PART 6: "Something Darker"
Ah, so it IS an abandoned ghost town! So why the family then, Joss?
It would be interesting, just once, to see a filmmaker try to portray Superman through the Jewish iconography of his origins rather than the Christianity he's been glommed to since. Zack sure does lay it on thick, with the resurrected deity returning home with the Magdalene bride who witnessed his resurrection at the tomb to meet his "virgin" mother whose name begins with an M. It's lush, it's lyrical, it's mythic. But it's another man's myth. Tell Superman's own. Regarding the black suit, I don't understand why. I mean, I totally understand why, because Zack Snyder thinks it's cool. But this is the point where Clark has rediscovered himself, has returned to the world he died to save, is reasserting his place as protector and spreader of hope. This is when his mythic iconography is more important and necessary than ever, not an edgy makeover. I mean, granted, he does more brutalizing than hope-inspiring in the next half hour, so maybe it's not ill fitting.
They've had a thread running for a while of Batman's troop carrier which he and Alfred spend the bulk of the film toying on in the background in order to make it work. Victor is the one it needed, apparently, to sort out its software and "make it fly". Is this a necessary act on Victor's part given how much of the story already revolves around him and the huge role he'll play in the climax? Of all the things you could cut, that troop carrier thread is just begging for the scissors. At least when we're on the carrier, we get the nice sequence of the team warming up, which is a fun bonding moment.
The whole charge to battle is great, even if a lot of it is Batman again mowing down innocent mind-controlled parademons with machine guns, and other heroes slicing them in half or impaling them on debris with giant splats of blood. This movie loves its blood splats way too much. The heroes do make a good team and play off one another nicely while all getting their big moments to shine. I'm glad Aquaman still has a "My man!" in there and still gets to surf down the collapsing building. I like that Batman is the perimeter guy, taking down enemy defenses and turning the weapons against them. He has no ability to take on Steppenwolf, so he's just clearing the way.
Another big issue with Steppenwolf is there's no real strategy to combating him. He's just a big strong guy with a very straight-forward plan and motivation, and the only plan is for everyone to hit him as hard as they can before Superman shows up to hit him even harder. There's no real out-maneuvering, no out-thinking him. It's just punch, get punched, punch, get punched. And Superman is in pure "Paint is Zack" mode, with his eyes blazing, black suit rippling, just pounding the absolute snot out of Steppenwolf and slicing his armor and bits of him off. It's certainly not a reasserting of hope and inspiration. It's just brutality.
Whatever other issues I have, Flash and Victor get some beautiful focus in this climax. From Flash's massive buildup of energy, brutally interrupted by an injury, to Victor all set to do his part until the clock ticks too far and Unity is complete. Flashpoint is astonishing, with Flash witnessing the instant annihilation of everything, and pushing himself to literally reverse the flow of time; the city, the fortress, his friends literally rebuilding from their destruction. And I love how his moment instantly passes to Victor, entering the unity, confronted with the family life he'll never again have as he literally has to rip his lost family apart in order to separate the Mother Boxes, personified in their vision as literal mothers, literal witch-like crones of their sorcerous alien technology. This sequence alone is worth the entirety of this trilogy existing. Other scenes are too, but this was heads above the highlight of Zack's entire run, and I sincerely applaud him for it.
I love the opening of the final Boom Tube, with Darkseid and his horde (hi, Granny! Wish we had more of you!) gathered for the moment of his victory only to be handed the humiliation of his fallen grumper pupper and the death of his three mothers. I'm not sure why the Mother Boxes would be destroyed instead of just going into hibernation mode again, but ok. And Zack again revels in the spilled bodily fluids as Aquaman and Wonder Woman inspirationally and heroically skewer and decapitate Steppenwolf as he sails back to his master. Even though Darkseid would have probably finished him off, too, which would at least take the blood of the act off the heroes' hands.
The day saved, we get not one, but two hero shots of the entire team, mostly so they can include Batman who was just hanging somewhere for some reason and wasn't able to participate in the group staredown with Darkseid. Which is a very silly missed opportunity on Zack's part, now that I think about it. Regardless, our league has indeed meted out justice!
EPILOGUE: A Father Twice Over
I see that they were making an arc out of Victor's emotional expression and delivery, that he was acting like a machine because he felt like a machine, but between the climax and the epilogue, he can finally be happy and comfortable in his own second skin. Which I get, but I still wish we'd gotten more glimpses of the broken heart within instead of bottling everything up in full Spock mode for most of the movie. Little moments of loss, of hope, of camaraderie with the team. Something. I am glad he finally reached that point, though, and I regret that the hell Ray Fisher was put through means we'll never likely see him get to continue Cyborg's growth, especially since he's already been excised from Flashpoint in a dick move on Warners' part.
Aquaman gets a quiet sendoff to a film I really enjoy. Diana gets to long for a home Steppenwolf told her was destroyed, and after looping back for two prequel films (I dig both), I'm hoping we'll get to see at least a third adventure for her where she does return to Amazon Island. Bruce, despite an arc that grew him out of the petulant grouch Frank Miller rendition, is shown returning so far back to that version that he's got the giant tank with that famous group of mutant punks roped up before him. I get the impulse to recapture that image, Zack, but how did that fit with where we've gone? More charming is the quiet scene of Bruce meeting Martian Manhunter, even if it is out of the blue and makes one wonder where J'onn was during the whole climax if he feels this is all worth fighting for. Superman gets his classic moment of shedding his glasses and opening his shirt to reveal the logo, though I'm still bummed it's the black suit.
What I do love is how this all plays out under the words from a father, Silas Stone, words Victor once crushed out of existence so he wouldn't have to hear them; words about heroism, sacrifice, how far people need to go to fight for what they love. It's a lovely montage, and I'm glad Zack went that route instead of just another music track.
The Lex/Deathstroke scene is largely the same as the theatrical cut, if I'm not mistaken. Shame we'll never see that Affleck film this was setting up.
Then we return to Zack's fever dream, the Knightmare, the post-Apokalyptic landscape where Bruce, Barry, and Victor have some new friends. While Amber Heard is ick, I love the idea of Mera being on the team in Arthur's absence, especially given how much she carried the Aquaman film alongside him. Deathstroke is amusing, especially the jump following the prior Lex scene. And then we get Joker. I still haven't seen Suicide Squad, so I don't know how in character Leto is to that portrayal, but I like him here, completely unable to resist needling Bruce on and on, even as Batman grumps right back at him. This is an interesting concept, a Bruce who needs the Joker to save the world from what it's become. I wonder if this was Zack's original plan, that saving the world here isn't what prevented the Knightmare, but that its possibility stretched beyond, to Darkseid's inevitable Invasion! of Earth. We've still got our corrupted Superman. Lois is still the key (a thread which certainly hasn't played out here yet). I'm curious, if this does well, will Warner give Zack the chance to see that next stage through? Or will elements just be folded into Flashpoint, which we already know features Affleck's Batman in some capacity.
And we're done. For all the jokes many (myself included) have made, Allison Crowe's cover of "Hallelujah" which plays over the end credits, in tribute to Zack's daughter, is an absolutely lovely rendition in its long instrumental build and harrowing emotion. It's perfectly bittersweet for this project reaching its culmination.
Stick around, though, as I've still got a few more posts left in this writeup. You'll see.
April 7, 2021
April 6, 2021
Noel Watches Justice League, Part 3
PART 4: "Change Machine"
Our first big teamup episode begins with the still great rooftop sequence with Gordon and the Bat Signal. I like how it lingers on Batman for a moment, embracing that classic iconography, then the whole team gathers, and the 4:3 really makes use of their clustering by emphasizing their height and full figures. Again, I'm pleasantly surprised that almost all of my favorite jokes had nothing to do with Whedon as we still get the great bit of Flash being the only one who doesn't know to disappear when Gordon's back is turned. The humor in this film is both present and good, so I'm surprised by Warner was so adamant about lightening the tone. Yes, there's some harsh and violent edges I'd have softened, but that alone would make the humor already present shine brighter. You don't need to heap on more.
