Why I'm not watching The Snyder Cut (2021)

 (SPOILER WARNING!!... maybe)

Back in 2017 after the release of "Justice League", many DC fanboys were crying out that the version that we got in theatre, which had been taken over by alleged abuser Joss Whedon, did not live up to expectations in regards to what the title and premise promised. By now, it's common knowledge that most people were not fans of the film, especially with how it was pretty obvious that Warner Bros/DC had interfered and overstepped during the production to the point of of demanding needless reshoots and virtually rewriting the entire script, which came off as disingenuous with later knowledge that Zack Snyder had left the project once filming had wrapped to cope with the loss of his daughter Autumn, who had tragically taken her own life circa March of 2017.

But with or without knowledge of the behind-the-scenes meddling, many were demanding that Zack be given another chance to create the version of the story that HE wanted to tell, rallying behind the Twitter hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut. I will freely admit that when I first heard of this, I openly scoffed at the idea. I neither liked or hated "Justice League" due to lower expectations, even when I was fully aware of what made the film a cinematic mess. But I vocally refused to believe that either Warner Bros or DC would risk making another version of the film, as whatever they did could potentially make the end product worse than its predecessor. It happened with the "Ultimate Edition" of BvS (which I still say is worse than the theatrical cut), so I was fully expecting that to happen to "Justice League".

But lo and behold. Not only did they get Zack Snyder back to put together his version of the movie; not only were they giving him the full creative freedom that they took away after filming wrapped on the first version; and not only was it actually finished and put on HBO Max; but as of writing this, people with HBO Max who had seen it are thoroughly enjoying it, with many calling it an improvement over the original and exactly what they thought they were going to get in the first place. I am happy that they are enjoying it, and that their vocal support for Zack to release his own version had paid off. And if those reading this had seen and enjoyed it, good for you.

Now with that out of the way, please allow me list the reasons why I likely will never see it.

1. I live in the UK.

This is probably the simplest reason. I'm from England, and right now HBO Max is not available to us lot, so I wouldn't be able to watch it anyways. I know some friends over here who MIGHT be able to watch it by other means, but it's down to them if they want to watch it. If they do, more power to them. If not, then I could care less.

That's about it for this part. I can't watch it coz I'm Bri'ish, init?

2. The visual style.

One thing that I wan to make clear is that I don't hate Zack Snyder. A few dumb comments about his own movies and comic books aside, Zach seems like a legitimately nice guy. He's clearly passionate about the general art of filmmaking, and he's apparently pretty amiable if the word of the actors are to be believed. If nothing else, I can at least say that he clearly puts a lot of effort into his work.

But I've never understood the appeal of his style of direction, which normally leads to me not enjoying a lot of what he produces. This is not helped by how, more often than not in my opinion, he tends to focus on style over substance, and this in turn has lead to visually bold films with messy or derivative narratives and themes. The only real exceptions I can name are "300", which was already an excessive and overly dramatic work of fiction as a graphic novel written by Frank "Goddamn Batman" Miller, and "Watchmen", which I can personally credit to how it was a faithful retelling of the graphic novel in spite of a stupid ending that removes the weight and ambiguity of the source material. Otherwise, I end up not liking a lot of his movies due to the visual style being very monochromatic and lifeless, with most of the colour palette being either dark greys or garish browns. Add in the excessive amount of slow motion and the camera never being held still so that we can actually appreciate the cinematography, and you a method of filmmaking that simply doesn't appeal to me.

And with the first trailer of the Snyder Cut, I could tell that this would be the most that Zack Snyder had ever Synder'd. The visual style was exactly as I described, with a bleak tone telling of the end of the world and the characters being edgelord level serious and stoic. The main villain was given away in the very first shot of the trailer (and looked terrible, incidentally) and we were greeted to the second use of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in a Zack Snyder project, which I think made us laugh moreso than it made us cry. It would've been the funniest thing I had ever seen if it weren't for the fact that I don't like the visual style.

3. I'm done with DC movies.

A lot of the problems I've had with a lot of the DCEU movies can easily be pinpointed to one singular source: DC themselves. For the longest time, I could tell that most of the narrative or character choices for the films was a direct result of DC meddling with their own projects. As much as I don't enjoy Zack's visual style, I don't blame him for how "Man Of Steel" made Superman, the ultimate symbol of hope in the DC Universe, into a joyless robot who meanders around until an artificial conflict reveals itself. It wasn't Zack's fault nor was it Henry Cavill's fault; DC was clearly pushing for a dark and gritty retelling of one of the kindest and most compassionate superheroes of all time. And sadly, this kind of tonal disconnect from the character is the only real consistent element with "Batman V Superman", as well as parts of "Suicide Squad". Most of the characters are joyless, passionless entities with no real motivations or end goals beyond just dressing up in costumes and waiting for supervillains to turn up, which is literally true in the case of the plot to "Suicide Squad".

