Zack Snyder’s Justice League Film Review - a podcast by Chris, Sean, Jeremy | Force Fed Sci-Fi

Zack Snyder’s Justice League
This time, we’re taking a special look at Zach Snyder’s Justice League and along the way we ask, could Ben Affleck have been the best onscreen Batman, exactly how much of the film is in slow motion and is there a future for the DC Extended Universe? Let’s dive in…Cast&Crew

Directed by Zack Snyder: After previously directed Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Snyder took on the humongous task of putting his touch on the DC Extended Universe by directing Justice League. However, during production, Snyder’s daughter, Autumn, committed suicide and Snyder along with his wife and producer, Deborah, left the film and Joss Whedon was hired to take over the director duties. Whedon would ultimately wind up rewriting the majority of the film and reshooting close to 80% of the material Snyder had previously shot for the film. 

The cast from the Whedon Cut of Justice League remained unchanged but here’s a quick rundown:Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder WomanJason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman
Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The FlashRay Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg
Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/SupermanCiaran Hinds as Steppenwolf
Jeremy Irons as Alfred PennyworthJ.K. Simmons as Commission Jim Gordon
Joe Morton as Dr. Silas StoneThere are also some newer additions in keeping with the continuity of the previous films:

Willem Dafoe as VulkoJared Leto as The Joker
Harry Lennix as Calvin Swanwick/The Martian ManhunterJesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor
Joe Mangianello as Slade Wilson/DeathstrokeThese two actors had previously appeared in the original Justice League but their scene was completely reworked for the new edition







Aftermath of the Justice LeagueFollowing the release of Justice League in 2017; the film became a massive critical and commercial flop due to Whedon’s rewrites, reshoots and bloated budget of nearly 300 million. Estimates vary on the budget but Warner Brothers had projected that the film had to make over $675 million for the film to become profitable. However, due in part to the critical reception and the lack of major marketing (40% on Rotten Tomatoes and 45% on Metacritic), Justice League only managed to gross $658 million and ultimately cost Warner Brothers $60 million.

Due to Justice League flopping, it put the future of the DC Extended Universe in jeopardy even with the success of films like Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman and Joker bolstering the concept of the shared universe of DC heroes. Even actors in the film expressed disappointment such as Ciaran Hinds who publicly decried his character’s depiction in the film noting it was drastically different from what was originally imagined. Other actors like Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa also expressed their disappointment in Whedon’s decisions in his new cut.Almost immediately following the bomb of Justice League, a fan movement was born on social media and could summed up with a simple hashtag, #ReleasetheSnyderCut and took off from there. It can’t be stated enough just how the original Justice League threw off the trajectory of the entire series with directors Patty Jenkins and James Wan basing their films off of what Zack Snyder was working on with his cut of the film.

Deborah Snyder, who was one of the main driving forces for the films, left the project along with her husband, ultimately crippling the series. Following the growing fan movement and building for over two and a half years, Warner Brothers announced in May 2020 that Zack Snyder would return to release his original vision for the film. He was given $70 million in additional funds to reshoot scenes with the original cast returning, update the visual effects and finish the film score from Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. Major Changes from Joss to Zack
After viewing the film in its four hour entirety,

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