still on the Dark Knight high & the idea of a Nolan Superman intrigued us. When Snyder was announced as the director I was intrigued even further. At that point, I haven’t really dissected what type of filmmaker Zack was at that point. I had only seen 300 & Watchmen. I think Zack was trying to “make films like Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City” As is my thought process. Sin City was very stylized like a comic book but 300 & Watchmen I did enjoy. If that was the type of movie-making this guy does, I had no problems with it.
But then I heard from a popular YouTuber that he wasn’t expecting what was now called Man of Steel to be good as he had seen Sucker Punch & not liking it. I had only ever sat down & watched Sucker Punch a year ago so I didn’t really understand the hate. I mean can 1 bad film really make or break someone that much? Besides, Snyder as a Comic Book director appealed to me more than his other work.
My Boss had seen Man of Steel before I did. He told me to expect a very different Superman. My thing with Superman was I had never been a passionate fan of the character himself. My favorite DC character actually was his clone Superboy/Kon-El/Conner Kent. He was like this teenager that just kept wanting to do the right thing. I did watch all of Smallville and I feel like this incarnation of Clark Kent was trying to be what Kon-El was trying to be at that point in the comics.
Superman was more interesting when he is on the journey of becoming Superman and Man of Steel had that, but I think my question by the end of the film was ‘Is Superman going to continue to grow or is that it?’ When the untitled Batman/Superman movie was announced it was the biggest news I have ever heard happen in a long time. I felt I was going to see an older Batman teach young Superman how to help people. Ironically, It was Superman that taught this jaded Batman to realize what he had become up to that point.
Batman v Superman was the film I was looking forward to more than anything. I counted the days the weeks the months to its release. However, there were problems plaguing the film. First off, Man of Steel had such a mixed reaction. Because I was a fan at the time of the site Channel Awesome or ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, a unique thing happened. Most of them had such a negative reaction to the film. The only enthused one was “Angy” Joe Vargas as he was a huge Superman fan.
The hate for Man of Steel was unique. I remember people not liking Superman Returns too. But wow people acted like Zack Snyder killed a Puppy it was so harsh. I didn’t get it maybe it was a particular style of his storytelling that wasn’t appealing.
The other problem was the casting choices. Oh, man were people pissed about Ben Affleck being chosen. When I first heard the news it made a lot of sense to me. Affleck had won Oscars for Argo so clearly this Affleck was a different Affleck of the Gigli days. But that era is reviled so much that it turned people off. Gal Gadot’s casting left people in question too as she looked too thin for the role of Wonder Woman. The biggest one and one even I had trouble with was Jesse Eisenberg. My justification was they were going for a Mark Zuckerberg/Jeff Bezos type of Luthor. The reveal of Doomsday and him looking like a Cave troll did not help.
Hours before the film came out, the fan reaction on Twitter was highly positive. Unfortunately, the Critics just HATED it. There was a time in my life where I didn’t care what critics thought but with the advent of social media, Critic reactions mean a film’s reputation goes bad. I was worried this movie wasn’t going to be good. I saw it with a friend opening night and…I enjoyed it. I understood the criticisms but I did not leave the theater pissed off or disappointed. After repeat viewings, I noticed more flaws but I never once thought it was a bad movie.
Opinions of art are diametrical. You might get 10 people in a room and all will have a completely different opinion. But consensus does overshadow that a lot and when a film gets mostly bad reviews it’s type-casted as a bad movie. The biggest opinion shift was when I saw the Ultimate Cut. It gave me a whole perspective on the theatrical cut. I still found it enjoyable on some level but nothing comes close to how much I loved the Ultimate Edition. It fixed a lot of problems and others had with the film. Not everyone enjoyed it but overall it was an improvement. I wrote a retrospective about it on this site if you want to look it up.
And from then on, DC had become a skeptical brand. Suicide Squad, I didn’t like and I wondered if DC could ever rival the success of Marvel. In a way, it did for one brief moment. Wonder Woman came out and blew people away. Critics, Audiences, and a healthy box office gave DC a turning point. Around this time, Zack was shooting Justice League and unfortunately, his daughter Autumn passed away and he stepped down. The Avengers director Joss Whedon took over reshoots. I thought this was interesting cause a guy who made The Avengers and its follow-up which I did like to some degree with both make around 1.4 & 1.5 Billion so things were looking up for DC. Sure, it was going to take some time for people to be won over but hope looked like it upon us.
Oh, boy was I wrong. Where I had hoped the Styles of Snyder & Whedon would lead to an Amalgamation of styles instead it leads to a film that I admit thought was great at first but the flaws got even worse than any flaws I had seen in any previous DCEU film upon repeat viewings. I still find Justice League to be a decent film but clearly it aged horribly. Similar to Green Lantern. A film I liked at first but as time went on the flaws became more apparent.
Little did I know Joss didn’t add “just a little bit” he completely changed the movie. Darkseid was supposed to be in it. Superman WAS supposed to have the Black suit as it was teased on Instagram. Martian Manhunter was supposed to be in it, Green Lantern had a bigger role than the one he got. What happened? Clearly, Warner Bros. lost faith in Snyder after the less-than-stellar reactions to his previous two films.
Thankfully, by 2020, the DC films were vastly getting more praise. Aquaman, Joker, Shazam! & Harley Quinn + Birds Of Prey were all received better than MoS, BvS, SS & Justice League. Even the most recent film, Wonder Woman 1984 as of this writing while rotten has a higher critic rating than Zack Snyder’s best DC film.
Still, I think one of the biggest problems DC suffers is people can’t help but compare them to Marvel. Aquaman gets criticism for coming off like a dated superhero film from 2011 yet Captain Marvel is compared to a 2011 film it suddenly makes people nostalgic for the phase 1 Marvel movies & I believe Zack was a casualty in that.
Batman v Superman will forever be compared to Captain America: Civil War. A good movie in its own right, but the irony for me with Marvel films is I prefer seeing them when they come out. I don’t have a desire to watch them again years later. Man of Steel and BvS Ultimate Edition gets better with every viewing experience. I watch Ant-Man on TV I’m like “Eh cool watching it again I guess” but to be fair to Marvel, some DC films like Josstice League, and Green Lantern I’m the exact same way with. But I am able to watch Snyder’s films again on repeat the same way I am able to watch Nolan’s Batman films again. Todd Philips Joker film I’ll probably watch again I just need time cause that was a heavy film.
I mean at the end of the day, I still sit down and watch comic book films. Whether they are DC & WB, Marvel & Disney, or Sony. Occasionally I’ll watch the properties outside like seeing The original Spawn film in theaters was cool. So even if Snyder’s Justice League is the end, It’s not the end for DC. DC Fandom showed the potential for their properties.
Occasionally, I’ll see some unfortunate souls online still saying all DC movies are terrible. Man, if you think Man of Steel, BvS UE, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam!, Joker, & BoP+HQ are bad films, those people are what you call loss causes. Because it makes me glad Snyder is doing JL even more. Warner is making the stories you want out of a DC property and you still hate on them. DC fans are fickle.
It’s ok though since we are all still stuck with limited entertainment as it is, there is no crime in watching something that holds value to you. It’s what Doofus Rick Sanchez told Jerry Smith about the R2 D2 coins. We don’t know if things will still be valuable or increase in value, but we buy them because we like them. They hold Value to us
Zack Snyder’s Justice League: The Journey Or Destination?
