DC Cinematic Universe

[DANGERMAN]

it's definitely better than the earlier cut. It's not amazing but it's a decent enough film now.

 

On the 4:3 thing, why is it 4:3, I don't get why it's a benefit here? has he said why he did it?

 

and, when other films have done this it's either temporary or shot deliberately. Ghost Story, while so very, very boring, is also shot in smallish rooms in a smallish house. I think the most people on screen is 3, most of the time it's either 1 or 2. Justice League is shot for widescreen, framed for widescreen, you've got 5 people stood side by side. It's odd, I can only think Snyder was trying to keep the file size down 

[shinymcshine]

@DANGERMAN the 4:3 was the preferred ratio as its most suited to IMAX (see previous page).

[one-armed dwarf]

His actual reasoning is something to do with superheros being very tall and flying vertical or something, I don't know about that argument though.

[DANGERMAN]

4 minutes ago, shinymcshine said:

@DANGERMAN the 4:3 was the preferred ratio as its most suited to IMAX (see previous page).

Imax isn't 4:3 is it? It's been a while since I've been to one tbf

[Jimboxy]

IMAX isn't 4:3 but it's pretty square though.

[DANGERMAN]

I dunno, I'm not convinced, especially if this was started during the pandemic. I've nothing against 4:3 as such, there's reasons to do it, I'm just not sure it's the right thing for every scene of this film in particular

[DisturbedSwan]

Really wasn't sure if I could be arsed to watch Zach Snyder's Justice League with its 4 hour length and 4:3 format but about 5 o'clock on Saturday I said to the Missus we could watch it (she's also a big fan of comic book movies) if she wanted to, but didn't have to watch it all in one go as it's 4 hours (and @Jimbo Xiiisaid it was broken up into chapters which helped) long. 

 

So we put it on and immediately we were both like 'why the fuck is it in 4:3?' seems such a bizarre move but I guess it does make some sense if it was done for IMAX or something. After about 20 minutes we forgot about it though. 

 

Ended up really enjoying it, for a 4 hour film it doesn't feel like its 4 hours at all, it never once bored us or suffered any kind of lull, it's such a MASSIVE improvement on the original that it's almost unrecognisable. The characters are so much more fleshed out and get proper story arcs than in the Whedon butchered original. 

 

Every character is just so much better as a result, Cyborg benefits the most I think as it properly explains his origins, his troubled relationship with his Father and the body dysmorphia struggles he has essentially being reborn into this alien metal body. Superman is just fucking awesome as well, that new

Spoiler

black

suit is bad ass as fuck and it properly explains the pains the other JL members went to in reviving him, Aquaman is much more brooding that the original and you see much more of the Atlanteans (along with Mira's weird British accent). The Flash is still the comic relief but I feel like I understand him much more now than just being a goof played for laughs (thankfully that awful scene where he falls on Wonder Woman was taken out). 

 

Spoiler

 

The villain was so much better in this too, I scoffed at Steppenwolf's new suit of armour when I first saw it but it makes him look so much more imposing, menacing and alien in the actual movie. Having him be a servant of Darkseid just gives a different dimension to his character, Darkseid himself is rad as a fuck too, seeing him kill tons of Atlanteans, Lanterns, Amazons and others in the battle 1000 years ago or so was a great fight sequence. 

 

That ending as well where Steppenwolf gets chopped in bits by WW, sent through the Portal to arrive at Darkseid's feet with him watching the whole thing was great. I was wondering where the Joker would turn up (as I knew he was in it) and it was right at the end in one of Batman's 'nightmares', cool little segment that feels like a sequel to the one in BvS but a little indulgent. I thought Martian Manhunter turning up (I googled this as I had no fucking clue who he was) at the end at Bruce's house was a bit jarring as well. 

 

 

But yeah, it's a great film and such a monumental improvement over the original. It's a shame we won't see Zach's vision for a JL trilogy come to fruition now, I think that story arc could've been really cool. 

[Nabby9]

New Suicide Squad trailer, looks better than I expected.

 

 

 

 

[OCH]

Starro?!

 

[Maryokutai]

It's weird they keep making these movies but it seems interesting. King Shark looks a bit off though, like CGI characters from 10 years ago in a very modern hi-res movie. But it's pretty cool he's in there.

[OCH]

King Shark 2016 - The Flash TV Show

King Shark 2021 - The Suicide Squad

[OCH]

Zack Snyder's Justice League - 7/10

 

I've seen it now and immediately, three characters are redeemed. Steppenwolf, Cyborg and The Flash. For the former two, they are better fleshed out and given noteworthy screen time. For the latter, it is almost the opposite.

 

You can clearly see with the original release of the film, Flash was coded as MCU 'Spider-Man'. Except that doesn't work with The Flash, because he isn't normally portrayed as being that young. Often inexperienced but not immature.

His role is that of the optimistic heart of the team. Which somewhat ironically, Snyder's take achieves more so than Whedon's script did. There is also a very controversial exchange between Batman and Flash in Whedon's script, that basically completely undermines his entire character. Removing this elevates him substantially. As does the alternate final third. The entire final battle is better in every way. Including the resolution of Steppenwolf.