Everyone heads to Stryker Island for our first big team fight. Typically, at this midpoint of a team building film, you'd either have everyone stumbling over each other as they showboat or fail to strategize, or you'd see the threads of why they were always meant to be a team start weaving together. We don't really get either one here as, despite some lipservice about working together, nobody really does, and yet their individual roles also don't step on each others' toes nor spoil the scenario in any way. Wonder Woman is a tank, so she takes on Steppenwolf admirably. Batman both gives and takes a ton of hits. Cyborg and Flash feel like the odd men out. Both are sent to free the captives for some reason, with Flash just zipping back and forth not really doing anything but tell people to hurry, and Victor just carries his dad as he also tells everyone to hurry. Flash could have done this himself while Victor, also a heavy hitter, continued the fight, or Victor could have done it while Flash kept Batman from being batted around. The Flash effects are nice, especially clearing the falling rubble, but it does feel like a lack of narrative coordination to not give these two better things to do. Victor's moment with his dad is good, though.
In terms of Zack tonal issues and gratuitous violent, remember that all of these parademons being splattered and bisected and mowed down with machine guns are innocent people mentally enslaved by Darkseid. Yes, like a zombie horde, they're probably too far gone to fix, but nobody pauses for a moment to at least consider that. They just mow through in a gore spree.
The Knightcrawler (named after a worm, not a spider, despite having a spider design) is a very clunky and unnecessary vehicle that doesn't play a significant role in the scene, nor does it come up again later, so it feels very much like the Schumacher era vehicles which are just there for a toy. Though a really bland and blocky toy that I wouldn't see myself getting much play out of. At least Schumacher's glowing, bladed dildos certainly caught one's eye. No, it just ambles around a bit, then allows Bruce to open up with those machine guns (remember, this is a Bruce who uses guns), then breaks. Victor's exchange with Alfred upon taking over the Knightcrawler is fun, but it again doesn't really lead to it doing much in the scene but be a piece of ballast to ride out waves on, a role they could have filled in so many other ways.
Still, it is a fun scene. All the action choreography is nice. Wonder Woman steals the show. The bit of Flash nudging her sword back to her still feels unnecessary and ends with his weird prat fall, but it looks gorgeous. And when Aquaman finally shows up to hold back the flood of water, it's a great show of the extra power he brings to the team.
This cut has way too many repetitive phone calls between Steppenwolf and DeSaad. "Are you done yet?" "Not really." "Are you done yet?" "Getting there." "Are you done yet?" "Fingers crossed." This latest one finally feels necessary as, following Steppenwolf's vision of the Anti-Life Equation, he goes into a fanboi faint as Darkseid finally gets on the line. And Darkseid is... pretty typical. Glowering and growly. Wants the power to destroy everything so he has the power to control everything. Look, we can back and forth Darkseid and Thanos all we want, even going back to their near simultaneous debuts in the comics. They're both chonk bears with huge chins making every world they come cross bend to their ideal, but at least Thanos had that cult leader charisma, that faux compassion which made his machinations even more cruel in its self righteous justification. That's an angle I thought Engame lost a bit, making him less interesting going into the final fight as a result. Here, Darkseid is just in that angry control mode. I'm not interested in him, and continue to not be interested in Steppenwolf. Give me Granny Goodness, dammit! Beyond a fuzzy over-the-shoulder cameo!
The scene between Martha and Lois is mostly nice, with the mother quietly moving on while on trying to nudge the love who hasn't been able to. It's well played between the two. But fuck them for the reveal that Martha was just Martian Manhunter all along. Yeah, it's great seeing J'onn, and tying him to General Swanwick is an evolved fan theory I'm game for. But putting him in this scene is crass. This is a natural Martha/Lois moment, a genuine connection and confrontation between the two most important people in Clark's life. To reveal one is a lie for no real reason is shitty, and you know is going to make for an awkward conversation the next time the two inevitably do meet up again. Just a really confusing choice. Also, they give lipservice to all the memorials and Superman S-symbols around town, but for how long the story is running, they've done little to portray it outside of the single montage of Lois in the opening. Where are the scenes of Martha coming to town, seeing the tributes on every corner, hearing people spout all the opinions? You know, the setup for the reaction she's been bottling up until now. Oh that's right, there aren't any because this Martha is a lie.
The heroes gathering around their Mother Box is nice, and I love how Cyborg illustrates its history, casually walking in his letterman jacket through Nazi germany, to STAR labs, to his father's cobbled together workshop with the remains of his son hanging on the wall. I'm not always loving Ray Fischer's overly arch and cryptic delivery of almost every line, as it plays more to the machine than it does the man trapped within one, but that moment of Victor looking himself in the eye is nicely done. Even as we see our team pull together (despite Aquaman being more of a cranky dick than in the "My man!" theatrical cut), I like how this group plays off one another, how well Affleck's Batman does with his calm leadership, and everyone's reaction to their plot to resurrect Superman and the risk of turning on the box when it'll lead the enemy right to them. The Mother Boxes don't just feel like an empty fetch-quest MacGuffin in this cut, but as actual parts in the story, with relationships to characters, revelations of their own, and more meaning to their changing of hands.
PART 5: All the King's Horses
The exhuming of Clark is an odd scene. I like Aquaman and Diana finding a tiny bond, even if their Atlanean/Amazonian banter is way too dwarve/elf without the broader nuances of their characterization, even as it tries to pay lipservice to that nuance. Which is also true of Flash and Cyborg acknowledging they could dig up the grave in an instant... yet don't. As if there's something more reverential about taking their time to dig a hole while Flash wonders if Diana will date him? Better handled is the scene where Alfred accuses Bruce of being driven by his guilt. As I said earlier, I like that Batman is now more at ease and ready to believe in others instead of the gruff control freak. He speaks about faith, but I think that's Zack equating faith with trust.
You know what would have been a great way to bring Martian Mahunter into things? Him being the Secretary of Defense right when the heroes need to access STAR labs and the Superman spaceship. But nah, who needs that when they can hack in, have Flash fumble in disguise, then cause a high security evacuation that would still be heavily monitored. Even as shit goes down, there never seems to be any freakout from the staff, they just gather and gawk in the parking lot.
We have our big resurrection sequence, and it is still well played, with nice touches like the ship recognizing Kal-El's body and acknowledging Lex's mess from the last film. We see additional pods of dead Kryptonians, and I have to wonder if there was ever a plan for this action to resurrect others for future Superman/Supergirl films to play with. If so, that thread doesn't play out here. Aquaman continues to be a dick to everyone, so I am starting to argue that I prefer his characterization in the theatrical cut. Momoa is so much more fun when he's allowed to be rowdy instead of broody. Plus a guy wearing that fashionable purple scarf a few scenes back wouldn't be a brooder.
Flash's light speed zap is still well done. I like Victor's vision of the Knightmare, with it's Apokalyptic invasion, fallen heroes, and a corrupted Superman. You just know Zack would make an entire film of this if he coule [EDIT: Apparently, that WAS the plan]. The quick glimpse of Darkseid's angular Omega Beams is interesting, if overly chaotic instead of coldly efficient. When Victor suddenly protests the resurrection, it's a bummer that Bruce is growling back into his petulant angry child mode again. We don't need that Batman back, please.
Superman returns, and what I said earlier about a scene where the team keeps screwing up as an example of how far they have yet to go? That's this scene as they confront the amnesiac Superman and he turns on them. I get this scene, but Zack definitely revels in both the humiliation of everyone trying to go toe-to-toe with Clark, as well as his obsession with portraying an angry, scowling Superman with angry laser eyes beating the shit out of everyone. We've been down this road before. This is what half his screentime in BvS was. As for the devastation he's capable of, yeah, that was conveyed by the army of Kryptonians tearing everything to pieces in Man of Steel. Yes, this illustrates that, as formidable as everyone else on the team is, they don't hold a candle to the power of Superman, but this is just drawn out cruelty and character assassination. Though I do still love the moment when Flash realizes Superman can keep up with him.
It would have been great if the Martha and Lois scene, alongside actually being Martha, happened earlier in the film, so we could see Lois have a chance to step out, to try moving on and moving forward, so it would hit even stronger when the very death she's trying to escape is resurrected right before her eyes. Of course it's perfect that she's the one to get him to snap back to attention, especially after Clark unleashes all his rage on Batman (ah THAT's what the gauntlets are for!), but it doesn't give her enough of an extended arc for this to be the culmination of.
I strongly dislike the absolutely needless death of Silas Stone. They try to frame it as a noble sacrifice, but it's not. The heroes don't need to mark the location of the Mother Box when there's a gigantic dome of alien composition covering the town Steppenwolf took over, which if they can't spot, then Bruce's 6 satellites aren't really worth a damn. Not to mention they could just hone in on the Mother Box energy Victor is HIMSELF COMPOSED OF. But no, Zack just needs to rehash Watchmen imagery to cause Victor more pain. Choices like these are starting to grate on me the further in we get. Not to the point of outweighing the good, but it's definitely remaining an uneven work for me.
