Zack Snyder’s Justice League

[Piscian]

I'm wondering if it will get a limited theatrical release in the future.

I had the pleasure of seeing it on a big screen and I did think to myself this would be much less fun on a small screen and I really think they'd be stupid not to do a limited release. Worst case scenario they do a limited event at the Alamo theater chain or a phantom event. Think with how unusual of a film this is they'd be stupid not to. That said Stuckmann was talking about the problem is it's 4 hours. You can barely do 3 showings a day so this would have never worked in the initial run.

 

[Gordon_4]

I had the pleasure of seeing it on a big screen and I did think to myself this would be much less fun on a small screen and I really think they'd be stupid not to do a limited release. Worst case scenario they do a limited event at the Alamo theater chain or a phantom event. Think with how unusual of a film this is they'd be stupid not to. That said Stuckmann was talking about the problem is it's 4 hours. You can barely do 3 showings a day so this would have never worked in the initial run.

They could probably have just rearranged some scenes or buffed a few out and made two movies. Which I'm sure was the original intent.

 

[twistedmic]

If Snyder can't convincingly erase a mustache why is it a good idea to try do an epic LotR style battle?

Whedon was the one that did the reshoots that required Cavil’s mustache to be CGIed out, not Snyder.

 

[laggyteabag]

I finally watched it.

It was fine. Better than the original.

Whilst I appreciated the extra context, and there were some bits and pieces that I could pick out and say "Yeah, I really like that" or, "You know, this scene is a lot of fun" - I think I would rather just rewatch the theatrical release.

A lot of the stuff that the film sets up just doesn't work for me. Darkseid is particularly embarrassing. The first time we see him, he gets the shit kicked out of him by a character who Wonder Woman has already 1v1'd and won - so why would I be scared of this loser?

The different tone compared to the theatrical version also has some unintended consequences. The Flash is supposed to be the comic relief character, but he is consistently not funny, and the tone is now really dark and serious. He is the unfunny "funny" character, in a film that is not being funny. Its just strange.

And for some reason, I just had some kind of short-term amnesia with this film, because the second someone left the frame - even if they were a major character like Cyborg - I just completely forgot that they were in this movie, until they showed back up. "Oh yeah, Cyborg is in this film - but I forgot, because we haven't seen him for ages! and he is really boring"

Ultimately though, my main point of contention is just the time. This film is four hours long. It is completely overindulgent, and the extra content doesn't change the film in any significant way. The characters are the same. The plot is the same. The problems are the same. Now there is just more of it. And it demands my entire evening.

Thanks, but no thanks.

 

[McElroy]

Steppenwolf's character got more fleshed out, the memetic Whedonisms are gone, long enough that I watched it in two sittings, and some of the extra stuff just seems to pad the runtime. I also haven't seen the theatrical version.

I will also defend Flash's running, because his suit doesn't make him look like a sprinter, right? Miller clearly took inspiration from speed skating. The hand movements are extra flair, but the Speed Force is supposed to be pretty weird, I guess.

 

[deleted20220709]

DELETED

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Let's be honest here, the Lord of the Rings trilogy was a once in a lifetime miracle where somehow everything that could have gone right actually did go right. Even Peter Jackson couldn't reproduce it when he made the Hobbit movies where all the big action scenes also look like... well, this. Those were also filmed at a higher framerate, which I imagine didn't catch on, precisely because it calls attention to bad effects.

Yes and no.
Yes it's lightning in a bottle in the sense that it's a once in a lifetime glorious thing.
No it's not in the sense that it had anything to do with dumb luck. They knew precisely to what extent to push the technology and when to fall back on trusty old fashioned perspective tricks and practical effects. Same with other tired but reliable examples like The Thing and Jurassic Park, which look so much more real than their sequels.

 

[gorfias]

Now we need a 3rd party to take the best of the two to make a single great experience.

 

[Buyetyen]

I imagine Justice League as a Hamburger. Snyder wanted to give you an All American Big Size Hamburger with all the traditional toppings and condiments. Then Whedon came along and tried to do French Fusion on the Hamburger, and while snails, scallops and garlic have their places, it is probably not in a Hamburger. Now that Snyder had a second go he really doubled down on this being his best Hamburger ever. Double meat patties, three times the BBQ sauce and pickled red onion. A dozen jalapeno poppers and onion rings as condiments and double extra large servings of fries. The problem with Snyder's ingredients and his inability to really bring out their flavors and balance them still remains, but oh boy you get a lot of it all. For people who enjoy Snyder's cooking it is a great meal, for most of us it is a chef being self-indulgent with a meal we aren't particularly thrilled about to begin with.