And it's because of this disconnect that I've begun to distance myself from DC's movies, even with the course correction that was shown in "Wonder Woman", "Aquaman" and "Shazam". As much as I enjoy those films, it was clear to me that they were still examples of DC having to do some serious damage control with how their other films had been miserable experiences at the cinema for those of us who simply want to see someone become a superhero and inspire hope in people.

As much as I don't want to compare them, it feels kind of inevitable that I discuss how DC handled their films versus how Marvel handles their films. With Marvel, they take the time to fully establish the characters and their universe, while also littering small hints throughout the important ones to other characters or possible threats that set-up the literal endgame to the ongoing storyline. Whereas with DC, I felt like they rushed doing Superman's origin story before jumping straight into the big crossover event that featured Batman, Wonder Woman, the "Death of Superman" storyline, the "Dark Knight Returns" storyline, and cameos from other Justice League members (and one Teen Titan) to hype up the next time we would see them all in the same film. They basically blew their load on the appeal of seeing these iconic characters together far too early, thus taking away the appeal of a "Justice League" movie. It's not Marvel started with "Iron Man" and then jumped straight into "Infinity War"; they took their time and give us the chance to enjoy the characters.

So it's primarily because of DC's constant interference with these movies that I've chosen to go cold turkey with their projects, and focused instead on watching the Disney + Marvel shows with "Falcon and The Winter Soldier" starting tomorrow as of writing this. And with the exception of Matt Reeve's "The Batman" and James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad", I honestly could care less about what DC is pushing out as none of it really grabs me and I constantly fear that they'll screw it up one way or the other. Call me a cynic if you want, but that's just what the execs at DC have unintentionally done to me.

4. Overexposure.

In spite of all of my rambling, a big reason for not watching the Snyder Cut has to do with the fact that I simply do not care. Almost every time I've checked out my Twitter feed in the past day or so, I've found someone talking about the Snyder Cut and how much they enjoyed it, or it'll show someone asking if their friends enjoyed it, or it'll even ask if any of us will bother seeing it at all. And because of this constant exposure to something that I genuinely could not give two shits about, I found myself wanting to see it less and less.

Once again, to reiterate; I'm glad people are enjoying it. I'm happy that the viewers are engaging with it and finding a version of the movie that satisfies their need for a massive superhero film that isn't owned by Marvel or Disney. More power to those people if they enjoy it.

But I'm sick to death of hearing about this bloody movie almost every time I go on Twitter. It's the same thing that happened when "Wonder Woman 1984" came out. I hadn't seen it, but people constantly talking about it and whether or not it's even good basically pushed me to never see it, even when it comes out on DVD. This isn't something that should happen for someone whose main hobby revolves around talking about movies and what they mean to me.

Conclusion.

If I must state this again. there is nothing wrong with you enjoying this movie if you had seen it. I fully encourage those to share their opinion of this movie while remaining open to what other people speak.

So please remain open when I say that my prior experience with this series of films has made me unwilling to check out the Snyder Cut of "Justice League", especially with further prior experience with seeing people go crazy over the idea of disliking or not seeing a DC movie. I really do hope that it IS good, or even better than the theatrical cut. I may even one day convince myself to devote an entire afternoon to sitting down and watching all four hours of it if it ever comes out on DVD. But as of right now, as someone will enjoys superhero movies and as a major film geek, I can't bring myself to even seek this out on torrents or seeing if someone has pirated it. I just don't have it in me to care about this project right now, especially with other shows and movies currently on my "to-watch" list.

But I think I've said my piece enough as it is. If you liked what you've read, please be sure to share this on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc), and leave a comment letting me know how you feel about the Snyder Cut. If you want to see my regular nerdy bullocks, be sure to follow me on Twitter; my handle is @MediaHood23. I'm also on Instagram, so check me out there; again, @mediahood23. And last but not least, I'd appreciate it if you subscribe to my YouTube channel "Media Hood Reviews". I'm becoming more active on video production, so any support at all is welcome.

But until next time, because there always will be one; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off!