Our first big teamup episode begins with the still great rooftop sequence with Gordon and the Bat Signal. I like how it lingers on Batman for a moment, embracing that classic iconography, then the whole team gathers, and the 4:3 really makes use of their clustering by emphasizing their height and full figures. Again, I'm pleasantly surprised that almost all of my favorite jokes had nothing to do with Whedon as we still get the great bit of Flash being the only one who doesn't know to disappear when Gordon's back is turned. The humor in this film is both present and good, so I'm surprised by Warner was so adamant about lightening the tone. Yes, there's some harsh and violent edges I'd have softened, but that alone would make the humor already present shine brighter. You don't need to heap on more.
Everyone heads to Stryker Island for our first big team fight. Typically, at this midpoint of a team building film, you'd either have everyone stumbling over each other as they showboat or fail to strategize, or you'd see the threads of why they were always meant to be a team start weaving together. We don't really get either one here as, despite some lipservice about working together, nobody really does, and yet their individual roles also don't step on each others' toes nor spoil the scenario in any way. Wonder Woman is a tank, so she takes on Steppenwolf admirably. Batman both gives and takes a ton of hits. Cyborg and Flash feel like the odd men out. Both are sent to free the captives for some reason, with Flash just zipping back and forth not really doing anything but tell people to hurry, and Victor just carries his dad as he also tells everyone to hurry. Flash could have done this himself while Victor, also a heavy hitter, continued the fight, or Victor could have done it while Flash kept Batman from being batted around. The Flash effects are nice, especially clearing the falling rubble, but it does feel like a lack of narrative coordination to not give these two better things to do. Victor's moment with his dad is good, though.
In terms of Zack tonal issues and gratuitous violent, remember that all of these parademons being splattered and bisected and mowed down with machine guns are innocent people mentally enslaved by Darkseid. Yes, like a zombie horde, they're probably too far gone to fix, but nobody pauses for a moment to at least consider that. They just mow through in a gore spree.
The Knightcrawler (named after a worm, not a spider, despite having a spider design) is a very clunky and unnecessary vehicle that doesn't play a significant role in the scene, nor does it come up again later, so it feels very much like the Schumacher era vehicles which are just there for a toy. Though a really bland and blocky toy that I wouldn't see myself getting much play out of. At least Schumacher's glowing, bladed dildos certainly caught one's eye. No, it just ambles around a bit, then allows Bruce to open up with those machine guns (remember, this is a Bruce who uses guns), then breaks. Victor's exchange with Alfred upon taking over the Knightcrawler is fun, but it again doesn't really lead to it doing much in the scene but be a piece of ballast to ride out waves on, a role they could have filled in so many other ways.
Still, it is a fun scene. All the action choreography is nice. Wonder Woman steals the show. The bit of Flash nudging her sword back to her still feels unnecessary and ends with his weird prat fall, but it looks gorgeous. And when Aquaman finally shows up to hold back the flood of water, it's a great show of the extra power he brings to the team.
This cut has way too many repetitive phone calls between Steppenwolf and DeSaad. "Are you done yet?" "Not really." "Are you done yet?" "Getting there." "Are you done yet?" "Fingers crossed." This latest one finally feels necessary as, following Steppenwolf's vision of the Anti-Life Equation, he goes into a fanboi faint as Darkseid finally gets on the line. And Darkseid is... pretty typical. Glowering and growly. Wants the power to destroy everything so he has the power to control everything. Look, we can back and forth Darkseid and Thanos all we want, even going back to their near simultaneous debuts in the comics. They're both chonk bears with huge chins making every world they come cross bend to their ideal, but at least Thanos had that cult leader charisma, that faux compassion which made his machinations even more cruel in its self righteous justification. That's an angle I thought Engame lost a bit, making him less interesting going into the final fight as a result. Here, Darkseid is just in that angry control mode. I'm not interested in him, and continue to not be interested in Steppenwolf. Give me Granny Goodness, dammit! Beyond a fuzzy over-the-shoulder cameo!
The scene between Martha and Lois is mostly nice, with the mother quietly moving on while on trying to nudge the love who hasn't been able to. It's well played between the two. But fuck them for the reveal that Martha was just Martian Manhunter all along. Yeah, it's great seeing J'onn, and tying him to General Swanwick is an evolved fan theory I'm game for. But putting him in this scene is crass. This is a natural Martha/Lois moment, a genuine connection and confrontation between the two most important people in Clark's life. To reveal one is a lie for no real reason is shitty, and you know is going to make for an awkward conversation the next time the two inevitably do meet up again. Just a really confusing choice. Also, they give lipservice to all the memorials and Superman S-symbols around town, but for how long the story is running, they've done little to portray it outside of the single montage of Lois in the opening. Where are the scenes of Martha coming to town, seeing the tributes on every corner, hearing people spout all the opinions? You know, the setup for the reaction she's been bottling up until now. Oh that's right, there aren't any because this Martha is a lie.
The heroes gathering around their Mother Box is nice, and I love how Cyborg illustrates its history, casually walking in his letterman jacket through Nazi germany, to STAR labs, to his father's cobbled together workshop with the remains of his son hanging on the wall. I'm not always loving Ray Fischer's overly arch and cryptic delivery of almost every line, as it plays more to the machine than it does the man trapped within one, but that moment of Victor looking himself in the eye is nicely done. Even as we see our team pull together (despite Aquaman being more of a cranky dick than in the "My man!" theatrical cut), I like how this group plays off one another, how well Affleck's Batman does with his calm leadership, and everyone's reaction to their plot to resurrect Superman and the risk of turning on the box when it'll lead the enemy right to them. The Mother Boxes don't just feel like an empty fetch-quest MacGuffin in this cut, but as actual parts in the story, with relationships to characters, revelations of their own, and more meaning to their changing of hands.
PART 5: All the King's Horses
The exhuming of Clark is an odd scene. I like Aquaman and Diana finding a tiny bond, even if their Atlanean/Amazonian banter is way too dwarve/elf without the broader nuances of their characterization, even as it tries to pay lipservice to that nuance. Which is also true of Flash and Cyborg acknowledging they could dig up the grave in an instant... yet don't. As if there's something more reverential about taking their time to dig a hole while Flash wonders if Diana will date him? Better handled is the scene where Alfred accuses Bruce of being driven by his guilt. As I said earlier, I like that Batman is now more at ease and ready to believe in others instead of the gruff control freak. He speaks about faith, but I think that's Zack equating faith with trust.
You know what would have been a great way to bring Martian Mahunter into things? Him being the Secretary of Defense right when the heroes need to access STAR labs and the Superman spaceship. But nah, who needs that when they can hack in, have Flash fumble in disguise, then cause a high security evacuation that would still be heavily monitored. Even as shit goes down, there never seems to be any freakout from the staff, they just gather and gawk in the parking lot.
We have our big resurrection sequence, and it is still well played, with nice touches like the ship recognizing Kal-El's body and acknowledging Lex's mess from the last film. We see additional pods of dead Kryptonians, and I have to wonder if there was ever a plan for this action to resurrect others for future Superman/Supergirl films to play with. If so, that thread doesn't play out here. Aquaman continues to be a dick to everyone, so I am starting to argue that I prefer his characterization in the theatrical cut. Momoa is so much more fun when he's allowed to be rowdy instead of broody. Plus a guy wearing that fashionable purple scarf a few scenes back wouldn't be a brooder.
Flash's light speed zap is still well done. I like Victor's vision of the Knightmare, with it's Apokalyptic invasion, fallen heroes, and a corrupted Superman. You just know Zack would make an entire film of this if he coule [EDIT: Apparently, that WAS the plan]. The quick glimpse of Darkseid's angular Omega Beams is interesting, if overly chaotic instead of coldly efficient. When Victor suddenly protests the resurrection, it's a bummer that Bruce is growling back into his petulant angry child mode again. We don't need that Batman back, please.