 

The three "new" characters, were all well served. But I'm not quite sure where they go from here. Joker, Batman, Alfred have all been recast. The Snyderverse tone has all but vanished and official reports state this cut hasn't changed that. Personally I'd love to see these residents of Apokolips return as they are now. Plus the nice little bit of connective tissue the 7th Justice League member has, dating right back to Man of Steel.  Although it is funny to see his epilogue encounter with Batman, that was clearly filmed recently. As Ben Affleck has lost significant weight.

[Maryokutai]

It's interesting how the internet puts Snyder on a pedestal now and considers him the saviour of the DCU. Just a couple of years ago people were lamenting his "moody" and dark movies compared to the more flashy and uplifting Marvel stuff. And let's not forget he was also responsible for Batman v Superman, probably one of the most disliked modern superhero movies (personally I think the Ultimate Cut is okay at least).

 

I mean on one hand it's cool, he deserves the positivity after what happened during the initial production of Justice League. I just fear that if whatever comes next isn't the perfect DC movie he'll be back to being "that guy who makes edgy DC movies".

 

(Also, I can't for the life of me find Justice League on the platforms I use. A friend of mine got it from the Google Play Store (?) but I don't have any Android devices at home.)

[DisturbedSwan]

1 hour ago, Maryokutai said:

(Also, I can't for the life of me find Justice League on the platforms I use. A friend of mine got it from the Google Play Store (?) but I don't have any Android devices at home.)

 

You can still use google play from an internet browser. You can also download the Play Movies app on iOS and can cast it to a chromecast (if you have one) or some TVs. It might also be available on Apple TV/iTunes.

 

I'm not sure how else to watch it where you are, I did try googling to no avail. 

[Maryokutai]

Out of all of that AppleTV seems the only choice for me. I've wanted to activate that trial period for a while now anyway to watch Wolfwakers, so I might just combine the two. 

[Maryokutai]

I've watched the Synder cut over the weekend as well at last. I have to say, while it's obviously better than the original, I actually found it to be very enjoyable movie in its own right. Like @OCH said, there are three clear winners here with Cyborg, Flash and Steppenwolf all getting more screentime and the necessary amount of backstory. Seeing how Warner/DC failed to properly introduce them in their own movies, I now understand why Snyder went for this extreme length for the entire film. There's maybe only one scene in the entire movie that I felt wasn't really necessary, everything else has its purpose which means that through my two sittings it didn't feel too long and I could absolutely see myself rewatching this at some point in the future.

 

It also has a more consistent tone throughout. There are some jokes, but not the goofy, silly garbage we had in the original like Flash falling and landing on Diana or that horrible lasso scene. The Flash still has some quirky moments but they work now because the character isn't as one-dimensional anymore. Out of all the new ones, he's still most in need of a solo movie, but I feel like they did the best they could. They also managed the borderline impossible by both showing how ridiculously OP that character is and always has been while simultaneously making sure he's not the instant win button he could have been by letting his inexperience shine through.

 

Funnily enough, now that all the other characters are fun to watch, Batman becomes the worst of the bunch. I didn't really like his portrayal here in the original cut and while, again, the goofier moments are gone, I just don't think he's very Batman-ish in this movie. Way too upbeat, sociable, positive. But then again I always had trouble with DC putting such a unique human antihero in the midst of some larger-than-life superheroes.

 

Some other thoughts in spoilers.

Spoiler

 

While I absolutely loved seeing the Martian Manhunter, despite the questionable CGI, I didn't understand his first scene with Lois Lane. They could just as well have Martha herself appear there, really weird. It's cool they used him again towards the end though as a jumping-off point for maybe possible future JL movies? Seeing how the upcoming Black Adam movie introduces some other members of the team (Hawkman, Dr Fate), I hope they have some plans.

 

Speaking of fanservice scenes, the flashback towards the big battle between the Earth's forces and Darkseid Apokalips team was really cool. Some dude of the lantern corps flying around (pretty sure the hardcore fans can name him), Zeus, Artemis and Ares fighting alongside everyone else (and being two heads taller, nice detail), really fun. I'm not quite 100% on board with Darkseid's design though, he doesn't look quite big and bulky enough, but at least his Omega Beam looked ace in the Atlantian fight.

 

Speaking of Atlantians, I was surprised they gave Amber Heard so much screentime after all the real-life drama. But it's good for consistency with Aquaman at the very least.

 

 

A solid 8/10 movie for me, massive improvement. I think its biggest problem now is that everyone has been spoiled about a lot of stuff by watching the original travesty back in the day. 

 

Edit: forgot to mention, but the aspect ratio thing just doesn't make sense in this day and age. Particularly as there are quite a few shots where they pan out to show the entire Justice League and it takes soooo long for them to arrive at a spot where you can see them all. Not to mention that wider aspects ratios are more appealing IMO.

[OCH]

 

[OCH]

 

[Maryokutai]

You know what, as hit and miss as their live action movies are, the animated movies and shows DC has been releasing these last years have been pretty good all around. Even something that might look a bit off-putting at first glance like Super Hero Girls turned out to be genuinely funny. So in that sense, this could be nice. the only downside to it is the fact that they switched to 3D animation, that gave me some Disney PTSD and I hope it's just an exception and not the way forward for their animated universe.

[OCH]