How the “Snyder Aesthetic” Saved the Justice League – A Film Review
Review by D.S. Foster
SYNOPSIS:
Determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts, transcending that which has held them back, and allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. The team united, may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.
REVIEW:
Mired in real-life tragedy and arguably poor bets placed by one of Hollywood’s longest-lived studios, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” offers it’s director and producer a huge win for artistic integrity, and for its intended audience a satisfying franchise mea culpa haunted by the ghosts of an abandoned cinematic universe; ingraining the idea of its impossible sequels to the realm of mythic cinema not at all unlike that of “Jodorowsky’s Dune…”
As a consequence, we’ve been given a visually stunning and intriguingly dark take on the DC comics monomyth. A colossal and ambitious cinematic experience billed as the director’s original vision. A four-hour narrative behemoth, produced exclusively for a streaming audience, divided into acts ostensibly for one’s viewing ease, however, there’s no fat to cut and for much of its epic runtime, pacing is not an issue when style becomes substance within the “Snyder aesthetic.”
While Snyder’s methodical, detail oriented visual language is for some audiences a lot to chew, gourmet cinema like this is in no way filled with empty calories. The action is more visceral and the characters more developed. It’s silly to compare the 2 versions of this film as everything from performance blocking to costumes and CGI have been elevated. Even fan service is of a higher quality in both humor and scope with the addition of fringe characters that only its core audience can appreciate.
The film’s strengths lay in its visual edge and narrative risks. What’s easiest to write off as another comic-book movie is filled with lofty blows of philosophical commentary often trivialized by Snyder’s harshest critics, undervalued as pseudo intellectualism or pretension – all of which have peaked within this latest effort: a bracingly coherent heroic opera with which there is nothing to compare, yet entirely referential to Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.” A Virgilian poem about the movements of gods among men.
This more adult tone is palpable, boasting a constant sense of legitimate danger in a world still mourning the death of Superman, forcing archetypal heroes to face the demons of their own pasts and transcend that which has held them back on their journey to become the comic book versions of themselves we all know and love. “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is guaranteed to satisfy the audience for whom it was produced, living up to its own hype and surpassing that of the internet hype machine that willed it into existence.