Superman returns, and what I said earlier about a scene where the team keeps screwing up as an example of how far they have yet to go? That's this scene as they confront the amnesiac Superman and he turns on them. I get this scene, but Zack definitely revels in both the humiliation of everyone trying to go toe-to-toe with Clark, as well as his obsession with portraying an angry, scowling Superman with angry laser eyes beating the shit out of everyone. We've been down this road before. This is what half his screentime in BvS was. As for the devastation he's capable of, yeah, that was conveyed by the army of Kryptonians tearing everything to pieces in Man of Steel. Yes, this illustrates that, as formidable as everyone else on the team is, they don't hold a candle to the power of Superman, but this is just drawn out cruelty and character assassination. Though I do still love the moment when Flash realizes Superman can keep up with him.
It would have been great if the Martha and Lois scene, alongside actually being Martha, happened earlier in the film, so we could see Lois have a chance to step out, to try moving on and moving forward, so it would hit even stronger when the very death she's trying to escape is resurrected right before her eyes. Of course it's perfect that she's the one to get him to snap back to attention, especially after Clark unleashes all his rage on Batman (ah THAT's what the gauntlets are for!), but it doesn't give her enough of an extended arc for this to be the culmination of.
I strongly dislike the absolutely needless death of Silas Stone. They try to frame it as a noble sacrifice, but it's not. The heroes don't need to mark the location of the Mother Box when there's a gigantic dome of alien composition covering the town Steppenwolf took over, which if they can't spot, then Bruce's 6 satellites aren't really worth a damn. Not to mention they could just hone in on the Mother Box energy Victor is HIMSELF COMPOSED OF. But no, Zack just needs to rehash Watchmen imagery to cause Victor more pain. Choices like these are starting to grate on me the further in we get. Not to the point of outweighing the good, but it's definitely remaining an uneven work for me.
April 5, 2021
Noel Watches Justice League, Part 2
PART 2: The Age of Heroes
I like how the various threads are starting to build. We still only get a taste of Cyborg, but they're seeding in his connection to the Mother Box. Our intro to Silas Stone and STAR labs is good, and the tension moment with the janitor and the Parademon is effective. I'm pleased he was only captured instead of brutally slaughtered, though we still don't know what the conditions of that "capture" entail.
I see what people mean about Steppenwolf getting extra depth, but he's still a pretty one-note heavy for me. Yeah, he's tired of conquering and wants to return home, but is stuck in a loophole over some past betrayal. Okay, but I'm still not engaged in his story in any way, and him being shot down by a rock-o-gram of DeSaad is again pretty typical "henchman bullied into subservience" stuff.
I love the Aquaman sequence, saving the sailor and berating the seamen at the bar. You can argue the indulgence all you want of Arthur hammering a bottle of whisky as he walks into the massive waves in glorious slow motion as "There is a Kingdom" (yet more Nick Cave!) wails on the soundtrack, but damn is it a glorious moment that tells you all you need to know about Momoa's take on the character. Honestly, I'm surprised they had this scene play AFTER the earlier one of Bruce trying to recruit him, as his silhouette reveal on the sinking boat would make for a hell of a stronger introduction, and the recruitment scene ending with him slinking back into the waves as the local girls sing a shirt smelling ballad to him would have more impact if we'd already seen the ways he looks after this community.
When we go underwater, I like that the lush sealife and choral colors of Atlantis gel well with the James Wan spinoff film. While still a bit saturated, Snyder manages to convey warmth from his greens and blues, even as it's a home Aquaman keeps at bay, never poking in beyond the outskirts. Vulko showing up is typical hero's journey stuff, and I'm still not sure if a trident is still a trident when it has five prongs instead of three, but I guess it sounds better than quident. Still, well played by Dafoe.
Speaking of wailing on the soundtrack, Holkenborg is going for a lot of ambience in these early chapters, when I'm more used to melodic themes from him. Especially with the Amazons, with a woman's choir straight out of Hans Zimmer's Gladiator score. That one time during the museum scene where Wonder Woman's electric cello theme kicked in felt very sudden (if very welcome) because it was such a departure from the rest of the score, so I'm curious how this will play over the rest of the film. I remember Danny Elfman's score from the Whedon cut making strong use of established Batman and Superman themes. I doubt we'll get that here, but it's definitely a thread I want to keep watching for.
The scene of the Amazons does add the level of mourning it needs to reflect on the slaughter of their battle with Steppenwolf, mixed with their anxiety over crossing a line to reach out to manworld in a way they haven't for thousands of years. While it's a bit of Tomb Raider silliness, I enjoy Wonder Woman descending into an abyssal crypt where the arrow acts as a key to a chamber showing the entire story of Darkseid's past invasion, which she traverses without getting a smudge on her crisp white fashionable outfit.
I like this warmer personality of Bruce, which appears to not entirely be a reinvention of the Whedon cut. By shifting his obsessive commitment from defeating Superman to honoring him, he feels looser, challenging himself to open up and reach out to others more, when he could have just been wallowing in his guilt. Not only does this lead to more fun Alfred interplay, but I really like the partnership that's being forged with Diana as they put their heads together.
I loved the Age of Heroes backstory sequence in the theatrical cut, and I love it even more here. This is pure Snyder mythological iconography craftsmanship, and the mix of Amazons, Vikings, Mongols, Zulus, Atlanteans, and scaled up bodybuilder gods taking on a blend of alien scifi and sorcery straight out of a Leigh Brackett novel is such grandiose goodness. Darkseid is played well in his power and fury, as well as his defeat and humiliation. The Green Lantern bit continues to amuse, even with the added gore. It's a really exciting piece of filmmaking.
PART 3: Beloved Mother, Beloved Son
Enter Barry Allen. The Iris West sequence is really quite nice, with a lovely use of his powers (even if Iris should be shattering from such sudden changes to her momentum) and some great humor with the dogs. I very much enjoy Ezra Miller's take on Barry, as someone scattered, yet committed, who's still always late everywhere because he's constantly flinging himself in 100 different directions with a hyperactive desperation. The scene with Billy Crudup as his father is nice, giving us a fuel behind that desperation and his sense of justice. As a viewer of the Flash tv series, we've seen all these beats before, but there's nothing wrong with seeing them again, and this executes them well.
When Barry returns to his stronghold, I'm surprised how much of the dialogue between him and Bruce came from this original cut, as much of it has the bouncy wit I'd more typically expect of Whedon. Barry instantly signing on, saying he needs friends, my favorite exchange ("What's your superpower?" "I'm rich.") all sing just as well as they did in the theatrical version. I love that, of all the heroes, Barry isn't brooding over the fact he has powers. His conflict is that he's fighting a system which requires time and patience, which his powers can't push any faster. And while I wasn't originally a fan of his suit design, with it's busy and chaotic plates and straps, it's growing on me, and I like that Zack is allowing the red to be vibrant.
Cyborg finally gets his much celebrated fleshing out. Amidst all the slow mo football fetishization and brooding over absent fathers, I like how they slip in the revelation that he hacked the schools computer system, not to benefit himself, but to support a student struggling with issues outside of school. This will be a theme, him pulling for the underdog, even as he sees himself as a monster beneath them, who can't help himself, so he'll help who he can. As the accident happens and he loses his mom, suddenly becoming the main concern of the father who's unhurt just because he wasn't there, that's great stuff. Even then, Silas remains absent. He has so much he wants to teach his son about who Victor now is and can be, but the only way he can say it is by leaving behind a tape recorder instead of talking to his son face-to-face.
I have my concerns with just how uber powerful they've made Cyborg, giving him a near god level access to computer systems so he could bankrupt the world or wipe it out in a nuclear holocaust if he wanted. Yet, I like how this gives even more weight to their spin on "With great power comes great responsibility." In a sense, it's an echo of Pa Kent telling Superman to hold back, to not use his abilities, but it plays better here as it's a push for Victor to experiment and explore, but to hold himself to certain lines that could have apocalyptic consequences if he recklessly crosses them. And I like how this is illustrated, with him parsing through all the data, all the millions of people and billions of transactions which swirl through any given day, to focus on one woman, one waitress, struggling to raise her boys, with groceries she can't afford and an apartment she's being evicted from, even as she donates tip change to those who need it even more. His solution is a little pat and breezes over broader complications which could result from a sudden spike to her bank account, but I like that she's someone in Victor's area that he can see, that he can physically witness as the change he's capable of bringing to the world. I also like how this is all set against him learning how to fly for the first time, showing the many paths he's starting to take to become comfortable with who he is.
