I Watched Both Justice League Movies Back to Back

(**Slight spoilers ahead for both Justice League movies**)

While researching David Lynch’s Dune for an episode of my film review podcast The Winchester, I stumbled across a documentary called Jodorowsky’s Dune. The documentary explored the creative minds behind “greatest movie never made”.

Jodorowsky’s vision of Dune would change the face of science fiction forever. The proposed film would bring together Salvador Dali, Orson Wells, Mick Jagger and H.R. Giger (to name a few), with a soundtrack by Pink Floyd. It would cost a fortune, with a cool runtime of 14 hours, which was just… not marketable.

David Lynch’s 1984 version of Dune is a mess. It feels like a film by committee, pulling together a mishmash of ideas from Lynch, Jodorowsky and studio execs. Lynch remains unhappy with the film to this day, even removing his name from certain cuts of the film.

I can only speculate but it seems like Lynch’s displeasure stems mostly from studio meddling.

Decades later, filmmakers within the DC universe have also spoken to this kind of studio meddling.

After audience backlash accused the Snyder-verse films (Man of Steel and Batman v Superman) of being too dark, DC seemed to pivot and tonally change the films that were already in their docket to be “lighter”. This tone shift drastically changed David Ayer’s Suicide Squad according to him. What was eventually released “didn’t represent what he actually made”.

In the case of Zack Snyder’s Justice League vs. Joss Whedon’s Justice League, it feels like a remarkably similar act of meddling. Zack Snyder initially sculpted the DC universe with their blessing and was making Justice League fit into that tonal narrative. Zack Snyder’s Justice League sticks to the darker, bloodier, grittier version of these DC superheroes that we’ve come to know in this universe he’s created.

This Snyder-verse is not quippy and fun like the Marvel universe and forcing it to be that way does not work at all.

I obviously don’t know what discussions happened behind closed doors between DC and Zack Snyder. All of this is pure speculation based on articles I’ve read and movies I’ve watched. That being said, to me, it feels like when Zack Snyder left Justice League partway through due to family tragedy, DC took the opportunity to turn the darker film they agreed to and jammed it into a Marvel mould.

Just like they did with Suicide Squad.

When it was announced that Joss Whedon would take over Justice League I was very confused. Snyder and Whedon are vastly different filmmakers and writers. I knew both of their work intimately and despite being one of Joss Whedon’s biggest fans back then, I knew this was a strange turn of events.

I left the Joss Whedon version of the movie with a ton of questions, and zero understanding of what the movie was trying to say. The villain had zero motivation and did not seem like a threat at all. At one point in Whedon’s version of the film, Steppenwolf says “for Darkseid” when DARKSEID ISN’T EVEN IN JOSS WHEDON’S VERSION OF THE MOVIE. Batman seems like a bumbling idiot, Barry Allen, a historically smart character has truly little to add except stupid throwaway lines, and Cyborg probably got the worst thrashing of all in the script.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and the Avengers were all top of my list growing up. Joss was my hero; I wanted to be able to write and create like him. He put the stories of strong women on screen and as a young woman growing up, those stories resonated with me more than anything else on TV.

In this version of Justice League, Wonder Woman is used as a punch line. (Not to mention he just seems like an overall shitty human being.)

Watching these two movies back-to-back, I can see where things were tweaked, nipped, tucked, or entirely removed and holy fuck, how did they think they could release Joss Whedon’s version of this movie.

Entire plotlines were removed. Things that were ESSENTIAL to understanding the overall arc and motivations of the characters. Critical moments were left to the wayside, replaced with quippy lines, and moments that were downright cringy.

Cyborg is an essential piece of the plot. Understanding his motivation and how he was made adds an entire nuanced layer to Zack Snyder’s movie that was severely lacking in Joss Whedon’s version.

Superman has an entirely different character arc in Zack Snyder’s version of the film. We actually see moments where he comes to terms with being back from the dead and he remembers where he came from.

Plot pieces that might seem superfluous when looking at a script, like Superman going to chat with Alfred, actually add context and texture to the world instead of just throwing Superman at a problem with no explanation.

In Joss Whedon’s version, Superman just appears at the end of the movie to clean up the very incompetent team that Batman has slapped together. Honestly, it’s embarrassing how bad the team seems to be in Joss Whedon’s film.

They don’t seem like heroes at all.

I went into Zack Snyder’s film expecting to hate it. I was not a fan of Man of Steel or Batman Vs. Superman. I have issues with the way Zack Snyder tells stories and I don’t think his movies need to be as long as they are. But there is a stark contrast in these two movies of someone who cut too much, replacing critical plot with snarky lines, and someone who refuses to cut anything.

While I don’t normally agree with the way Zack Snyder tells his stories, he does have vision. And what makes good movies are people who believe in that vision. Slapping something together, changing plot, character motivation and tone partway through production is a sure-fire way to create a film that makes little to no sense and leaves audience members asking why they wasted their precious time and money.

I am usually against fan campaigns to change already existing content. The idea of forcing a creator to make something that conforms to the will of the masses seems like a dangerous line for artists to cross. But in this case, I think it was warranted.

I am shocked at how much I enjoyed Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League. If I had seen it in a vacuum, without Joss Whedon’s version I don’t know if I’d have the same reaction but watching them back to back was almost cathartic. All the questions I left the Joss Whedon version of the film with were answered in Zack Snyder’s version. It was very satisfying to watch everything come together and have a, dare I say, more capable storyteller, pat me on the back and say, don’t worry, I got you.

Could things have been cut from Zack Snyder’s version? Yes. We don’t need an extended shot of someone sniffing a sweater, but ultimately this version of the film is just astronomically better.

Zack Snyder, I am glad you got to make your movie and didn’t have to follow in David Lynch’s shoes.