The Snyder Cut by Sheraz Farooqi

When approached to speak on Justice League & Zack Snyder, I considered what would be the best thing to say. I could easily speak on how Justice League would have been a better film if they didn’t cut out huge chunks of Zack’s film. I could also speak in length about why the additions that Joss Whedon made to the film were jarring and sometimes disturbing. Instead, I think I will take a step back and speak on film as a whole. 

Film is an artistic expression. Like any kind of art, it is based on the vision of the artist. This applies to film, television, music, art or technology. While it would be naive to say a film is 100% the creation of one person when there are writers, storytellers, producers & studio heads all trying to have a piece of the pie, it is still important to have a strong singular vision. When it comes to blockbuster films, having a singular vision is especially hard. We all know that Hollywood is a business and the bottom line sometimes supersedes the overall goal of the film. In the case of Justice League, the quest for the bottom line hurt the film profoundly. When looking back at Zack Snyder’s work, it is clear he is at his best when he is uninterrupted in his thought process. A man that hand draws many of his shots before shooting them, Snyder is very meticulous in his approach to film. Thus, when you see his films, often times it is his director cuts that are superior to his theatrical releases. This is true in the case of both Watchmen and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Both films were greatly improved in the eyes of audiences when Zack’s full vision was allowed to be seen. 

For Justice League, not only was that original vision subdued before filming began, it was cut down once more after his departure from the project. A combination of weak additions and focus-group driven studio ideas, the final product of Justice League was messy and leaves many wondering what the alternative could have been if Zack’s Cut was finished on his terms. It is for this reason why I feel there should be an effort by WB to release the Snyder Cut of Justice League. A disappointing box office return should come as a sign for studio heads that films, whether they be small project or tentpole blockbusters, should not be made with the intent of capturing the largest market share or ticking the boxes of critic wishes. Instead, they should be made with the filmmaker in mind. If WB felt strongly about going with a different vision, they should not have given Snyder the project in the first place. Once it was given, abandoning that vision late in the production process with jarring reshoots is not the answer.  

Going back to my original thought frame, film is an artistic expression. What good is an artistic expression if the artist is not allowed to express it fully. In this case, if that vision is not finished. As a fan of all films, across many genres and many filmmakers, the best films have always been those that are made with a strong leader and a stronger vision. It is for this reason that I feel finishing and releasing the Snyder Cut of Justice League would automatically make for a better film because it is the product of a filmmaker and not a studio.