The confrontation with Diana is okay. The "f-bomb" felt overly snippy after the spurt of growth he'd just gone through, and Diana's story of Steve doesn't really parallel Victor's situation enough to be a motivator for changing his mind. No, it makes sense that he'd back off. It gets a bit weird with his hiding place of choice for the Mother Box being to dig up his own mother's grave, but the reversal of violating her ground almost kinda fits the reversal of him being motivated by the abduction of his absent father? I guess? It's strange.
The Atlantean thread is more Steppenwolf being Steppenwolf, splatting people against stones and hacking them to pieces, with Zack especially reveling in the under water blood clouds. Mera's powers are well used in how she thwarts Steppenwolf with air bubbles and collapsing vacuums, and I always love the body horror of peeling the water out of someone's body. Arthur's arrival gives us some more good Momoa shots, and despite some gripes I had abbout effects earlier, they're nailing everything in this chapter. The interplay between Arthur and Mera is nice, with her revelations setting up his spinoff film without feeling like too dangling of a thread.
Steppenwolf uses the two Mother Boxes to create the dome around the nuclear town he's hijacked in Russia, and I know people complain about Whedon's addition of the holed up family, but where are the people? Is this town uninhabited, or have the parademons already picked them clean? Diana and Alfred get a lovely scene with tea and Kryptonian tech, paralleling a thread in STAR labs, and I'm curious where this tech is going. There's a moment with Lois and Superman's cape, but it's brief. Still waiting for her grief to be more deeply explored. I like the scene with JK Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, doing a clever spin on media sightings of vampire bat men from Tim Burton's first film.
A lot happened this chapter, dancing around the various new teammates and furthering of our threads, but it legitimately is pulling together well. I'm engaged.
I like how the various threads are starting to build. We still only get a taste of Cyborg, but they're seeding in his connection to the Mother Box. Our intro to Silas Stone and STAR labs is good, and the tension moment with the janitor and the Parademon is effective. I'm pleased he was only captured instead of brutally slaughtered, though we still don't know what the conditions of that "capture" entail.
I see what people mean about Steppenwolf getting extra depth, but he's still a pretty one-note heavy for me. Yeah, he's tired of conquering and wants to return home, but is stuck in a loophole over some past betrayal. Okay, but I'm still not engaged in his story in any way, and him being shot down by a rock-o-gram of DeSaad is again pretty typical "henchman bullied into subservience" stuff.
I love the Aquaman sequence, saving the sailor and berating the seamen at the bar. You can argue the indulgence all you want of Arthur hammering a bottle of whisky as he walks into the massive waves in glorious slow motion as "There is a Kingdom" (yet more Nick Cave!) wails on the soundtrack, but damn is it a glorious moment that tells you all you need to know about Momoa's take on the character. Honestly, I'm surprised they had this scene play AFTER the earlier one of Bruce trying to recruit him, as his silhouette reveal on the sinking boat would make for a hell of a stronger introduction, and the recruitment scene ending with him slinking back into the waves as the local girls sing a shirt smelling ballad to him would have more impact if we'd already seen the ways he looks after this community.
When we go underwater, I like that the lush sealife and choral colors of Atlantis gel well with the James Wan spinoff film. While still a bit saturated, Snyder manages to convey warmth from his greens and blues, even as it's a home Aquaman keeps at bay, never poking in beyond the outskirts. Vulko showing up is typical hero's journey stuff, and I'm still not sure if a trident is still a trident when it has five prongs instead of three, but I guess it sounds better than quident. Still, well played by Dafoe.
Speaking of wailing on the soundtrack, Holkenborg is going for a lot of ambience in these early chapters, when I'm more used to melodic themes from him. Especially with the Amazons, with a woman's choir straight out of Hans Zimmer's Gladiator score. That one time during the museum scene where Wonder Woman's electric cello theme kicked in felt very sudden (if very welcome) because it was such a departure from the rest of the score, so I'm curious how this will play over the rest of the film. I remember Danny Elfman's score from the Whedon cut making strong use of established Batman and Superman themes. I doubt we'll get that here, but it's definitely a thread I want to keep watching for.
The scene of the Amazons does add the level of mourning it needs to reflect on the slaughter of their battle with Steppenwolf, mixed with their anxiety over crossing a line to reach out to manworld in a way they haven't for thousands of years. While it's a bit of Tomb Raider silliness, I enjoy Wonder Woman descending into an abyssal crypt where the arrow acts as a key to a chamber showing the entire story of Darkseid's past invasion, which she traverses without getting a smudge on her crisp white fashionable outfit.
I like this warmer personality of Bruce, which appears to not entirely be a reinvention of the Whedon cut. By shifting his obsessive commitment from defeating Superman to honoring him, he feels looser, challenging himself to open up and reach out to others more, when he could have just been wallowing in his guilt. Not only does this lead to more fun Alfred interplay, but I really like the partnership that's being forged with Diana as they put their heads together.
I loved the Age of Heroes backstory sequence in the theatrical cut, and I love it even more here. This is pure Snyder mythological iconography craftsmanship, and the mix of Amazons, Vikings, Mongols, Zulus, Atlanteans, and scaled up bodybuilder gods taking on a blend of alien scifi and sorcery straight out of a Leigh Brackett novel is such grandiose goodness. Darkseid is played well in his power and fury, as well as his defeat and humiliation. The Green Lantern bit continues to amuse, even with the added gore. It's a really exciting piece of filmmaking.
PART 3: Beloved Mother, Beloved Son
Enter Barry Allen. The Iris West sequence is really quite nice, with a lovely use of his powers (even if Iris should be shattering from such sudden changes to her momentum) and some great humor with the dogs. I very much enjoy Ezra Miller's take on Barry, as someone scattered, yet committed, who's still always late everywhere because he's constantly flinging himself in 100 different directions with a hyperactive desperation. The scene with Billy Crudup as his father is nice, giving us a fuel behind that desperation and his sense of justice. As a viewer of the Flash tv series, we've seen all these beats before, but there's nothing wrong with seeing them again, and this executes them well.
When Barry returns to his stronghold, I'm surprised how much of the dialogue between him and Bruce came from this original cut, as much of it has the bouncy wit I'd more typically expect of Whedon. Barry instantly signing on, saying he needs friends, my favorite exchange ("What's your superpower?" "I'm rich.") all sing just as well as they did in the theatrical version. I love that, of all the heroes, Barry isn't brooding over the fact he has powers. His conflict is that he's fighting a system which requires time and patience, which his powers can't push any faster. And while I wasn't originally a fan of his suit design, with it's busy and chaotic plates and straps, it's growing on me, and I like that Zack is allowing the red to be vibrant.
Cyborg finally gets his much celebrated fleshing out. Amidst all the slow mo football fetishization and brooding over absent fathers, I like how they slip in the revelation that he hacked the schools computer system, not to benefit himself, but to support a student struggling with issues outside of school. This will be a theme, him pulling for the underdog, even as he sees himself as a monster beneath them, who can't help himself, so he'll help who he can. As the accident happens and he loses his mom, suddenly becoming the main concern of the father who's unhurt just because he wasn't there, that's great stuff. Even then, Silas remains absent. He has so much he wants to teach his son about who Victor now is and can be, but the only way he can say it is by leaving behind a tape recorder instead of talking to his son face-to-face.
I have my concerns with just how uber powerful they've made Cyborg, giving him a near god level access to computer systems so he could bankrupt the world or wipe it out in a nuclear holocaust if he wanted. Yet, I like how this gives even more weight to their spin on "With great power comes great responsibility." In a sense, it's an echo of Pa Kent telling Superman to hold back, to not use his abilities, but it plays better here as it's a push for Victor to experiment and explore, but to hold himself to certain lines that could have apocalyptic consequences if he recklessly crosses them. And I like how this is illustrated, with him parsing through all the data, all the millions of people and billions of transactions which swirl through any given day, to focus on one woman, one waitress, struggling to raise her boys, with groceries she can't afford and an apartment she's being evicted from, even as she donates tip change to those who need it even more. His solution is a little pat and breezes over broader complications which could result from a sudden spike to her bank account, but I like that she's someone in Victor's area that he can see, that he can physically witness as the change he's capable of bringing to the world. I also like how this is all set against him learning how to fly for the first time, showing the many paths he's starting to take to become comfortable with who he is.
The confrontation with Diana is okay. The "f-bomb" felt overly snippy after the spurt of growth he'd just gone through, and Diana's story of Steve doesn't really parallel Victor's situation enough to be a motivator for changing his mind. No, it makes sense that he'd back off. It gets a bit weird with his hiding place of choice for the Mother Box being to dig up his own mother's grave, but the reversal of violating her ground almost kinda fits the reversal of him being motivated by the abduction of his absent father? I guess? It's strange.
