It all started as a Twitter trend. 2017’s Justice League was initially supposed to be directed by Zack Snyder, completing his trilogy, the first two being Man of Steel, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, tragedy would strike during the film’s development when Zack Snyder’s daughter, Autumn Snyder, dealing with severe depression, committed suicide. She was 20-years-old. 

Shortly after, Zack Snyder would back away from the project, and directive control of the film would be given to Joss Whedon, the director of the Marvel Studios film Avengers. Under his control, much of the original footage was scrapped in favor of new material directed by Whedon.

Come its release date, the Whedon cut of the film was met with little success, disappointing many fans and critics alike. Currently, the film has a 40 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 6.3/10 on IMDb. For most films, this would be the end, but the internet is capable of many wonders.

With the addition of Whedon as a director, many fans of Snyder’s work came to believe that all the bad parts of Justice League were actually due to Whedon’s reshoots and edits. With this idea in their hearts, the now famous hashtag, #releasethesnydercut, was born. The idea that a better version of the film could exist spread pretty quickly, even gaining the support from various social media influencers and celebrities. What had started as a hashtag had transformed into a full-on movement, but little came from it. Nevertheless, the voice only grew louder, stronger, and more resilient. 

Amazingly, what many considered to only to be a dream occurred in May of 2020, as it was officially announced that the Snyder Cut of Justice League would be released in March of 2021 on HBO’s new streaming service, HBO Max. With this, a shockwave of excitement and speculation from fans shook the internet, as everyone eagerly awaited the film to see if it was everything they hoped for or just a bad version of a bad movie.

Now, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is here, having been released on HBO Max on March 18th. The new cut of the film is in a 4:3 IMAX aspect ratio and is about 4 hours in length, containing none of the footage from Whedon while also containing some reshot material, specially filmed for this release.

Now, only one question remains: Is it good?

The first thing that must be addressed when answering that is the film’s length. At four hours, it is very difficult to watch in one sitting, unless you make the time for it. Fortunately however, the film has several chapters, each separated by a brief title card. This makes it a lot easier to find a nice stopping place if you can’t watch it all at once. The huge length isn’t entirely the film’s fault however, as when the cut was first announced, it was going to be split into several parts, but closer to the film’s release, was combined into the current cut.

Possibly because of this length, the story, and its characters feel more fleshed out. Ray Fisher, the actor who plays Cyborg, had been vocal about his disapproval of the 2017 cut of the film, feeling that they cheated his character. Now that the new version is out, it’s easy to see what he meant. In the Snyder Cut, Cyborg’s past and his character are explored much deeper. In fact, he feels almost as if he is the main character of the movie, and his character changes the most from beginning to end.

The humor of the feel also feels more natural and less abundant than the 2017 version, as Whedon tried to bring some of the comedic elements that worked well with Avengers over to Justice League. The removal of this forced humor also has the added benefit of making the characters feel more genuine to their established personalities to the earlier films.

For the most of the beginning and middle, the story just feels like the same story as the original, but better, However, there are some notable additions to the story, the greatest being that Steppenwolf, the major villain of the film, is actually the disgraced servant of a greater and more powerful villain: Darkseid. With this new addition, along with added character moments for Steppenwolf, Justice League’s once awful villain was transformed into an intimidating and compelling adversary for our heroes to defeat, even despite him being overshadowed by Darkseid.

It is the end of the film however that changes almost completely from the original, as, instead of the Justice League simply overpowering and defeating Steppenwolf, they end up failing to stop the Mother Boxes from uniting and the world is destroyed. Despite this, the Flash is able to reverse time enough to help Cyborg and Superman separate and destroy the Mother Boxes. With the boxes contained, Wonder Woman lands the killing blow, chopping off Steppenwolf’s head.

The film then begins an epilogue, in which, everyone returns to their individual lives, but each being improved in some way. However, Batman has a nightmare, in which he and some others are in an apocalyptic landscape, ending with Superman arriving and presumably killing them all. After awakening, he is met by Martian Manhunter, who warns him that Darkseid will be coming to Earth, leaving it open to a sequel.

So far, the film has been met with a much better reception, with a 75 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.6/10 on IMDb. With these numbers, it is very possible that we might see a sequel, in Which the Justice League fight and Defeat Darkseid.

As for my rating, the film is a definite must-watch for diehard and casual fans alike, as long as you have the time for it, after viewing the film, I hope to see Snyder’s story come to a conclusion, whether that be in a theatrical film or another HBO Max release like this one.