The Snyder Cut Is A Travesty, Not A Triumph For Film Fans
The internet campaign has won out after a lengthy battle, but at what cost?
Well, DC fanboys, your dreams and prayers have been answered. Warner Bros has officially greenlit and confirmed they will release the Snyder cut of Justice League in 2021 on their streaming service, HBO Max.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Zack Snyder, director of Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and the aforementioned Justice League (2017), had to leave the project mid-production due to some tragic personal circumstance. Joss Whedon took over and finished things up for him. But, for the last two and a half years we’ve heard rumours of how Snyder’s intended vision never came to fruition and fans were left disappointed that they never got to see his original, supposedly darker, version of this DC superhero team up.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut became a trend that disappointed DC fans got behind. They didn’t like what they got and they voiced their frustrations by barraging twitter, and pretty much, every other site with it.
Then, when the stars of the movie: Ben Affleck, Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot all tweeted the hashtag, people lost their shit. It not only gave those asking for it some hope, but gave this campaign some surprising longevity and it has not gone away.
I must confess I was intrigued by the notion of an alternative cut being in existence. Let me place my cards on the table and make clear of my position. I’ve liked but not loved these DCEU films. I was a big fan of Man of Steel (2013) and I really liked Shazam! (2019). I think Zack Snyder is clearly a talented film maker and I think some of the imagery he produces on screen is borderline breath-taking and he has a very unique and distinct style.
It’s nice to see that film fans still have a voice and have the ability to be heard. Passion is something we should never try and quell. They wanted something, now they’re getting it. The finer details are yet to be finalised; but the Snyder Cut may ultimately be released in several parts like a TV series.
Whilst many people will be rejoicing over this news, on reflection, it is ultimately a moment of utter despair for a film fan. This news is just bad and, sadly, a slap in all our faces.
Straight up, this is shameful act from Warner Bros to entice people into subscribing to their new streaming service. It really is that simple. They want your money and to make you suckers. This is a cheap way of promoting their upcoming streaming service and they’re not even slick with it. Warner Media Entertainment chairman, Robert Greenblatt, issued the following statement:
“Well, the fans have asked, and we are thrilled to finally deliver. At the end of the day, it really is all about them and we are beyond excited to be able to release Zack’s ultimate vision for this film in 2021. This could never have happened if it weren’t for the hard work and combined efforts of the teams at HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures.”
The last sentence says it all – this is going to be one of the flag poles HBO Max launches around and they will beat this drum many times in the next few months, I assure you.
Let’s not forget to address the obvious as well – Justice League (2017) sucked. If you liked it, good for you. But, I found it to be painfully boring, bland and generic. I wanted the film to be incredible; all those superheroes in the same film should’ve been fun as all hell and memorable, but it wasn’t in the slightest. Furthermore, Justice League is potentially one of the biggest box office failures in modern history. A return of $657.9 million on a $300 million budget is enough to make you want to cry.
The fallout from this movie was massive too. Warner Bros virtually scrapped the idea of wanting to carry on a story line with any crossover of the characters. They instead want all their movies moving forwards to be very much standalone. This launches us into a number of different issues with this recent announcement.
Justice League, whilst not my cup of tea, was much more critically positive with audiences then the other DCEU films that proceeded it. What were the main differences? Tone and vision. The darker, grittier instalments were not well received by either critics or audiences – Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Shazam were light-hearted and successes. So to then revert back to Snyder’s more depressing tone is slightly bizarre.
The most incredulous thing about this is that Warner Bros. has already done this! Batman v Superman was also a massive flop. There’s no way you convince me that these sorts of films shouldn’t be hitting over $1billion at the box office, and they didn’t even sniff it.
A few months after it tanked in the cinema, Warner Bros. released an ‘extended cut’ of B v S. Long story short, it was miles better than the original version. But it showcased how studio interference and pathetic editing ruined what could’ve been, at the very least, respectable films. But, instead there was too much outside interference which robbed all us filmgoers.
This is the key here, for all the studio heads out there – release the best version of the film the first time round. Not the second, or third, or whatever the fuck. Don’t make fun of us people who pay our good money to watch your films, it’s despicable.
Again, the timing of this move makes little sense. A lot has changed in the creative vision and direction of the DCEU in the time since the film came out. One notable thing is that we had Batman fucking re-cast. Batfleck is out, and we’ve got Battinson now. Am I the only thinking how can they be pushing out more content of an actor they’ve replaced, and, if he’s well received will only have fans thinking why on earth didn’t they fight to keep Affleck as the Batman and have him directing?
This is not a brave decision from the studio, there’s nothing courageous about it. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Their inability to make very good DC films is a pain in the ass for us all. This has nothing to do with fandom but rather money, money, money.
Yes, that loud minority will be happy that they’ll get a dark Justice League and yes I’d prefer that to the crap we actually got. But, don’t mock us film fans. Release the proper and best version of the film the first time round.
Last thing, because I’m self-aware enough to acknowledge this is coming across a bit ranty. Reports are emerging saying the studio is going to have to spend $20-30 million to get this done – mainly on special effects one would imagine. I mean that’s not some spare change, that’s a lot of money. The studio could’ve made a smaller budget film or many films with that kind of cash. But no, the logical thing to do is to stop any new, original content being made and use that money instead on a re-release of a 3 year old film.
Dumb fucks.