The Atlantean thread is more Steppenwolf being Steppenwolf, splatting people against stones and hacking them to pieces, with Zack especially reveling in the under water blood clouds. Mera's powers are well used in how she thwarts Steppenwolf with air bubbles and collapsing vacuums, and I always love the body horror of peeling the water out of someone's body. Arthur's arrival gives us some more good Momoa shots, and despite some gripes I had abbout effects earlier, they're nailing everything in this chapter. The interplay between Arthur and Mera is nice, with her revelations setting up his spinoff film without feeling like too dangling of a thread.
Steppenwolf uses the two Mother Boxes to create the dome around the nuclear town he's hijacked in Russia, and I know people complain about Whedon's addition of the holed up family, but where are the people? Is this town uninhabited, or have the parademons already picked them clean? Diana and Alfred get a lovely scene with tea and Kryptonian tech, paralleling a thread in STAR labs, and I'm curious where this tech is going. There's a moment with Lois and Superman's cape, but it's brief. Still waiting for her grief to be more deeply explored. I like the scene with JK Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, doing a clever spin on media sightings of vampire bat men from Tim Burton's first film.
A lot happened this chapter, dancing around the various new teammates and furthering of our threads, but it legitimately is pulling together well. I'm engaged.
April 4, 2021
Noel Watches Justice League, Part 1
I don't know what to call this. It's not refined and focused enough to be a review. I don't feel it's important and in depth enough to be proper analysis. I guess this is just good old fashioned blogging as I freely stream my thoughts into words as I ramble on about a thing. Like I used to years and years ago. Enjoy.
I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to Zack Snyder. I don't hate the man. I find him sincere and engaged with the stories he wants to tell, and by all accounts, he sounds like a deeply kind and considerate man to work with. I also feel he has genuine skill as a craftsman, composing impeccably detailed images that stick with a viewer. The problem for me is he puts so much work into crafting the images, and the major beats of his stories, that he gets sidetracked from the builds needed to give those images full emotional weight and impact, the drives and motives to string them from just being images into being a narrative.
Take for example Superman killing Zod in Man of Steel. I actually don't have a problem with that in concept because, while I understand many finding that an offputting deviation from Superman's iconography, a story is absolutely allowed to challenge and subvert that iconography. The problem is the build that brings us there, focusing so much on the two fighters and the devastating path they're cutting through, that Superman never takes in the populace being ravaged by this, never pauses to see the people being genuinely affected, the lives being wiped out in an instant, ending with only a couple "too little too late" civilians meant to drive him to the breaking point of that snap being the only solution available to save everyone. Yes, BvS absolutely does marvelously spin that sequence with Bruce Wayne's street level view of the battle, the populace directly affected, and Bruce's friends and colleagues being slaughtered. But Superman is the one who needed that perspective, that loss, that witness to horror and devastation as the drive to make the choice he does. But he doesn't get that, and so the iconic snap rings hollow.
There's other examples throughout Zack's filmography, like the iconic Martha moment in BvS, heavily diluted both through awkward delivery and the fact that both Marthas are barely featured in any significant way beyond tiny flashbacks or a single phone call before an abduction. Or in Watchmen where Silk Spectre and Night Owl brutally ravage thugs in an alley to show what they're capable of, in a way which completely fails to demonstrate a contrast between their experienced fighting abilities and the savagery Rorschach is meant to be the notorious unleasher of. Or Pa Kent's "maybe you should" in MoS, which is a perfectly valid point to be raising in the face of potentially losing his child, but fumbles any form of significant payoff to give it the philosophical and emotional arc which would make that line pivotal.
That's my main problem with Zack. He knows the big moments he wants to hit, and they are strong and valid moments, but narrows his focus on making those moments as big and striking as he can, losing sight of the necessity of how a story is supposed to build to those moments to give them weight and context. He's like a grand illustrator trying to make a comic, and each panel and page is gorgeous to look at, but he doesn't know how to flow those images into a build of dramatic weight.
I didn't see Man of Steel in theaters, just a couple of times at home. I don't hate it. Even with a Superman who's more dour and aimless, and trying to figure out how he fits into this new planet he calls a home, I felt it had moments of warmth and humanity. Pa Kent had an awkward ark, but Ma was great. Jor-El and Zod are well played. The story is perfectly fine in structure and plot beats. But like a Michael Bay Transformers film, once the third act kicks in, the action is relentless, endless, and so caught up in the scale of the devastation it's capable of unleashing, wiping out both Smallville and Metropolis, that it lacks the emotions which would make such devastation legitimately devastating. It's big, it's loud, it's cool, it's badass. But it's hollow. A sad Superman can work, but there's nothing moving about his sadness, nothing gripping about his disconnect, nothing inspiring about his journey. Even the romance with Lois feels empty and sudden, there because it's the iconography they're expected to follow even as it's being ignored. I don't hate the film, but nor do I particularly care for it.
Out of pure curiosity, I did see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in theaters. That one I strongly disliked. The whiny petulance of Batman, the doubling down on Superman's dour disconnect, the randomness of how it sets up the pieces of Justice League. Yes, Wonder Woman is amazing. But the film sure as hell doesn't adequately build to her before she shows up to rightfully dominate the final act. The Lex story isn't so much a hot mess as a soggy and overly caffeinated one. The film is just so mean and bitter, even as it tries to sweep, never fully justifying why Batman is willing to go SO FAR to a point where Batman is absolutely not a hero in this world. He's an angry rich man with a chip on his shoulder so big he makes a point of letting everyone know it's that chip which he's savagely beating them with. I finally watched the "Ultimate Cut" a few weeks ago, and while it absolutely does flow better and is a more cohesively told narrative, it still doesn't fix the foundational issues which put me off in theaters.
I have also seen the original release of Justice League in theaters, again out of curiosity. The story was a mix of empty fetch quests and random snarkness. The visuals swung from Zack's moments of sweeping dour grandeur to Joss's more conventional, and occasionally quite cheaply rendered, jaunts. I did like the addition of humor, though. It worked for me, not only in humanizing the characters beyond their overwrought operatic grandeur, but in their interplay and dynamics as a team. It was a mess of a movie, but it had me rooting for these people and looking forward to more, which we thankfully got with a pair of Wonder Womans (I quite enjoy both - yes BOTH), and an Aquaman (love it's goofy colorful splendour). And I do hope they keep going, that we get some more interplay between members of this team. That WW and Auqs keep building, that Flash does well with his Flashpoint multiverse, that Shazam gets to bleed over. Yeah, I know Batman has already been rebooted (multiple times) and Superman is about to follow suit, but I hope they don't fully abandon a line which just needs renovation instead of being burned to its foundations.
Which I guess is why I'm okay with the Snydercut existing. I expect it'll have Zack's impeccable craftsmanship of powerful images, just as I expect it'll fumble the emotional builds needed to give those images their fullest power. Not to mention the heaps of indulgence in how far this has spiraled beyond what he originally intended it to be, and the entitled way he and his producer wife not only complain about losing their vision when that's the daily life of every blockbuster screenwriter in the industry, but in how they've played to the nastier side of their fandom, generalizing it all as supporters vs haters, and ignoring those using aggressive harassment to belliger into existence something out of pure spite, and very little has been done to parse them from those legitimately curious to see an alternate film with a growing mythos to its making. Which is where I fall. Not that I'm particularly eager, but I'm always curious to see alternate takes on a story and mapping out how they compare and contrast. Which is what led me here.
Without further ado, it's time to hit play.
TITLE SCENE
I do like this, the idea of Superman's death cry being so powerful that it reverberates around the world, carrying us to the various characters and Mother Boxes which will play into the story. I wish the music emphasized this a little more strongly, but I'm pretty game to take anything Tom Holkenborg is willing to give me.
PART 1: "Don't count on it, Batman."
I'm liking the fullscreen ratio. I know it was a controversial choice, especially in this age of 16:9 displays, but even on my 4K Roku tv, I watch tons of old cartoons and movies, and even have a VHS hookup for rare occasions, so letterboxing on the sides is something I'm well used to. I like how Zack uses it here, emphasizing height and vertical dynamics to enhance his towering mythic themes. I wish the color pallet wasn't so desaturated, with Wonder Woman's reds and blues having some actual pop instead of just being slightly tinted shades of dark leather, but at least it's not the full black & white or heavy sepia tone he occasionally threatened us with.
