This past week, the wolf was seen and it was fine, the boy survived.
Although I must be the first to admit my feelings going into Justice League Snyder Cut was the exact same as going into see the 2017 Justice League movie, low bar just hoping to be entertained for a few hours. Although now with JLSC, it would be an entire evening. But I come out of each experience pretty much the same, amused but slightly perplexed. My biggest take away from this new 4 hour journey is finding myself asking if I even just watched a movie or something completely new, the new face of fan demand playing out on screen. I will admit a lot of aspects felt more like fanfiction or fan service being played out than anything that seemed like an actual feature film. I will say this much, it is something you have to see for yourself, no review will do the Snyder Cut justice, each journey through it will be unique onto itself.
I am coming into this event as a big comic book fan, technically a bigger comic book fan than a comic book movie fan if that makes any sense. My opinion is that this massive trend in superhero movies and shows is fine, but that the best way to tell these stories is page by page, panel by panel, the dance of strong vocabulary and out of this world artwork. Comic books are one of a kind, sacred to me in every sense of the word. If someone is jaded by all the moving pictures of heroes in capes, I would challenge you to read the classics like Kingdom Come, Watchmen and even Grant Morrison’s seminal run on the Justice League. These are big stories being told that not only serve as a reflection of the medium itself, but are great mirrors into ourselves and our own created mythology. And those are just the tip of the iceberg, there is a universe of stories already written and drawn for you to explore, the beauty is you can pick up or download a single issue, one graphic novel or the entire series run of 50 years and going, the choice is yours how you want to consume it and at what pace.
Comic book adaptations have been happening for some time now, we had Superman in black and white all the way to the big screens, not to mention cartoons, tv series and video games. This has been a part of us longer than the 2008 explosion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that made it trendy and lucrative to say the least. Monkey do, monkey makes bank and every monkey wants to copy and paste. You had everything from Hasbro toys to Universal monsters trying to create a “movie universe” style of storytelling, which is a bit of a stretch in a lot of ways, however Warner Bros had the one property that if it was copied beat to beat could very well get away with it, a clean pass with DC Comics and properties. What we got was different, oh so very different. Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel came out and was an extremely bleak time eating popcorn, but beyond the lack of sunshine and hope, everyone was hoping to see this film as the launch of the bigger DC Comics movie universe or the DC Entertainment Universe as it was called. It would be revealed that it was the beginning of the bigger story though, you just had to look closer, and this was the beginning of some really bad ideology taking shape. You either got it or you weren’t a real fan. The real fan understood it all, was appreciative and accepted it all as it was given, if you didn’t you could leave the grown ups and go watch your Avengers fight the big mean purple man with the coloured stones. Adults only here, and we got the movies that ask the bigger questions and challenge the movie going experience. This would be slightly true as we would soon find out.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. An important moment in this entire timeline and Snyder Cut saga. This movie was, well it was a lot of things to be honest. Personally I thought it was an absolute mess, it was a job maker in how much it gave content creators the ability to dissect it piece by piece, how badly it missed the mark not only as a film but as a comic book adaptation in general. That is if you didn’t get it. The real fans saw this as the next big step for the DCEU, this was the beginning of the bigger universe taking shape, you just didn’t get it. The beast kept growing and growing, the more anyone would try and criticize it, the more you would see soldiers jumping on grenades and taking swords to the gut to protect the sacred purity of this universe, worts and all this was the princess that would be protected, this was the hill to die on. Despite how off Lex Luther felt, despite how violent and brutal Batman was (so much for that one rule) and even the deus-Martha machina that brought the heroes together. This was the vision, and you either see it or you’re wrong. And the hits kept on coming, with Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman. One was an absolute neon coloured mess of a film and the other a safer standard movie that felt disconnected to the DCEU because of it’s tone and feel in general, all of this being the build up to 2017’s Justice League. By this point Warner Bros was already trying to attempt a lot of PR work and attempting to stir the ship back on track, the only issue is that they underestimated the loyalty of the Snyder fanbase, they had gone through hell and back but they were going to see this thing through until the very end, Martha and all. Which why the news of Snyder being taken off the Justice League movie was big news, though I feel this was more based on the personal tragedy that affected the director and his wife, a tragedy that is not to be taken lightly, he had ever right to walk away as long as he wanted and unanimously everyone accepted this gracefully. And so we got the Frankenstein mess of a movie that was Joss Whedon’s Justice League, but given all that had happened I personally didn’t feel like ripping it up to pieces, knowing what we knew, you just had to accept it for what it was. Or not.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Knowing that this was a movie taken from the original director, away from his vision and how he was seeing the bigger picture being played out, the fans took the digital spaces in droves and demanded justice for the Justice League, they deserved better and WB owed it to the loyal base to do right by them. And so the movement was born much to the confusion of those on the outside of the rabid fandom. I mean take a movie like Green Hornet, a mediocre film but under then name one of my favourite directors of all time, Michel Gondry. Never did I think to ask, to pressure and demand the true artistic vision of Gondry’s Green Hornet, you know the one with the toy cars being played with by kids, with the radio voice over being placed on still paintings, the one with the grand final fight being recreated with string and cardboard. Although now that I think about it…
#ReleaseTheGondryCut
Unmoved the fandom kept pushing and the movement kept growing, this wasn’t just one fat man outside of a stadium on a hunger strike, this was real. And then one fateful day the stars aligned and WB pulled the trigger, the Snyder Cut was coming! And so was a new HBO Max streaming service, which would be the only place to watch it, what a coincidence. The persistence and the absolute will to bring this idea to life is admirable as it is shocking, makes you think what humanity could do if we all put our heads together, maybe Tower of Babel 2: Heaven or Bust. I mean no matter how you feel about the actual 4 hour experience, something like this is big news, for ill or will, it is going to be seen in the future how the media and the spectator experience changes from here. I will be honest though, I have my fears. But I am coming at this from the place of someone who is making his own original properties, my own stories with character journeys and everything in between. The last thing I would want is a Misery situation, of fans holding you hostage until you give them what they want, what the masses see as the right way of storytelling. I think it is awesome to have things you like, but sometimes we get caught up in the emotions a bit too much. I know I have watched a lot of wrestling matches and blown my lid on the brain headed booking decisions, but honestly I found it was healthier to just turn it off if I didn’t like the product. WWE is notorious for awful booking, but we have so many other wrestling companies, why stay around in a place that makes you mad. Do you need a new comic book film? There are a lot out there and even some that go under the radar. A new horror inspired show? Cooking YouTube channel? Sports team? My point is there is more content out there than time before the sun explodes, we don’t have to chase the same carrot. If Ghostbusters sucked, make your own supernatural firefighter team or something. Star Wars underwhelming, you make your own universe.
That being said, I do have a feeling that the Snyder Cut is going to be an exception. Given how Zack had to step away from the project, this feels right in a lot of ways. And this coming from someone who had no interest in the DCEU storyline at all, I think this is a feel good story for both fans and the director behind the lens. But it will be interesting to see what will be next in this ever changing story of fandom and demand, what will be next in line to be challenged to bend to the will of many, and if it will even work. Only time will tell.
And in the end how was Justice League Snyder Cut? Well it was fine. Take it or leave it, or make your own opinion.
