If you’ve been paying any attention to the online film discourse at all within the last three years, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about the alleged original cut of Justice League that was on track for release until Zack Snyder had to depart from the production under tragic personal circumstances. Thoughts and musings often range from a sincere desire to see a single creative vision persevere in the tentpole blockbuster scene (regardless of if the end result is any good or even finished) to aggressive dismissal of perceived manchildren bullying a studio over something that might not even exist.
Now, for a little context, here’s a quick summation of what all this talk is over. Back in March 2017, Justice League was en route to finish production without a hitch. Then, Snyder had to step down due to personal pressures that I won’t elaborate on here for the sake of good taste. Afterwards, Joss Whedon stepped on to helm whatever extra scenes and reshoots wherever they were necessary. Cut to November of that year where the film got savaged by the press as well as fans and the box-office results were less than stellar, to put it nicely. Many claim that Whedon just tried to fix a film that wasn’t even broken to begin with. Honestly, when I look at side-by-side comparisons of what certain scenes looked like before he entered the picture, I have a hard time disagreeing with that assertion.
For a while, it seemed increasingly unlikely that this extended cut would even see the light of day. Rumors ranged that the film only needed some more time in the editing bay while others insisted that it would take too much money to be worth finishing. Personally, I’ve even speculated that the release of this would probably play out like the Donner Cut of Superman II if were to happen at all (where we’d have to wait a long time to even see it). But, from the looks of recent headlines, a lot of this talk is about to pay off.
Speculation based on reliable sources has led most to believe that the Snyder Cut will be used as a potential launch title for HBO Max, be it as a single film or cut up into chunks and released as a miniseries (a la what Netflix did with Quentin Tarantino’s extended version of The Hateful Eight not too long ago).
I won’t dwell on the outlandish demonizing of Zack Snyder for too long. Even acknowledging it feels like perpetuating it against a filmmaker who really doesn’t deserve it. The hypocrisy of people who lambast so-called “toxic fans” for dogpiling on a filmmaker with a radically different take on a popular IP in one breath while mimicking the exact same toxicity in another speaks for itself. All one needs to do is replace the name “Zack Snyder” with say “Rian Johnson” or any other artist that rubs online fandom the wrong way and a lot of this bashing from bloggers becomes inseparable from the same morons who demanded The Last Jedi to be what would have amounted to cinematic fan-fiction.
Imagine if Twitter (specifically this writhing seething subsect of Film Twitter that makes talking about movies so unpleasant these days) was around when the first few alternate cuts of Blade Runner came out. Or David Fincher’s “assembly cut” of Alien 3. Or Wim Winders’ preferred vision of Until the End of the World (which finally saw completion thanks to a restoration from Janus Films). Or Sergio Leone’s original cut of Once Upon A Time in America. Or Dark City. It even applies to two of Snyder’s previous films.
Both the longer versions of Batman v Superman and Watchmen benefitted from an extended runtime, even from a few voices who weren’t fond of either film to begin with. All this talk of releasing the film rewarding the worst impulses of modern fandom or just simply being a futile and stupid gesture (to borrow the parlance of National Lampoon) struck me as disingenuous at best and needlessly mean-spirited at worst. I’ve believed this since it first entered the larger conversation back in late 2017 and I can’t say my stance has shifted all that much at the time of writing. Especially when one considers that extended cuts have always had a neutral or resoundingly positive stance in film fandom for decades.
If an extended cut made a movie better, it was a cause for celebration. In some instances, the changes were significant enough to rehabilitate a film’s reputation. Look at how opinions have shifted in favor of notorious flops like Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate or Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club. And, if didn’t, it wasn’t a big deal. Extended cuts that either didn’t impact the film to any noticeable degree or outright dragged it down quality-wise have been treated like minor footnotes at most. If you don’t believe me, just look into how much noise is made about the extended cut of Stripes or the special edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I’ve even heard MCU fans express interest in longer versions of The Incredible Hulk or Thor: The Dark World.
Worst of all, I think a lot of this bile sends a message that might damage the film industry going forward (i.e. not even critics give a damn if the biggest titles on the market are increasingly assembly-line white noise). Speaking purely from the perspective of an up-and-coming filmmaker, this snide dismissive attitude is insanely dispiriting and yet it is something that’s becoming more common these days (which is all the more troublesome). Do I even need to recall Edgar Wright’s infamously acrimonious departure from the first Ant-Man or the lightning rod of controversy that was Phil Lord & Chris Miller getting the boot from Solo when they already finished shooting most of the movie?
Regardless, I can’t say I’m entirely on board with the Snyder Cut movement either. Even if such a massive support for creative vision is comforting (if only within the realm of comic book blockbusters) and raising money for suicide prevention charities, there’s still enough deranged malcontents in the lot that warrant serious debate.
