Anticipating The Snyder Cut

March 18 is when we will be treated with the release of the 4-hour, Zack Snyder's version of the movie Justice League — otherwise known as The Snyder Cut — if you have a subscription to HBO Max. Back in 2017, we got the theatrical release of the movie — now acknowledged unofficially as 'Whedon's Cut' — which proved to be rather dull and such a disappointment. Since then, fans have rallied, demanding Warner Bros. to publish the original rendering written and directed by the architect and mastermind of the DC Extended Universe himself, Zack Snyder, who previously quit the project mid-production amid a family tragedy and a creative clash with the studio and handed it to Joss Whedon, formerly the Zack Snyder of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whedon finished the movie with significant rewrites and reshoots, as ordered by the studio, resulting in something allegedly quite different from Snyder's vision and what he intended it to be. Vanity Fair has just issued an extensive coverage all about it here.

I personally admire how the DCEU is artistically and intellectually dark as opposed to the lighter tone that the mainstream audience (thus the studio) might prefer and expect from the superhero genre and DC Comics' most beloved characters. I understand where they're coming from. This kind of blockbusters must come with big commercial and financial responsibilities and something that is not warmly accepted by critics and fans alike might be considered off-path. Snyder's DC movies might be a little heavy and depressing to most people (though not to me because 'dark and depressing' is my cup of tea). But I'm glad he chose to go that way, providing an entirely distinguished experience from what I get from the MCU. I just think they should just take it slow and allow us time to build up affection towards those legendary characters, let them grow on us over time. Instead, after Man of Steel, they seemed to just rush into it, what with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice as a prequel to Justice League in place of a preferable sequel for Superman or another introductory standalone feature on another character.

I think it unnecessary to compete with the MCU, although the comparison will always be there. Fact is, if we're to compare, they're already way behind, if not on a tonally contrasting level. The MCU delivered four Avengers movies over the course of more or less ten years, with a few individual character ones in between to articulately bridge and connect the whole saga and gradually escalated fans' investment in each of the many characters. This year, they've stepped into a fresh new saga by launching several series focusing more on their less major but surprisingly just as intimate characters. And boy, do they succeed.

On the other hand, the DCEU only started in 2013 and by 2017 they had already gathered six globally famed comic book characters we recognised but hardly knew anything about in the context of the cinematic universe. Ergo, keeping in my mind Zack Snyder's creative style and sensing I have no — or at least not enough — rooted sentimental values on these character, I decided to view it more as a film and less as an object of my superhero fandom and emotional investment in order to appreciate it better. Dawn of Justice won my favour for its visual poetry, melancholic attributes, and Ben Affleck as Batman, but I had a hard time engaging with the characters. With 2017’s Justice League, it's all over the place. Suddenly they bring forth Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg all at once before throwing, in Steppenwolf, a supposedly big bad supervillain that popped out of nowhere, which doesn't perceive even remotely big. Not to mention it lacks the usual visual poetry and all that, which I'm now hoping to get from The Snyder Cut to make up for it.

So yes, I am looking forward to spending four hours to watch The Snyder Cut, but again, not because of the superhero characters it depicts, but for a cinematic piece of art that it bodes to be. Perchance, however rushed, it might just be able to make the entire DCEU and Justice League-related pieces, actually work.