Have you read about his original plans for the following 2 movies? Jesus Christ!

 

[happyninja42]

I imagine Justice League as a Hamburger. Snyder wanted to give you an All American Big Size Hamburger with all the traditional toppings and condiments. Then Whedon came along and tried to do French Fusion on the Hamburger, and while snails, scallops and garlic have their places, it is probably not in a Hamburger. Now that Snyder had a second go he really doubled down on this being his best Hamburger ever. Double meat patties, three times the BBQ sauce and pickled red onion. A dozen jalapeno poppers and onion rings as condiments and double extra large servings of fries. The problem with Snyder's ingredients and his inability to really bring out their flavors and balance them still remains, but oh boy you get a lot of it all. For people who enjoy Snyder's cooking it is a great meal, for most of us it is a chef being self-indulgent with a meal we aren't particularly thrilled about to begin with.

So he's the cinematic equivalent of those ridiculous dudebros on YT, who will make a 22 layer steak burrito turduckenhog, deepfry each layer of it, and then baste the whole thing in beer, and try and eat it?

I mean, I guess I can see that, as it's an incredibly stupid waste of resources for nothing more than spectacle, it's ultimately unhealthy, overblown, and only serves to prove nothing of merit about the taste of the thing.

 

[BrawlMan]

​

 

[Phoenixmgs]

It was rather bad in the worst kinda sense, it was just boring. At least BvS was unfathomably bad and it was entertaining in that sense. I really didn't care about any of the characters or what was going on really. It gives more time with the characters but it really doesn't do as much as a standalone movie would've. When Flash gets hit in the underground tunnel fight, I don't know if it's something he can walk off or did that really hurt because his abilities aren't setup with a standalone movie. And him getting hit by that parademon was some bullshit. But the characters are just "blah" pretty much; Flash is the unfunny funny comic relief (as someone else put) and DAT run is so bad, Batman seems so uninterested most of the time, Cyborg is pretty boring, Wonder Woman is alright, Aquaman is again very boring.

What's with some of the lines being super cringe like Cyborg always has clothes on or whatever. What's with the Atlantians needing air to talk normally? Those scenes are so weird. If the baddies need the Mother Boxes to change all their worlds, why did they wait so long to come and get them because it seems like taking over worlds is their Tuesday and Steppenwolf needs to conquer 50,000 worlds to get back on Darkseid's good side apparently? It would seem the Mother Boxes are extremely important to their whole enterprise and they just left them on Earth for thousands of years?

Anyway, the biggest misstep of the movie was a huge missed opportunity on song choice during the scene where Batman needs to knock a little bit harder...

 

[Samtemdo8]

It wasn't enough to have The Snyder Cut

 

[BrawlMan]

It wasn't enough to have The Snyder Cut

That's a problem with unpleasable fan bases and fanboys/gurl. It's never enough. They got what they wanted and they're still not satisfied.

 

[Piscian]

My gut tells me it won't get a ton of traction, but you never really know with Warner "Giant spider" Bros. Their executives seem just so out of tune with audiences. I think the Snyder cut mania has a kind of storied history behind it when you think about all the juicy myths and artifacts behind films like Alien 3, Blade Runner and the currently mia neil blomkamp Aliens film. I think it was kind of a holy grail moment with the studio being painfully transparent that the theatrical release was a was trainwreck of missing scenes so obvious that scene and story transitions left audiences baffled, Zack being fired midway through production and him being candid about what was missing.

Fans eat that shit up, myself included and its probably just fun to get hyped up about that sort of thing.

All that said, audience reaction as a whole has been kind of tepid. I definitely admit I'm a basement dwelling comicbook nerd and I...didn't like any of it. Not really. Man Of Steel's whiny brooding superman with his psychotic dad was blegh. BVS was a complete dumpster fire. Wonder Woman was ok, idk it didn't floor me like it did everyone else. I didn't like Aquaman either, I thought it was more CGI than movie with atrocious plotting. WW84 was hilariously bad. I feel somewhat hypocritical in saying I liked ZS Justice League because despite the positive things I'll say about it, it has problems and frankly I feel pretty confident I'll never watch it again.

With the sole exception of Wonder Woman I haven't heard a single person legitimately excited to continue with this iteration. WB could post a single teaser saying the team behind JLU, or even James Gunn was plotting a new live action universe and fans would abandon the Snyder verse in a heartbeat.

I think fans just want DC to do something, whatever it has to be. It's worth noting, they could easily reboot the whole thing, keep Gal Gadot and Shazam and pretend Snyders films never existed and I think Fans would embrace that too.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

All that said, audience reaction as a whole has been kind of tepid.

