21
May
Sucker Punch, Zack Snyder’s sexified 2011 action-fantasy mashup, hit shortly after the director had come off his ambitious (although reliably divisive) movie adaptation of Alan Moore’s groundbreaking Watchmen comic title. With the director having notably made waves behind the camera for 2004’s Dawn of the Dead and 2006’s 300, Snyder’s perceived genre gravitas—and imagery of scantily-clad women with swords and guns—was a clear selling point. While the film flopped, a recent reveal has, curiously, ignited fervor for a Sucker Punch Snyder Cut. Snyder’s attention at the moment clearly centers on the premiere of Netflix film Army of the Dead, which…
07
Apr
In addition to being a rare four-hour blockbuster, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, has been one of the most fascinating movie experiments in some time. Due in part to an unfailingly passionate fan campaign, Warner Brothers’ major DC superhero team-up got two bites at the apple, first with the studio-favored Justice League (2017), then with director Zack Snyder’s cut on HBO Max last month. The existence of the pair has provided an interesting case study in exactly what audiences really prefer. Based on fan response (and our own, albeit mixed, review), it would appear that a singular,…
22
Mar
A few months ago, we learned that Warner Bros. executives considered Zack Snyder’s Justice League to be a cul-de-sac. Which is to say, it’s a road to nowhere that will leave the DC Extended Universe exactly where it started. That opinion apparently is shared throughout WarnerMedia despite the apparent success of the newly released Snyder Cut. In fact, WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff is ready to stop now any possible rumors about director David Ayer getting to oversee his own cut of 2016’s Suicide Squad. “We won’t be developing David Ayer’s cut,” Sarnoff said flatly and directly when Variety broached the…
20
Mar
This article contains spoilers for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. There’s a whole lot going on at the end of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. For fans of Zack Snyder who were always on board with his unique vision for the DC Universe, the movie is a four hour feast, a celebration, and a vindication…but it ends with a tease for a Justice League 2 that promises to be even more intense and weighty than the director’s existing DCEU trilogy that began with Man of Steel. The Justice League epilogue is perhaps the most buzzy and infamous part of the Snyder Cut.…
20
Mar
This article contains spoilers for Zack Snyder’s Justice League and other DC movies. The timeline of the DC Extended Universe began in a fairly clear manner, with most of the events of Man of Steel set in 2013. As more films were released, containing flashbacks, or lacking a clear chronological setting, things became increasingly complicated. And by the time we got to Birds of Prey film, its precise placement in the DCEU is downright murky. But there are contextual in-universe clues in the form of media, gravestones, mugshot photos, or throwaway lines of dialogue that provide some clarity. With the…
19
Mar
This article contains spoilers for zack snyder’s justice league. The long-awaited Snyder Cut is here at last. After nearly four years of rumors, innuendos, hints, allegations, online harassment, and everything else that’s good and bad about fandom, Zack Snyder’s Justice League has been willed into existence by the filmmaker and his legions of fans. Four hours long–one for each year you’ve had to endure the clamor of Snyder acolytes demanding the filmmaker’s vision be restored–Zack Snyder’s Justice League is the ultimate version of the movie that Snyder never completed in 2017. Instead the version of the film that reached theaters…
19
Mar
In the modern age of widescreen televisions and 4K ultra HD streaming, it likely took a few viewers by surprise. When you load up Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max, the streaming service offers the following notice: “This film is presented in a 4:3 format to preserve the integrity of Zack Snyder’s creative vision.” In other words, no, you cannot adjust your TV or HBO Max account to make the black bars on the side of the image go away. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was filmed in a square frame, and that’s the way Snyder wants you now to…
19
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. Joe Manganiello was supposed to make numerous appearances in the DCEU as Deathstroke, a noted villain, antihero, assassin, and all around badass. His appearance in the post-credits scene of the theatrical cut of Justice League was little more than a cameo, one which explicitly stated that Lex Luthor wanted Manganiello’s Slade Wilson to be the first of a team of villains that could match the Justice League. In other words, it was a setup for a Justice League 2 that would never arrive. But the version of that scene in Zack Snyder’s…
19
