Ok - Justice League: The Snyder Cut.
Positives -
The story is indeed a LOT better and much more coherent. Side characters, especially Cyborg, get a lot more to do and their actions make a lot more sense.
The villain Steppenwolf is no longer one note - he has motivation and a character arc that is surprisingly satisfying and even a touch emotional.
Overall the film has a much more cohesive vision and makes a lot more sense.
Negatives -
The movie is FOUR HOURS. Not that this is especially negative in the context of a streaming service. I was never bored, but the long length did mean I watched it over two days. Thankfully Snyder smartly breaks the movie up into chapters - six parts labeled with title cards, so stopping after 3 chapters felt natural and easy. So not necessarily a negative - but something to be aware of going in.
The movie is NOT light years better or different than the Joss Whedon theatrical cut. It is indeed better and substantially different in parts, but all of the big action set pieces are the same and the key character moments are still pretty much intact and where they were before. There are cosmetic changes (the final act is color graded the way Snyder grades all of his stuff, in grays and deep blacks (as opposed to the red that Joss colored it) and the editing is a bit different here and there - but the big hero key shots are almost all the same.
The movie still doesn't hold a candle to any of the Avengers movies, including the much maligned but underrated (IMO) Age of Ultron.
The movie loses a lot of the humor "Joss" writing, including my favorite scene where Aquaman spills his soul by accidentally sitting on Wonder Woman's lasso. While many nerds will likely rejoice at the loss of humorous moments, I am not one of them. I love to laugh in general, and I always appreciate funny but grounded humor in superhero flicks. It's a shame to lose some of Joss' gems throughout.
Most infuriating for me - the movie is in a 4:3 aspect ratio with giant black bars on the sides of the picture. I had to stop the movie five minutes in and google what was happening - apparently Zack Snyder talked himself into believing that this was the best way to present his vision of the film. My question is - how far up your own ass do you have to be as a filmmaker to think that 4:3 is the way to go anywhere outside of an Imax theater for a superhero movie? Pretty far up is the answer.
Forgive me for harping on this - but I'm going to harp. I stopped the movie and googled "Justice Leage 4:3" and instantly it auto filled to "Justice League 4:3 aspect ratio Snyder cut) and gave me article after article of Zack Snyder's reasoning for this choice.
I just about lost it when I hit his quote about it being the gold standard and that Citizen Kane was shot in 4:3. Zack. I admire you very much as a filmmaker. I love a couple of your movies, like a few more and think that the rest are mediocre. Movie making is hard, I get it, I certainly couldn't do what you do. But for the love of God - because the Wizard of Oz and other cinematic legendary movies were shot in 4:3 in the 1930's and 40's doesn't mean that you should be doing that, ever.
