Okay. So I finished it.
Non Spoilers from first viewing.
- It is vastly better than that of the original JL. Padded, sure, but I think it might be my favorite DCEU for just how it maintains that of what Snyder does, but to make it more mainstream. There's room for improvement, and I want to see where this leads. Especially if WB wants to keep getting original content onto HBOMax; I want to see where this continues.
- The music is outstanding. Junkie XL does outstanding work with what he has. It feels extremely good to see him back, and I hope this continues, just like what I said of the last point.
- The amount of old footage is extremely surprising.
- Steppenwolf may be among my favorite of the DCEU villains now. Going extremely close to Mark Strong's performance of Sivana. Ciarán Hinds has so much fun that it's kind of fascinating to see the more varied version. Especially with better VFX than that of the theatrical cut.
- Outside of some questionable moments between Ezra, the cast was good. I was a bit turned off by Ezra in the first half, but I did somewhat warm up. I hope we see more of Ray Fisher as Viktor. I think he did really well with the emotional beats.
Now then..Spoilers. Hoo boy.
- The Flashpoint like scene of Barry slipping through time, trying to get back to before the point when the unity completed; might be my favorite scene in the film. The visuals of Barry reconstructing the areas around him is outstanding, and I really hope the Standalone Flashpoint does effects similar to that of what Snyder and the VFX teams have done.
- Martian Manhunter. A character that makes me giddy everytime I say his name with film. It's really, really, freaking cool to see him in limited action; and I hope this isn't the last time we see Harry Lennix take on the role.
-I'm legitimately surprised about how much footage they kept. From the rooftop scene with Gordon, the ending scenes with the various members of the league. It was refreshing to see Viktor get more out of it, and to see how Snyder layed the groundwork for that of the original Aquaman.
And..now, the one scene that I will go through the trouble on adding an extra layer of spoilers, because I legitimately didn't expect it.
So, the third to last major scene, of Lex Luthor escaping from Arkham..was from Snyder's version. However, they changed it from the two versions. In Whedons, it seems that they were setting up more of the League of Villians, where as here..we get very clearly Lex wanting Deathstroke to go after Batman, even using Bruce's name to entice Slade into getting a drink. Out of all the things--please; let us see this story. I want to see how the hell Slade uses Bruce's secret to his advantage, and the lengths in a "Hunt" against The Batman. Absolutely enthralling to not expect that at all.
So..I was more happy with this than I thought I would be. I don't lie when I say that I think I'm kind of excited about the future of this, if this is a success. I want to see where they pick up things; and if anything, this might prove that HBOMax might be a great platform for it. Would allow them to be more bold and to allow more freedom, while also ensuring that it'd be at the same level. It's not the best movie, but I do think I won't mind watching it again a few times.
There are issues however. The CGI can be wonky at a lot of the time, probably because of the budget for the VFX and the new scenes, but it wasn't a complete downgrade. What we got is quite great.
Now if only they didn't do the stupid ratio.
3.5/5