So far, it's not a bad build. Batman meeting Aquaman is still largely the same, if shot better. I see we can't fully credit Joss with adding humor to the picture as, like a lot of Zack's work, there are some genuine laughs there, some nice banter, especially with Alfred. It's not overbearing snark nor even particularly witty, but it has a warmth that I'm fine with. Even as he throws in "shithole" and "f-bombs" from time to time just to show how grown up and mature he is.
There's a bit of Martha leaving the farm and Lois having a slow mo musical montage of mourning set to Nick Cave's "Distant Sky". Which wouldn't have been a bad song to play under the credits of Superman's reverberating death cry, now that I think of it. I'm curious to see how this thread builds, since both characters felt very tacked on in the theatrical cut.
Wonder Woman's big action sequence in the museum is another tonal issue typical of Zack. On the one hand, it's a genuinely exciting sequence with marvelously choreographed and dynamically composed action, and a great intro for Diana to swoop into the story, even ending on a little superhero inspiration message. But it swings overly dark on the villain side with them just being terrorists there to slaughter hundreds, innocent people gunned down in their wake in pools of blood, those insisted upon "f-bombs", and even Diana hurling people into walls so hard that big blood splats are left behind. It reminds me of the big prison break scene in Watchmen, where Rorschach saws the man's arms off. It gets so caught up in drooling over every angle of its gore effects that it loses the impact and character of the moment and distracts from the broader scene. This is the conundrum of Zack, that he's equally intricate and absent minded, obsessively focuses while missing underlying yet obvious points. I mean, why have that inspirational message to little girls in a film where little girls are walled out of the intended viewing audience?
This feeling carries on with the stand of the Amazons. Yes, they're badass warriors with their muscle-baring bikinis and giant hammers, who fight bravely and die with honor, but the pure level of their slaughter, the fetishization of their sacrifice, is Zack bathing in the memories of his 300 days. What should be inspirational as they pass the MacGuffin box along a line of fallen warriors is instead offputting and sad, not because of the senseless tragedy of it all, but for how hollowly it misplays that tragedy. Compare this to the famous Vader sequence from Rogue One. It's the same basic concept of him slaughtering rebel troops as they pass the stolen plans along a line before it narrowly escapes. Here, it never escapes. Steppenwolf still gets what he was after, and the tragedy of hundreds of honed warriors cut down in the prime of their lives is centered on mourning one woman squashed under her horse. It's dynamically choreographed, but I'm not emotionally engaged by it because the sacrifice has no thematic relevance, the tragedy has no culmination. It just goes on for a while, then stops.
And if we can't fully credit Whedon for the humor, we also can't fully blame him for the cheap and rushed effects. Some of these shots, while well composed, are very obvious in their blue screen composites and stiff actor plates. When you see the army ride in at the end, and every Amazon is an individual actor pretending to ride a horse that's CGI'd in after, it just doesn't hold the magic that this charge to battle should carry.
I still hate Steppenwolf. He's a very typical sub-boss, spouting off empty lines of religious adoration of the master he serves as he hits people hard with a big axe, and his pointy new armor doesn't change any of it. I still argue this role should have been filled by Granny Goodness. Like a full on Bea Arthur sassy Granny Goodness.
I'm curious how these chapters will continue to break up. From the title, I figured this would have more focus on Batman trying to assemble the team, but we only get one scene of that before drifting off and settling with the Amazons for a while.
I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to Zack Snyder. I don't hate the man. I find him sincere and engaged with the stories he wants to tell, and by all accounts, he sounds like a deeply kind and considerate man to work with. I also feel he has genuine skill as a craftsman, composing impeccably detailed images that stick with a viewer. The problem for me is he puts so much work into crafting the images, and the major beats of his stories, that he gets sidetracked from the builds needed to give those images full emotional weight and impact, the drives and motives to string them from just being images into being a narrative.
Take for example Superman killing Zod in Man of Steel. I actually don't have a problem with that in concept because, while I understand many finding that an offputting deviation from Superman's iconography, a story is absolutely allowed to challenge and subvert that iconography. The problem is the build that brings us there, focusing so much on the two fighters and the devastating path they're cutting through, that Superman never takes in the populace being ravaged by this, never pauses to see the people being genuinely affected, the lives being wiped out in an instant, ending with only a couple "too little too late" civilians meant to drive him to the breaking point of that snap being the only solution available to save everyone. Yes, BvS absolutely does marvelously spin that sequence with Bruce Wayne's street level view of the battle, the populace directly affected, and Bruce's friends and colleagues being slaughtered. But Superman is the one who needed that perspective, that loss, that witness to horror and devastation as the drive to make the choice he does. But he doesn't get that, and so the iconic snap rings hollow.
There's other examples throughout Zack's filmography, like the iconic Martha moment in BvS, heavily diluted both through awkward delivery and the fact that both Marthas are barely featured in any significant way beyond tiny flashbacks or a single phone call before an abduction. Or in Watchmen where Silk Spectre and Night Owl brutally ravage thugs in an alley to show what they're capable of, in a way which completely fails to demonstrate a contrast between their experienced fighting abilities and the savagery Rorschach is meant to be the notorious unleasher of. Or Pa Kent's "maybe you should" in MoS, which is a perfectly valid point to be raising in the face of potentially losing his child, but fumbles any form of significant payoff to give it the philosophical and emotional arc which would make that line pivotal.
That's my main problem with Zack. He knows the big moments he wants to hit, and they are strong and valid moments, but narrows his focus on making those moments as big and striking as he can, losing sight of the necessity of how a story is supposed to build to those moments to give them weight and context. He's like a grand illustrator trying to make a comic, and each panel and page is gorgeous to look at, but he doesn't know how to flow those images into a build of dramatic weight.
I didn't see Man of Steel in theaters, just a couple of times at home. I don't hate it. Even with a Superman who's more dour and aimless, and trying to figure out how he fits into this new planet he calls a home, I felt it had moments of warmth and humanity. Pa Kent had an awkward ark, but Ma was great. Jor-El and Zod are well played. The story is perfectly fine in structure and plot beats. But like a Michael Bay Transformers film, once the third act kicks in, the action is relentless, endless, and so caught up in the scale of the devastation it's capable of unleashing, wiping out both Smallville and Metropolis, that it lacks the emotions which would make such devastation legitimately devastating. It's big, it's loud, it's cool, it's badass. But it's hollow. A sad Superman can work, but there's nothing moving about his sadness, nothing gripping about his disconnect, nothing inspiring about his journey. Even the romance with Lois feels empty and sudden, there because it's the iconography they're expected to follow even as it's being ignored. I don't hate the film, but nor do I particularly care for it.
Out of pure curiosity, I did see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in theaters. That one I strongly disliked. The whiny petulance of Batman, the doubling down on Superman's dour disconnect, the randomness of how it sets up the pieces of Justice League. Yes, Wonder Woman is amazing. But the film sure as hell doesn't adequately build to her before she shows up to rightfully dominate the final act. The Lex story isn't so much a hot mess as a soggy and overly caffeinated one. The film is just so mean and bitter, even as it tries to sweep, never fully justifying why Batman is willing to go SO FAR to a point where Batman is absolutely not a hero in this world. He's an angry rich man with a chip on his shoulder so big he makes a point of letting everyone know it's that chip which he's savagely beating them with. I finally watched the "Ultimate Cut" a few weeks ago, and while it absolutely does flow better and is a more cohesively told narrative, it still doesn't fix the foundational issues which put me off in theaters.
I have also seen the original release of Justice League in theaters, again out of curiosity. The story was a mix of empty fetch quests and random snarkness. The visuals swung from Zack's moments of sweeping dour grandeur to Joss's more conventional, and occasionally quite cheaply rendered, jaunts. I did like the addition of humor, though. It worked for me, not only in humanizing the characters beyond their overwrought operatic grandeur, but in their interplay and dynamics as a team. It was a mess of a movie, but it had me rooting for these people and looking forward to more, which we thankfully got with a pair of Wonder Womans (I quite enjoy both - yes BOTH), and an Aquaman (love it's goofy colorful splendour). And I do hope they keep going, that we get some more interplay between members of this team. That WW and Auqs keep building, that Flash does well with his Flashpoint multiverse, that Shazam gets to bleed over. Yeah, I know Batman has already been rebooted (multiple times) and Superman is about to follow suit, but I hope they don't fully abandon a line which just needs renovation instead of being burned to its foundations.