So, in the end, all I really have to say is let go of this. If the Snyder Cut comes out, good. Let people be excited for it. Don’t rain on their parade even if it is held together with duct tape and prayer. What’s the worst that can happen? There’s certainly more pressing matters in the current climate.
Now, for a little context, here’s a quick summation of what all this talk is over. Back in March 2017, Justice League was en route to finish production without a hitch. Then, Snyder had to step down due to personal pressures that I won’t elaborate on here for the sake of good taste. Afterwards, Joss Whedon stepped on to helm whatever extra scenes and reshoots wherever they were necessary. Cut to November of that year where the film got savaged by the press as well as fans and the box-office results were less than stellar, to put it nicely. Many claim that Whedon just tried to fix a film that wasn’t even broken to begin with. Honestly, when I look at side-by-side comparisons of what certain scenes looked like before he entered the picture, I have a hard time disagreeing with that assertion.
For a while, it seemed increasingly unlikely that this extended cut would even see the light of day. Rumors ranged that the film only needed some more time in the editing bay while others insisted that it would take too much money to be worth finishing. Personally, I’ve even speculated that the release of this would probably play out like the Donner Cut of Superman II if were to happen at all (where we’d have to wait a long time to even see it). But, from the looks of recent headlines, a lot of this talk is about to pay off.
Speculation based on reliable sources has led most to believe that the Snyder Cut will be used as a potential launch title for HBO Max, be it as a single film or cut up into chunks and released as a miniseries (a la what Netflix did with Quentin Tarantino’s extended version of The Hateful Eight not too long ago).
I won’t dwell on the outlandish demonizing of Zack Snyder for too long. Even acknowledging it feels like perpetuating it against a filmmaker who really doesn’t deserve it. The hypocrisy of people who lambast so-called “toxic fans” for dogpiling on a filmmaker with a radically different take on a popular IP in one breath while mimicking the exact same toxicity in another speaks for itself. All one needs to do is replace the name “Zack Snyder” with say “Rian Johnson” or any other artist that rubs online fandom the wrong way and a lot of this bashing from bloggers becomes inseparable from the same morons who demanded The Last Jedi to be what would have amounted to cinematic fan-fiction.
Imagine if Twitter (specifically this writhing seething subsect of Film Twitter that makes talking about movies so unpleasant these days) was around when the first few alternate cuts of Blade Runner came out. Or David Fincher’s “assembly cut” of Alien 3. Or Wim Winders’ preferred vision of Until the End of the World (which finally saw completion thanks to a restoration from Janus Films). Or Sergio Leone’s original cut of Once Upon A Time in America. Or Dark City. It even applies to two of Snyder’s previous films.
Both the longer versions of Batman v Superman and Watchmen benefitted from an extended runtime, even from a few voices who weren’t fond of either film to begin with. All this talk of releasing the film rewarding the worst impulses of modern fandom or just simply being a futile and stupid gesture (to borrow the parlance of National Lampoon) struck me as disingenuous at best and needlessly mean-spirited at worst. I’ve believed this since it first entered the larger conversation back in late 2017 and I can’t say my stance has shifted all that much at the time of writing. Especially when one considers that extended cuts have always had a neutral or resoundingly positive stance in film fandom for decades.
If an extended cut made a movie better, it was a cause for celebration. In some instances, the changes were significant enough to rehabilitate a film’s reputation. Look at how opinions have shifted in favor of notorious flops like Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate or Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club. And, if didn’t, it wasn’t a big deal. Extended cuts that either didn’t impact the film to any noticeable degree or outright dragged it down quality-wise have been treated like minor footnotes at most. If you don’t believe me, just look into how much noise is made about the extended cut of Stripes or the special edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I’ve even heard MCU fans express interest in longer versions of The Incredible Hulk or Thor: The Dark World.
Worst of all, I think a lot of this bile sends a message that might damage the film industry going forward (i.e. not even critics give a damn if the biggest titles on the market are increasingly assembly-line white noise). Speaking purely from the perspective of an up-and-coming filmmaker, this snide dismissive attitude is insanely dispiriting and yet it is something that’s becoming more common these days (which is all the more troublesome). Do I even need to recall Edgar Wright’s infamously acrimonious departure from the first Ant-Man or the lightning rod of controversy that was Phil Lord & Chris Miller getting the boot from Solo when they already finished shooting most of the movie?
Regardless, I can’t say I’m entirely on board with the Snyder Cut movement either. Even if such a massive support for creative vision is comforting (if only within the realm of comic book blockbusters) and raising money for suicide prevention charities, there’s still enough deranged malcontents in the lot that warrant serious debate.
So, in the end, all I really have to say is let go of this. If the Snyder Cut comes out, good. Let people be excited for it. Don’t rain on their parade even if it is held together with duct tape and prayer. What’s the worst that can happen? There’s certainly more pressing matters in the current climate.
