What is the Snyder Cut?

For those of you who just arrived from another galaxy and are catching up on current events the Justice League Snyder cut Justice League movie previewed worldwide on Thursday 18th of March. As of today’s date, it sets at 74% on the Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ with 209 reviews and with a 96% audience score showing 25,000+ Ratings.

To say it was successful would be an understatement. This director’s vision should satisfy the fans who willed it into existence but it is also converting some critics who disliked the 2017 version with a positive response to Snyder’s 4-hour movie. Not since the Donner cut of Superman II in 2006, which was a fan-driven experience also, has anything like this happened.

The number one complaint about the movie is the run time of 4 hours conversely a big complaint with the 2017 Justice League was that it was too short with no character development and it seemed fragmented with an incoherent story that was very messy. Those that do not like Zack Snyder as a director did not like this movie also calling it cumbersome and much more of the same meaningless story and just longer.

What really is the Snyder cut? The movie is a fan service that has everything Snyder thought would please the fans that willed it into existence. It began with an extended scene of the death of Superman at the hands of Doomsday with his screams activating the Mother Boxes from Apokolips as the camera went to the locality of each box. It ended with the appearance of the Martian Manhunter to Bruce Wayne who just dreamed about the nightmare sequence on a futuristic Darkseid dominated earth.

The product works well on a streaming service with natural breaks between the chapters of which there are seven. Feels a lot like binge-watching a series on Netflix or taking your time between views. If you are vested in these characters the time goes by very fast. If you never liked the Snyder version of the characters then you may lose interest or get caught up in the elongated scenes that you feel serve no purpose while forgetting that Snyder made this for fans with the kitchen sink included.

A discerning viewing of the movie reveals touching and outstanding parts of the story like the emotional scene with the young girl being comforted by Wonder Woman after the horrendous fight in the first chapter and the kind act of Cyborg when he used his digital powers to put money in the bank account of a single mother with children when she was broke without a job and evicted from their home. Also when the Flash fought through his pain to save the day as he watched the end of all things then reversed the scene to give the power for Cyborg and Superman to separate the Mother Boxes and triumph in the end while Wonder Woman cut the head of Steppenwolf as his carcass fell through the boom tube at the feet of Darkseid. These scenes only in the Snyder cut of the film.

The movie was epic in delivery and content. While I think there is a 3-hour version of this movie that would suffice in telling the story well enough I am glad he made this extravaganza of a movie for the fans. It is a movie experience that will be talked about for years because it is truly Zack Snyder’s film. Snyder is a visual artist and if you like his work you will love this movie. The film is different from the original in delivery and content with a substantial story arc for each hero. The only way the Justice League would defeat Steppenwolf was to become a team and this is the story behind the main theme.

The deferred story ending makes place for a future and ends with Darkseid preparing to conquer earth but we may never see that story be told because Synder and Warner Bros. say they have no plans to make more of the Snyderverse. With Lois showing that she used a pregnancy kit and the future Flash telling Batman that ‘Lois is the key’ in the nightmare sequence, we may never see how the death of Lois plays out in the vision of the Snyder story.

In a world that everyone feels that they must be critical of everything and everybody, I really don’t want to dump on this film but enjoy it as something it was intended to be, the final play in the Snyder Universe. As Paul said in the movie Dune ‘Long Live The Fighters’. May we live to fight for the things we believe in and enjoy it when it happens.

One Thought to “What is the Snyder Cut?”

  1. Walt

    The upper management of Major entertainment studios don’t trust filmmakers easily because they want to make money but don’t want to spend money. They know better than the fans what’s good, just ask them.

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