Which I guess is why I'm okay with the Snydercut existing. I expect it'll have Zack's impeccable craftsmanship of powerful images, just as I expect it'll fumble the emotional builds needed to give those images their fullest power. Not to mention the heaps of indulgence in how far this has spiraled beyond what he originally intended it to be, and the entitled way he and his producer wife not only complain about losing their vision when that's the daily life of every blockbuster screenwriter in the industry, but in how they've played to the nastier side of their fandom, generalizing it all as supporters vs haters, and ignoring those using aggressive harassment to belliger into existence something out of pure spite, and very little has been done to parse them from those legitimately curious to see an alternate film with a growing mythos to its making. Which is where I fall. Not that I'm particularly eager, but I'm always curious to see alternate takes on a story and mapping out how they compare and contrast. Which is what led me here.
Without further ado, it's time to hit play.
TITLE SCENE
I do like this, the idea of Superman's death cry being so powerful that it reverberates around the world, carrying us to the various characters and Mother Boxes which will play into the story. I wish the music emphasized this a little more strongly, but I'm pretty game to take anything Tom Holkenborg is willing to give me.
PART 1: "Don't count on it, Batman."
I'm liking the fullscreen ratio. I know it was a controversial choice, especially in this age of 16:9 displays, but even on my 4K Roku tv, I watch tons of old cartoons and movies, and even have a VHS hookup for rare occasions, so letterboxing on the sides is something I'm well used to. I like how Zack uses it here, emphasizing height and vertical dynamics to enhance his towering mythic themes. I wish the color pallet wasn't so desaturated, with Wonder Woman's reds and blues having some actual pop instead of just being slightly tinted shades of dark leather, but at least it's not the full black & white or heavy sepia tone he occasionally threatened us with.
So far, it's not a bad build. Batman meeting Aquaman is still largely the same, if shot better. I see we can't fully credit Joss with adding humor to the picture as, like a lot of Zack's work, there are some genuine laughs there, some nice banter, especially with Alfred. It's not overbearing snark nor even particularly witty, but it has a warmth that I'm fine with. Even as he throws in "shithole" and "f-bombs" from time to time just to show how grown up and mature he is.
There's a bit of Martha leaving the farm and Lois having a slow mo musical montage of mourning set to Nick Cave's "Distant Sky". Which wouldn't have been a bad song to play under the credits of Superman's reverberating death cry, now that I think of it. I'm curious to see how this thread builds, since both characters felt very tacked on in the theatrical cut.
Wonder Woman's big action sequence in the museum is another tonal issue typical of Zack. On the one hand, it's a genuinely exciting sequence with marvelously choreographed and dynamically composed action, and a great intro for Diana to swoop into the story, even ending on a little superhero inspiration message. But it swings overly dark on the villain side with them just being terrorists there to slaughter hundreds, innocent people gunned down in their wake in pools of blood, those insisted upon "f-bombs", and even Diana hurling people into walls so hard that big blood splats are left behind. It reminds me of the big prison break scene in Watchmen, where Rorschach saws the man's arms off. It gets so caught up in drooling over every angle of its gore effects that it loses the impact and character of the moment and distracts from the broader scene. This is the conundrum of Zack, that he's equally intricate and absent minded, obsessively focuses while missing underlying yet obvious points. I mean, why have that inspirational message to little girls in a film where little girls are walled out of the intended viewing audience?
This feeling carries on with the stand of the Amazons. Yes, they're badass warriors with their muscle-baring bikinis and giant hammers, who fight bravely and die with honor, but the pure level of their slaughter, the fetishization of their sacrifice, is Zack bathing in the memories of his 300 days. What should be inspirational as they pass the MacGuffin box along a line of fallen warriors is instead offputting and sad, not because of the senseless tragedy of it all, but for how hollowly it misplays that tragedy. Compare this to the famous Vader sequence from Rogue One. It's the same basic concept of him slaughtering rebel troops as they pass the stolen plans along a line before it narrowly escapes. Here, it never escapes. Steppenwolf still gets what he was after, and the tragedy of hundreds of honed warriors cut down in the prime of their lives is centered on mourning one woman squashed under her horse. It's dynamically choreographed, but I'm not emotionally engaged by it because the sacrifice has no thematic relevance, the tragedy has no culmination. It just goes on for a while, then stops.
And if we can't fully credit Whedon for the humor, we also can't fully blame him for the cheap and rushed effects. Some of these shots, while well composed, are very obvious in their blue screen composites and stiff actor plates. When you see the army ride in at the end, and every Amazon is an individual actor pretending to ride a horse that's CGI'd in after, it just doesn't hold the magic that this charge to battle should carry.
I still hate Steppenwolf. He's a very typical sub-boss, spouting off empty lines of religious adoration of the master he serves as he hits people hard with a big axe, and his pointy new armor doesn't change any of it. I still argue this role should have been filled by Granny Goodness. Like a full on Bea Arthur sassy Granny Goodness.
I'm curious how these chapters will continue to break up. From the title, I figured this would have more focus on Batman trying to assemble the team, but we only get one scene of that before drifting off and settling with the Amazons for a while.
July 6, 2020
[Schumacast] Remembering Joel
Rebecca Nicole Williams, the Sorceress of Film, joins Angie and I as we pay our respects to the late Joel Schumacher and what led us to each of our projects exploring his career. Check it out here.
April 22, 2020
[Schumacast] Tim Burton's Batman Films
Before taking on the infamous Joel Schumacher era of Batman cinema, Angie and I first look at Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, as well as the 1966 Batman movie, Batmania, and our overall experience with the caped crusader. Check it out here.
April 5, 2020
Letterboxd Reviews, March 2020
I've been meaning to get back into written reviews for a while, even making it my news years resolution for 2020. After a couple months of procrastinating, I managed to dust off an update my Letterboxd account, and saw it as a great opportunity to start exercising those muscles again. I'm not going to update here with star rankings I've been adding for stuff I watched in the past, but these pieces are for films I watched during March:
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
The Abominable Snowman (1957)
Mortal Kombat (1995)
Street Fighter (1994)
The Snorkel (1958)
Godzilla (1954)
The Hitcher (1986)
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Half Human (1955)
Rodan (1956)
The Mysterians (1957)
Notable entries in this were the last film I saw in theaters before the COVID outbreak (Sonic), the last double feature at Melissa's movie night before said outbreak (Street Fighter & Mortal Kombat), me starting to watch through the Hammer Horror catalogue (which has been stalling out due to dissatisfaction), and me starting through the history of Toho Tokusatsu movies (which I've started a weekly virtual movie night for).
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
The Abominable Snowman (1957)
Mortal Kombat (1995)
Street Fighter (1994)
The Snorkel (1958)
Godzilla (1954)
The Hitcher (1986)
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Half Human (1955)
Rodan (1956)
The Mysterians (1957)
Notable entries in this were the last film I saw in theaters before the COVID outbreak (Sonic), the last double feature at Melissa's movie night before said outbreak (Street Fighter & Mortal Kombat), me starting to watch through the Hammer Horror catalogue (which has been stalling out due to dissatisfaction), and me starting through the history of Toho Tokusatsu movies (which I've started a weekly virtual movie night for).
February 24, 2020
[Schumacast] The Client (1994)
The fabulously facially follicled Weston joins Angie and I as we look at Joel's first adaptation of a John Grisham legal thriller, and vent our feelings about the career and legacy of one Akiva Goldsman. Check it out here.
February 15, 2020
[Thundarr Road] Master of the Stolen Sunsword
Michael, David, and I ride in from a long hiatus with this odd tale of stage magicians gone mad, men in business suits on camel back, and Thundarr struggling with the anxiety of impotency when the Sunsword loses its power. Check it out here.
February 4, 2020
[Craft Disservices] Atlantis: The Lost Empire
After sharing a panel with Aaron and his frequent co-host Mikanhana at CONvergence, he was kind enough to invite me onto his series exploring films worth another look after failing to connect with critics on their original release. Here, we discuss Disney's animated adventure epic, blending the design style of Mike Mignola with dark violence, cultural genocide, another Joss Whedon found family of mercenaries with a plucky young woman mechanic, and more adventure tropes than you could trigger a booby trap at. Plus, a fun, broader discussion of geeky media as a whole. I had a really fun time with this discussion. Check it out here.
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