Zack Snyder is probably one of the most polarizing directors in Hollywood. Some people love him, some hate him but very few actually seem to be left indifferent with his films.
As a cinematographer his skills are beyond any doubt. He’s naturally gifted, that kind of gift that you are born with and comes out by the spark of inspiration, something that is easily discernible in his unique visual style and insane choreographies.
So much so that you can find some pretty hilarious videos about his work all over the internet.
However most of the criticism he receives seems to be focused at his storytelling ability as a filmmaker and not at the visual effects. But that’s a subject for another day, for now let’s talk about his newest movie.
Justice League
Though it’s not easy to observe but in the prequel movie Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Snyder had already shown some considerable changes in Snyder’s storytelling technique. He seemed more patient with the viewer and more dedicated to engage with the audience by planting all kinds of clever easter eggs in the story line as well and foreshadowing important events that are to come.
Take for example this 4 minute foreshadowing scene that gives a sneak peak of a future world ruled by Darkseid (the main villain of Justice league Part Two) and where Superman has gone dark.
The main aspect to that foreshadowing scene is Barry Allen - “The Flash” - when he says: “It’s Lois, it’s Lois Lane! She’s the key. Am I too soon?”
Now, before we get to Justice League and why the film seem to be disappointing so many fans and critics, it’s important to recall that Zack Snyder had initially stepped down from the movie after the tragic death of his daughter Autumn.
He was then replaced with Joss Whedon who didn’t hesitate in taking some seriously drastic measures and cutting off some significantly important scenes that may or may not have disrupted the flow of the movie.
When Snyder came back, there is still no word on what happened to those scenes, which is why so many people are asking the studio to release the Snyder’s cut.
Kill Your Darlings, Don’t Kill the Flow
Kill your babies is probably one of the most important axioms that many storytellers go by as they polish their work. An adage that revolves around reducing the amount of fluff in the story so that it flows in a manner that captivate the audience.
But in Justice League however, it seems like they took that measure to questionable extremes. It's like you need to trim your hair just a tiny bit, but instead of going to the hairdresser you go seek a butcher, and while at it you change the scissors for the meat cleaver.
Take that foreshadowing scene we just mentioned, that scene was supposed to play into this movie as well, and its continuation is designed to build anticipation for the next one Justice League Part Two, being Darkseid the ultimate villian in the final movie.
But this is not what happened.
Whatever Happened to Dark Superman?
Imagine the initial surprise of the fans when they see Clark Kent rising up as evil Superman instead.
The first thing that comes to mind would be the foreshadowing scene aforementioned, which will probably cause the viewers to immediately start wondering if this is the point where Superman goes bad and helps bring upon that apocalyptic world that was previously teased.
And just like - by creating uncertainty and wonder - you manage to keep the audience on their toes until the final showdown.
Now, by chopping that scene you remove that emotional roller-coaster and you replace it by the stereotypical Superman version where he’s supposed to be some kind of universal ideal that all mothers want as a son-in-law.
A little underwhelming to be honest as you lose some significant depth.
But the consequences of that removed scene do not stop there. You see, by cutting that continuation scene out, you also lose the connecting part that The Flash plays in showing Batman how Lois Lane is the key - which is equally important to the flow of the story.
Instead, this was replaced with a short scene where Superman was beating the living daylight out of everyone, and all of the sudden Alfred opens his car door, Lois comes out and Superman becomes nice 30 seconds later.
The hero’s struggle, the personal demons, the inner battle...etc? Fuck that shit! Cuuuutttt!
Dude, Whatever Happened to the Build Up?
The biggest mistake that Joss Whedon reportedly did in my opinion, was when he entirely removed Darkseid’s entrance scene from the movie.
If that’s the biggest villain you have, then you pretty much need to spend some time building his character as well as the threat that he represents.
Something like what The Walking Dead did with Negan’s entrée en scène, or what Marvel is doing with Thanos.
When you see the Comic Con’s trailers and you hear the public screaming any time Thanos appears on screen, you realize that it’s because they have built in so much connection with the character that it starts to resonate with the audience that start to respond to him.
That’s the crucial part of the build-up, to make sure that the audience have an emotional attachment to the characters.
And that’s why Justice League may have made a terrible mistake by neglecting the build up. Which raises a very important question.
Now, how are you going to introduce the biggest antagonist of all your movies?
“Hello, my name is Darkseid and you’re supposed to fear me”.
On top of it all, they missed out on all the anticipation they could’ve built for the next movie by not introducing the character earlier, and not creating hype around it months in advance like other blockbusters do.
From Strategic Partnerships to Self-Destruction
Snyder’s original cut has some very clever elements that seemed that they were almost strategically implanted in the storyline.
It’s like a induced butterfly effect where you introduce some small changes now to have a massive outcome a few more scenes down the road.
It seems as if almost each of these scenes were scripted with the intention to create anticipation for the upcoming sequel while at the same time appealing to a certain fan-base by teasing a major role for their favorite character.
For The Flash audience it was the introduction of Iris West in this scene - also chopped off - and more importantly, we shouldn’t forget that the cool visuals of the scene were actually heavily promoted in the official trailer, yet never to be seen in the final cut.
Not to mention, you miss out on some build up and anticipation for the Flashpoint movie as well.
Also reportedly cut from the movie were two Green Lanterns, where despite months of spoilers and theories from both fans and critics alike, and despite all the curiosity and anticipation generated with cast members accidental reveals, costume leaks, and all the buzz generated about seeing the Lanterns in action and who plays then, but in the end, it all apparently ended up in a deleted scene.
Here again, after building up so much anticipation in the scene, you delete it and end up letting certain fans down. This starts to add up and you can’t help but create a certain sense of disappointment all around.
Plus, you also lose on building buzz for the upcoming Green Lantern Corps movie.
As you see, all these scenes seemed to be designed to appeal to certain different audiences and combine their fan power. However, for some reason they never made the cut.
The same thing happened with Black Canary who also had her scene chopped away apparently, a scene that was probably going to help build excitement around another highly anticipated DC movie Gotham City Sirens with Harley Quinn.
Even Vikings fans got excited when the rumor started to circulate that it was Katheryn Winnick (the badass heroine of the series) that was supposedly playing Black Canary. But then all of that excitement turned into disappointment as the scene was also chopped off, like so many cool scenes that were as crucial to the flow of the story line as to building up the next movie.
And then you start to understand why everyone wants to see the Snyder's cut as well.
But from all these mysteriously deleted scenes, mention apart deserves the official trailer’s cliffhanger.
You build a trailer with so much momentum and so much mystery that you have fans and critics speculating for months on end. You tease the appearance of a new superhero and leave them with a cliffhanger, you make them want more.
You let them theorize all summer long about the identity of the mysterious new character. You go to Comic-Con and all sorts of events and you do all sorts of interviews and you keep teasing, making people wait for the movie to see the ultimate reveal.
And then you chop the scene off… Because potato.
Imagine if Negan’s cliffhanger in The Walking Dead ended by them removing that Lucille scene all together and moving on. I think fans would’ve chased them away with rotten tomatoes and expired eggs.
Closing Thoughts
Justice League was far from a fantastic movie in my opinion. Was it all Snyder’s fault? Personally, I feel that there is no way to know that until the Snyder’s cut is released.
All things considered, it seems that there were way too many key scenes that were removed that it ended up affecting the flow of the story line.
Moral of the story: Never use a chainsaw for what you can do with a pair scissors.