The Wife and I watched, over Saturday and Sunday evenings, the four hour Zack Snyder's Justice League (ZSJL). Our verdict: Outstanding all around!! For me, I felt vindicated, as readers of this blog know I have consistent said the Warner Bros. suits should have shown more courage and respect for Snyder's vision. From what I have been reading on the web, my belief that it would take 15 to 20 years for people to start to respect Synder's narrative arc and direction of the DC films was too pessimistic. The redemption of Zack Snyder may already be occurring across much of the Internet.
My more specific takeaways:
1. WB should fire--literally fire--every WB exec who was part of the decision-making to not back Snyder and then essentially fire Snyder when he asked to back away after his daughter's suicide. Then, rehire Snyder, Cavil, Fisher, Leto (the Joker ending was brilliant), and everyone else, reboot Aquaman the way it was supposed to be--an important message about humans killing the oceans as part of killing the planets with a much more serious Aquaman--, tell Patty Jenkins to get much more serious about WW's loss of faith in humanity and demand for economic, political, and cultural (gender) revolutions, and, this is not to be underemphasized, let Snyder finish the DC Universe oeuvre.
2. Send some guidos to Scorsese's house and tell him to never comment on anything relating to the superhero film genre or film history ever again--or we break his legs. It is painful that so brilliant a director in Hollywood history is so ignorant of film industry history and how to evaluate genres outside of the films he directs.
3. The ZSJL restores the dignity of Aquaman, after the suits hired Joss Weedon to make him a big, dumb Palooka.
4. The ZSJL restores the vibrancy, poignancy, and power of Cyborg. The suits and Weedon simply airbrushed most of his character away and it was not understood just why he was even important. Here, Cyborg is key to the story.
5. I had become tired of superhero villains, finding them too cliched. However, here, I have to say Steppenwolf and Darkseid were the best villains I have seen in a long while. They make Thanos look like a whiny piker, which shocked The Wife and me.
6. The ZSJL, as with Marvel films, should spend the money to get more solid soundtracks. We love the WW music every time she goes into battle, but otherwise, there was at most a "Field of Dreams" homage in the Superman returns scenes. I love the late James Horner's soundtrack in "Field of Dreams," which itself is borrowed heavily from Aaron Copland's "Our Town" and "Appalachian Spring," but really, Zack needs to hire Rachel Portman, who wrote the soundtrack music to "Nicholas Nickelby" or someone who knows how to musically convey emotional underpinnings within a narrative. And above all, don't just grab Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Randy Newman, etc.
7. Critiques: I felt the first two sections of the six overall sections unfolded too slowly--and if there were edits, I would say, start there. There were also some clunky dialogue moments in three scenes in the film, though, for the most part, the dialogue kept to the dignity of the moments portrayed. Finally, the CGI was better than WW84 and the WB suits/Weedon Justice League, which was a welcome surprise.
8. Oh, and did I say, Fire every WB exec who had anything to do with falling for Marvel trolls and underestimating audience comprehension? Oh, yeah. I did. Well, Memo to WB: Do it. Fire them. All of them.
The Daughter had called me last Thursday evening, after she watched it the day it premiered. She said, Dad, you were right about Zack Snyder. You must see the film. It's better than any of the Avenger films. The Wife said the same when I told her about The Daughter's last statement as the film credits rolled over a woman singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." As I say, Fire the WB execs--but definitely HIRE The Daughter, who agreed with me from the first time we saw rushes at Comic Con for the film six years or so ago. It is not as if The Daughter agrees with me on too much, as we definitely have our differences (She loves the Apple TV "Dickinson" series, while I found it waaaay too historically structured for my tastes). So, there's that. :). I think she speaks better than I do to younger people--which is not at all surprising, of course. And I think she understands the significance of streaming television in promoting the visual arts.