I think fans just want DC to do something, whatever it has to be.

I don't know about that first part. Millions of people are talking about it on twitter (which I only mention that because I think they're the only platform that tracks this kind of thing). I think there are 1.5 million hits right now, compared to The Falcon and Winter Soldier's 60 thousand from the latest episode. I mean, there's most definitely rabid fans just bumping up the numbers. They're even getting organized with how they do it. But yeah, I think there's genuinely a good number of people who really enjoyed the movie. They might be a vocal minority, but there's still a shit ton of them.

As for the second thing, I'd have to agree. In around 7 or 8 years of the DCEU being a thing, they've only managed to put out 8 movies. Which is actually pretty respectable, but insignificant compared to the MCU. It doesn't help that people seem divided over what's good in the DCEU. People who liked Suicide Squad and BvS hate Birds of Prey and Shazam. The DCEU is a fucking mess, and unlike pretty much every other director from the universe, Snyder had some actual vision. It was a kind of a shit vision, but he was the only one who seemed interested in furthering this universe. I think people are latching on to that.

 

[Piscian]

I don't know about that first part. Millions of people are talking about it on twitter (which I only mention that because I think they're the only platform that tracks this kind of thing). I think there are 1.5 million hits right now, compared to The Falcon and Winter Soldier's 60 thousand from the latest episode. I mean, there's most definitely rabid fans just bumping up the numbers. They're even getting organized with how they do it. But yeah, I think there's genuinely a good number of people who really enjoyed the movie. They might be a vocal minority, but there's still a shit ton of them.

As for the second thing, I'd have to agree. In around 7 or 8 years of the DCEU being a thing, they've only managed to put out 8 movies. Which is actually pretty respectable, but insignificant compared to the MCU. It doesn't help that people seem divided over what's good in the DCEU. People who liked Suicide Squad and BvS hate Birds of Prey and Shazam. The DCEU is a fucking mess, and unlike pretty much every other director from the universe, Snyder had some actual vision. It was a kind of a shit vision, but he was the only one who seemed interested in furthering this universe. I think people are latching on to that.

I should have made it clear I mean the DCEU as a whole has had a tepid response. I actually forgot all about BOP. I liked that one, I was kinda sad it bombed. I can't describe in words how much I hated Suicide Squad. The positive reaction to ZSJL on the other hand has been impressive and interesting.

This is quite honestly the first ZS film I've seen that had some genuine heart to it. I ponder that perhaps Zack just had more time to review his material with outside voices, but it's got a few scenes, like Cyborgs interaction with that woman losing her home, that in 2021 it's difficult not to feel feelings about. This kind of thing in the DCEU is a rare breed on a lot of levels. I still think it'll cool off, but I'm a terrible gambler.

 

[BrawlMan]

actually forgot all about BOP. I liked that one, I was kinda sad it bombed. I can;t describe in words how much I hated Suicide Squad. The positive reaction to ZSJL on the other hand has been impressive and interesting.

I'm a big fan of Birds Of Prey too, but it did not bomb. The box office sales were average. The film being in theaters when Covid just got started wasn't helping either. The DVD and Blu-ray sales made a ton of money back. The other problem being that a lot of teenagers, mostly girls, that liked Suicide Squad, could not see it in theaters because of the R rating.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I'm a big fan of Birds Of Prey too, but it did not bomb. The box office sales were average. The film being in theaters when Covid just got started wasn't helping either. The DVD and Blu-ray sales made a ton of money back. The other problem being that a lot of teenagers, mostly girls, that liked Suicide Squad, could not see it in theaters because of the R rating.

Is 200 million USD average??? Especially when it cost half that to make the movie, not considering all the advertising. Although from what I remember, it was somewhat of a controversy that the movie barely got any advertising, and what we did get was very confusing.

OT: I've been seeing a lot of #RestoreTheSnyderverse, and I have to say, it seems a little disrespectful. The man has gone on record saying that he wants to move on. I certainly wouldn't want to go back to a job that not only seems kinda toxic, but is also a constant reminder of a personal tragedy. Maybe the fandom should put their effort towards finding a suitable replacement for him instead of pressuring him to come back.

 

[BrawlMan]

Is 200 million USD average??? Especially when it cost half that to make the movie, not considering all the advertising. Although from what I remember, it was somewhat of a controversy that the movie barely got any advertising, and what we did get was very confusing.

Still made up for it in DVD/Blu Ray Sales, and I love the movie anyway, so I am not upset.