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. She’s the only League member left in an uncertain place. During a triumphant montage in Zack Snyder’s Justice League epilogue—a sequence which likely would’ve closed out the film before 2020’s reshoots added extra scenes—nearly all the heroes appear at peace. Superman finally gets the iconic shirt-rip; Batman stands on the Bat-tank from The Dark Knight Returns, looking into the night; and Cyborg grieves his father. But Wonder Woman? Gal Gadot’s beloved superhero is in an ambiguous place in her signoff. When last we see Wonder Woman, Diana Prince stands once again before…
19
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a lot of movie. It’s four hours plus of superhero action with some heavy mythological overtones. And it’s ending isn’t even a single ending to this story…it’s multiple endings. And each of these multiple endings is meant to set up a host of spinoff movies and Justice League sequels that we will unfortunately never get to see! We’ll consider the “main” ending of the film, the one that wraps up the initial story begun in 2013’s Man of Steel, to be the defeat of Steppenwolf. But from…
19
Mar
This Zack Snyder’s Justice League article contains spoilers. Despite the heroes’ best efforts throughout the four-hour epic, Zack Snyder’s Justice League still ends in scorched earth, with Darkseid’s forces decimating whatever’s left of the planet’s surface, turning it into a wasteland. Even after defeating Steppenwolf and preventing the disaster of Unity, it’s still not enough to stop what’s been coming to Snyder’s version of the DCEU since Bruce had his first “Knightmare” in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Or so it seems in an almost 10-minute-long epilogue, which includes a cameo from Jared Leto’s Joker especially shot for the…
18
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. Let it be said that to the very end, Zack Snyder did it his way. In an era where superhero entertainment, and all other branded media, is shaped by what conference rooms think fans want, Snyder somehow pushed through a transgressive view of DC icons like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman that was brooding, unsettling… and memorable. Fans certainly haven’t forgotten Snyder’s self-described “deconstructionist” Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or that it was meant to carry onward into Justice League. It’s that diehard loyalty among true believers which did the seeming…
18
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. We have a (relatively) spoiler free review here. Well, they finally released the Snyder Cut! Zack Snyder’s Justice League is now out in the world (and streaming on HBO Max) and it’s four hours of the director’s undiluted, controversial take on the DC Universe. It’s even more packed with DC history than the “official” theatrical release, if you can believe that, and it builds out the world of the DCEU in some new and unexpected ways. There’s no shortage of DC Comics Easter eggs in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and even nods…
18
Mar
The release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a moment that belongs to the fans who petitioned for years to not just see a more definitive version of 2017’s Justice League but director Zack Snyder‘s complete vision for a Justice League film. While the discourse over the quality of that vision will wage on, our own critic suggests that Snyder doesn’t quite achieve his goals for a Justice League film much less the idea of a live-action Justice League film so good that it somehow becomes hard to imagine that idea ever being done better. Perhaps some of those shortcomings…
18
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. Whether you love or hate his style, there is no denying Zack Snyder is an original. From 300 to Watchmen, and Man of Steel to Justice League, his characters often hover above the screen as much as occupy it. They’re mythic figures who’ve stepped off a Botticelli canvas, or at least Frank Miller comic book panels, and they’re imbued with such a sense of scale from their director that the aesthetic is nigh impossible to duplicate. That is only clearer now thanks to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a restored four-hour edit of…
18
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. The influence of the legendary Jack Kirby permeates almost every single aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But despite creating an impressive corner of the DC Comics cosmic mythology in the 1970s, his Fourth World and New Gods concepts have yet to be properly represented in live action. That, of course, changed with 2017’s Justice League movie, which saw the introduction of Steppenwolf, as well as other concepts from the Fourth World mythos such as Mother Boxes and Darkseid. And now those concepts are even more on display in Zack Snyder’s Justice…
18
Mar
This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. DARKSEID IS…finally in the DC movie universe with the long-awaited release of The Snyder Cut of Justice League. And with Darkseid comes a whole host of plots, tools, and general bad dudes to help him destroy the universe. The most core to his being? The Anti-Life Equation. In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Steppenwolf is still very much the main baddie of the film, exiled to Earth for failing to deliver enough worlds to his master, Darkseid. But Steppenwolf discovers a way to redeem himself when he learns that Earth contains a secret…
