Ryan Conde’s review published on Letterboxd:
I know that I said I wouldn't be watching movies until at least a couple of days before Godzilla vs. Kong came out but this one I made an exception to. I still was on the fence about if I should watch it or not but then when the reviews came in saying that the Synder Cut was actually good I knew I couldn't miss it. So compared to the 2017 Justice League movie how is this one? Well, I am happy to report that it is so much better than the 2017 film in pretty much every aspect. I could not be happier for Zack Synder. I and many other people thought that this was going to be a disaster but the man did surprise us in all the best ways. To start off with the great things about this movie because honestly there are way too many to count. The story actually is told very well and not as rushed as in the 2017 film, the cinematography is amazing, the musical score is fantastic, the direction is really good and you could tell this is Synder's vision of what he wanted Justice League to be, the editing is solid for the most part, the characters are much more likable and so much more developed and actually have motivations which makes them much more interesting, some of the bits of humor can actually get a laugh, the effects look a lot better, the visuals make this look very epic, unlike the 2017 film which didn't feel that epic to me, the emotional moments are surprisingly effective and have a lot of weight to them, the action scenes are really intense and are engaging as hell to watch, and the acting is stellar from everyone and is the strongest part of the film. Everyone does a fantastic job rather it be Ben Affleck or Gal Gadot who still do a great job as they did in the 2017 film or ones that I didn't think do that great a job really did surprise me like Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, and especially Ciaran Hinds who as Steppenwolf is so much better here. He not only has a motivation for doing what he is doing but he isn't just spurring out bland villain lines. Ray Fisher's Cyborg also really surprised me. His character is dived into so much more and has some moments that are legitimately emotional and strong. I also know a lot of people complained about the four-hour running time and I kind of was too but for the most part, I was not bored in this movie. The pacing moves along very well and each part of the movie I was pretty engaged with. I actually sat through this whole movie in four hours without pausing it and while I can see people not being able to do that I can totally see people just sitting there for quite a while and not pausing the movie because they are so engaged with it as I was. All of these things really made this cut worth watching. However, the movie does have some big problems and while they don't ruin the film it does keep it from being truly amazing. The humor still is not that effective and that's when it feels like Joss Whedon's version instead of Zack Synder's, a few moments the pacing can get slow, and there are some scenes that do go on a little too long and can get a little boring after a while. I know it doesn't seem like these are big issues but when you have a four-hour movie you gotta have most of it really engage you and for the most part, it does but when it doesn't it can drag on for a while. Luckily it doesn't happen often but you can tell when it does. Also while the visuals and effects look much better and can look really good there are some times where it doesn't look very good and can be a little distracting. The slow-motion also can get pretty tiring after a while especially when it's used a lot throughout the action scenes. It's not too bad but it does get predictable after a while especially when you know that this is one of Synder's gimmicks. Thankfully when the movie does have great visuals and effects it can look fantastic and can draw you in the action scenes so much more, unlike Joss Whedon's film in which the action was either very choppy or just not that interesting. Zack Synder and his team here really did a great job here and I guess that's what I can say about this version. I wouldn't necessarily call it great but for what it is this might as well be a masterpiece compared to the 2017 Justice League which only has gotten worse the more I think about it especially compared to this version. Overall the Synder Cut is really entertaining and has so many positives to it that you can kind of forget the bad things about it which is not much. Like I said before I am so happy for Zack Synder not just because he made a good movie with a clear vision of what he wanted but that he can finally have peace with this version finally be out and not have to deal with all the fans complaining about it. I still don't think the fans should've gone this far just to get this original vision though. Seriously the guy lost his daughter when doing the 2017 film and had to step down from being the director for an actual good reason and you fanboys have to complain and not even care about Synder himself or his loss and just to get his original vision out. I know many people don't like the Joss Whedon film and I don't really either but still, that really is going too far just to get an original cut of a movie. However even with a version of a movie that is basically made just to pleasing fans it still manages to work very well in the end. If you're a Zack Synder fan you will pretty much love this movie. If you're a regular film buff or just a superhero fan I would still say that this is worth seeing at least once but for anyone else, it will very much depend on if you can get through the long-running time. Overall I am pleasantly surprised and we can finally have closure of this whole Synder Cut thing and we never have to hear people complain about it again. Well done Zack Synder you really did prove so many of us wrong. See you guys next week! I'll be back to more movie reviews sometime next week but in the meantime, I'll be relaxing.
