So! two 12.5 hour shifts after 11 days off, comes as a bit of a shock to the system, and I’m feeling it today.
After a few chores, I put my feet up this afternoon and watched Zack Snyder’s Director cut of Justice League.
Holy crap! what a difference a Director’s cut can make.
I wasn’t a fan of the original movie because of the rushed nature of it’s post production, and the horrendously bad CGI effects. I came away from it feeling ’embarrassed’ quite frankly. What they did to Henry Cavill was unforgivable.
However, this new cut is amazing.
It’s actually a totally different film and there is no embarrassing Henry Cavill CGI in this one either.
All of the characters get a little more fleshing out, particularly Barry Allen.
Overall it was a much more watchable experience, even at 4 hours long!
For anyone who doesn’t know the hoo ha over the theatrical release, I will enlighten you.
Problems started in post production in May 2017 when Snyder had to step down as director because of the death of his daughter Autumn. Joss Whedon, who co wrote the screenplay with Chris Terrio, took over post-production.
The script had already undergone major changes before and during production between 2016 and 2017, alarm bell 1. In July 2017, the film underwent two months of reshoots, alarm bell 2, with Warner Brothers stumping up another $25 million, alarm bell 3 as re-shoots rarely go over $10 million for any given film.
These reshoots coincided with Henry Cavill’s schedule for Mission Impossible: Fallout. Henry was contracted to grow and keep a mustache during filming for Mission Impossible. Christopher McQuarrie originally gave permission to have Henry Cavill shave the mustache for a fee of $3 million which would have been the cost of shutting down production on Mission Impossible but executives from Paramount Pictures rejected this plan and Justice League’s VFX team was then forced to use special effects to digitally remove the mustache in post-production. They did a horrendous job and made Superman and subsequently Henry Cavill, a laughing stock.
Take a look at this clip to see for yourself just how bad this cover up was. Poor Henry.
Whedon eventually received a screenwriting credit on the film but poor old Snyder received sole director’s credit.
Producer, Charles Roven said in an interview that 80- 85 percent of the movie is what was originally shot.
However, cinematographer Fabian Wagner estimates that only 10% of the original footage shot by him and Snyder was used in the final cut, and judging by the film I saw this afternoon I can believe this.
In July 2020, reports revealed that Joss Whedon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable.
Whedon’s vision of the film incorporated a brighter tone and more humor, and cut the runtime down drastically after a mandate from Warner Bros. The theatrical release of Justice League received mixed reviews and was a box off flop. This had the effect of putting the future of the DC Extended Universe in jeapardy.
After the theatrical release, many fans expressed an interest in an alternate cut and petitions were started for what became known as ‘The Snyder Cut’. Initially this did not look very promising but Warner Brothers made a turnaround in February 2020. In May 2020, Snyder announced that his original cut would be released as Zack Snyder’s Justice League and would cost another £70 million to complete the visual effects, score, and editing, with new material filmed in October 2020. The final cut has been dedicated to the memory of Snyder’s daughter, Autumn.
Justice has been served.
Categories: Film Reviews, General diary entries