GENERATING GREATNESS- Zack Snyder's Justice League- Redemption

2017’s Justice League was a commercial and critical disaster and an insulting representation of original director Zack Snyder’s vision. A family tragedy had caused Snyder to exit the film Avengers and Buffy The Vampire Slayer director, Joss Whedon was given the helm. Let’s just say it didn’t work out so well. The horrendous film sparked numerous fan petitions and after years of pleading and struggling, the fans got what they deserved. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was officially released on HBO Max this year and it has received near universal praise. Snyder is not one of the celebrated comic book directors so how could this movie surpass the expectations of critics and lovers alike. In this month’s issue of Generating Greatness, we will be figuring out what made Zack Snyder’s Justice League so good by using 3 arguments:

- Plot points going beyond the face value

- Emotional richness (and development)

- Tonally consistent (with differences not being forced)

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

The plot points and character developments are not superficial in this movie unlike what Josstice League did. Every character has a clear motivation that people can support or, at the very least, sympathize with. Every character has separate motivations that tie into the main plot. They don’t just defeat Steppenwolf to save the world, the primary motivation is partially fueled by their personal motivations. Barry’s motivation to move past his mother’s death and make something of himself, Bruce’s motivation to not fail Clark in death, Cyborg’s motivation to be human again and so on. Even Steppenwolf has a motivation. It may not be strong but it makes us pity his condition as he has no interest in Earth, he just wants to return home. This is best explained by pinning the theatrical and director’s cut side by side. In the theatrical version, Steppenwolf acquires the third mother box OFF SCREEN! Here, we have a beautiful moment of Silas Stone sacrificing himself to mark the box so that the justice league can save the world. It’s not just the added emotion that makes it great, it’s also the fact that we can see Steppenwolf acquire the motherbox by himself instead of the film just hinting at it.

UPHOLDING EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OVER PLOT

Now, there is a specific type of movies that fall under this category. Character-driven films. Shazam! And Spider-Man 2 are examples of character driven films. Now, they’re far from being bad but the general audience aren’t often interested in movies like these as they grow character before furthering the plot. They like movies like The Avengers that makes the plot and characters develop arm in arm which is great but the avengers are never really known for stories that are about them being down to earth. On the other hand, The Justice League do. Most of their stories, good and bad, focus on the human side of being a superhero. Tower a babel is introducing the humane element of distrust in the justice league. Identity Crisis instills doubt. Heroes In Crisis shows the consequences of keeping trauma unchecked. Now of course not all of these are great stories but this is why comics JL is far more iconic than comics Avengers. So, this movie NEEDED to be slow and needed time to build character. Though some of the interpretations are fundamentally wrong, they still develop beautifully and fit into Zack’s established continuity. The greatest example of this comes in the film’s emotional centre, Cyborg. Victor Stone goes through a drastic change in this movie. He is impulsive, he shows emotions, he doesn’t fully understand himself, he’s desperate to be human again but he eventually learns to embrace who he is and he takes pride in the person that he once was AS WELL AS the one that he is NOW. Victor’s character develops smoothly. He has all the reasons to be cold, to sacrifice his humanity, to use his gifts against mankind but he chooses to be defined by his heart. He chooses to be defined by the love that his father could not express. He chooses to honour his father by being the one thing that he couldn’t be and the contrast is marvelous. The line “I’m not broken…..and I’m not alone.” Makes Cyborg’s arc come full circle as he finds the balance between his humanity and his intelligence. This is the emotional richness that was sacrificed for the sake of furthering the plot in Josstice League. This is why people called Josstice League “The Avengers but infinitely worse.” Because these characters were never meant to replicate The Avengers. This is what was fundamentally wrong about Whedon’s film and this IS ZSJL’S GREATEST STRENGTH.

FITS WHERE IT BELONGS

The tone of this movie may not resonate with everyone but this is the best possible scenario. Whedon’s film felt jarringly out of place and disconnected from the rest of the greater DCEU due to its sudden shift in tone. Shazam’s shift in tone felt natural as the characters in it were set up that way. Cheerful, joyous, breathing energy to the dark and grim DCEU. However, Josstice League didn’t work the same way as the characters had been previously set up and dangerously contrasted with their previous interpretations. Zack always wanted a grounded yet glorious tale but Whedon’s approach was more of a fun summer action blockbuster kind of thing. It was light hearted, energetic and didn’t belong in the DCEU. Here’s a simple analogy. Let’s say you’re watching a crime documentary on Netflix. It’s great, it’s scary, it doesn’t sit well with you sometimes but it’s fine. Now, you start binging all the documentaries under the crime genre. You’re watching them one by one, all dark twisted tales when suddenly, you’re hit with a documentary about comedians. The contrast is so jarring that you feel like you missed a documentary that was hinting towards this one and if you’re as cynical as me then you’ll understand that the documentary doesn’t BELONG in that section. This is the case of Josstice League. Where ZSJL was another crime documentary, Josstice League was not and hence the entire binge session tends to leave a bad taste in your mouth and feels incomplete.

Is Zack Snyder’s Justice League the best CBM ever? No, far from it. Maybe in the top 10. Is it a bad movie? No. It’s a great watch with fantastic pacing and development that will keep you invested at all times. Is it an improvement? Yes. By a landslide. In conclusion, if you see a woman just start screaming the ancient lament.