“Not impressed.”

Zack Snyder’s Justice League might just be the most interesting movie ever made. It’s an entirely different version from the Joss Whedon-ified/studio-mandated original theatrical version in practically every way. Back before the original cut’s initial release, Zack Snyder had to step away from the film due to a family tragedy, and the studio saw this as a chance to completely change the movie to be more like The Avengers, even going as far as to hire Joss Whedon, the director of the first two Avengers movies. The movie, as I alluded to, was changed drastically in post-production, and the version we got was not exactly received well by fans. While I find it enjoyable enough, it’s absolutely forgettable.

However, pretty much immediately after the film’s theatrical release, fans campaigned for a Zack Snyder cut, with all of the original intentions and his vision that he had for the movie. Warner Bros. ignored this outcry for a couple of years, but it eventually got so big that they started discussing with Zack Snyder in late 2019 to release his final version. In early 2020, they gave him the thumbs up to go back and make the movie he originally set out to make, even giving him an eventual total of seventy million dollars to finish visual effects, editing, and do some reshoots. Then, in May of 2020, Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder announced that the Snyder Cut would officially be released on HBO Max in 2021, much to fans' surprise and excitement.

And let me just say, this cut of Justice League is better in pretty much every single way imaginable. Unlike the theatrical version, with all of its out-of-place humor and tonal issues, Zack Snyder’s Justice League actually feels like a sequel to both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman. What I like about it, though, is that the tone isn’t as bleak as those two movies, which were the things that kept those movies from being great to me, especially Man of Steel, which I thought was way too dull for a Superman movie. This version of Justice League is definitely pretty serious and pretty dark, but it is never dull and does have hopeful and lightened-up moments, also including some humor that doesn’t actually feel out of place, unlike the stuff Joss Whedon put into his version. There is also a certain faith and hope aspect to it, especially with Batman, that I really love and think was missing from Snyder’s first two DCEU movies.

This movie also has a much grander and epic feel to it, even aside from its runtime. The plot actually feels like it was the stuff that Batman v Superman was setting up, and there is a sense of dread and tension throughout this movie that gives it more of a serious feel, like there is an actual threat this time. It feels like a big event that actually warrants a group of superheroes teaming up, unlike the theatrical cut. There is more context to both what the villain, Steppenwolf, is planning and capable of doing, which I’ll get more into later.

Despite the runtime, the pacing is absolutely amazing here as well. I mean, it is probably one of the most shockingly impressive pacing I’ve ever seen in a movie. Even though it’s four hours long, which is double what the original was, I’ve seen this film, I believe, four times now, and it never feels as long as it actually is. One of the problems with the theatrical cut was that it was too fast-paced, feeling like it was rushing to set up the team and get to the finish line. Zack Snyder’s version, however, spends most of its time with the additional footage, dedicating itself to character development, which was hardly present before. The reason it never feels long, though, is that all of the character development is incredibly compelling, never should have been cut from the movie, and never even comes close to having too much exposition.

We really get to see the story through the eyes of the characters this time. I’ll start off with the Flash, who had a very minor amount of character development previously, but barely had any impact on the movie when it came to the actual plot. Not only does it expand his motives even more, but he actually does stuff and doesn’t feel like some complete moron who is effectively useless to the team. Especially in the third act, he becomes pivotal to the team’s fight against Steppenwolf and the parademons, and even has arguably the best scene of the entire film. All I’m going to say is, “At the Speed of Force,” which is also the best music track of the whole movie.

Aquaman definitely is the least fleshed-out character up to this point in the timeline (I would say Wonder Woman, but she obviously had her own movie before the theatrical cut of Justice League), but he does get some more development, especially in terms of stuff that’s setting up his movie. Jason Momoa, while definitely not an obvious casting for this role, absolutely nails the character. He’s just “cool” and provides some of the best humor, which isn’t out of place. When it comes to setting up the actual movie Aquaman, there is just enough more content here with all of his “not wanting to take up the throne of Atlantis” to make him more compelling.

But by far the character that gets improved the most is Cyborg. I’ll just flat out say it: he was a nothingburger of a character in the theatrical cut. He was there just to be there and because the plot needed him to be there. His motivations were barely explored, we got hardly any context for his origins, and he had almost no personality at all. Especially after watching both cuts back to back, this is definitely the most egregious and offensive of all the changes that were made. His backstory, particularly everything with his father, paired with the amazing Junkie XL score, is the most poignant stuff in the entire film, and makes him a character you pity and care about. Seeing his journey from beginning to end is incredibly satisfying, and it’s an absolute shame that we never got more of Ray Fisher’s Cyborg in the DCEU.

Now, I’ll come back to Steppenwolf. I just want to first say wow, it’s pretty sad that the CGI of him in a straight-to-streaming version of the movie is actually convincing, unlike the CGI of him in the actual theatrically released movie, where he straight up looks like a PlayStation 3 character (maybe an early era PlayStation 4 character if I’m being generous). Also, his design is fantastic. He’s not ugly anymore and is actually intimidating and looks like a worthy foe for the Justice League. We actually get to see more of his motives this time, too, and so his goal makes a lot more sense now, even if it is still really just for power.

The action and visuals are just fantastic, and it turns out all the fantastic stuff was, in fact, the stuff shot by Zack Snyder in the Whedon cut. There are plenty of standout action sequences, and the third act especially is just a straight-up blast. When it comes to the visuals specifically, it’s definitely got a darker and less saturated tone to it, but it fits the movie, and as it goes along, it does get a little bit brighter just with the nature of the environments the characters are put in. I think the darker look also helps the epic nature and feel as well.

When it comes to my criticisms, I’ll just say that none of them really affect my viewing experience, and are rather nitpicks. The first one I’ll mention isn’t even a nitpick for me, but obviously, I could see the runtime bothering others. Four hours is a lot to ask, especially if you want to watch this movie in one sitting. However, I will say, this movie is separated into chapters, and they don’t feel put in just because of the runtime, but actually do feel like separate chapters, or rather episodes, to make the film more digestible.

I do have one negative for me, personally, but again, it doesn’t really bother me a whole lot. Zack Snyder is known for using a lot of slow-motion effects in his movies, and he especially used plenty during his first two DCEU movies, but I think he used them a bit much in this film. There were definitely plenty of scenes, the first action scene on Themyscira in particular, where it didn’t really make sense. However, there were plenty of uses of slow motion that I actually do think enhanced the movie, obviously with the Flash scenes, but even outside of that, I think some of the sequences with Steppenwolf were warranted (keyword: “some”).

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is better in every way and one of my favorite superhero movies of all time.