Zack Synder ‘Justice League’: Improved, but Still Disappointing

Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder are quite a pair of personalities to hire for the same project: Picture a concert in which the Go-Go’s open for Metallica. Snyder is a medievalist, all blood and iron. Whedon is a mall rat, all lip gloss and diet soda. That Warner Bros. hired Whedon to finish Snyder’s 2017 Justice League when the latter had to bow out due to family crisis sheds light on corporate hand-wringing about the most valuable property at Hollywood’s most important studio. After Snyder made 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice — the world’s first $850 million-grossing box-office disappointment — and the Marvel movies had come to dominate Hollywood the way no franchise has ever done, Warner Bros. felt inclined to tiptoe away from Snyder’s deep, dark, disturbing mythologizing. The DC movies may have been more interesting than the Marvel ones, but they were also getting to be a lot less entertaining and a lot less profitable. So: Bring on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer guy! Whedon predictably drained all the brooding, somber heft out of the project and replaced it with fizz and candy.

I shared in the general rejoicing when Snyder was allowed to finish and deliver his four-hour version of the film — Zack Snyder’s Justice League — to HBO Max. Snyder is an interesting filmmaker; Whedon is not. Snyder has ideas; Whedon has quips. Nevertheless, Snyder’s movie is a letdown.

About the Author

Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

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Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder are quite a pair of personalities to hire for the same project: Picture a concert in which the Go-Go’s open for Metallica. Snyder is a medievalist, all blood and iron. Whedon is a mall rat, all lip gloss and diet soda. That Warner Bros. hired Whedon to finish Snyder’s 2017 Justice League when the latter had to bow out due to family crisis sheds light on corporate hand-wringing about the most valuable property at Hollywood’s most important studio. After Snyder made 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice — the world’s first $850 million-grossing box-office disappointment — and the Marvel movies had come to dominate Hollywood the way no franchise has ever done, Warner Bros. felt inclined to tiptoe away from Snyder’s deep, dark, disturbing mythologizing. The DC movies may have been more interesting than the Marvel ones, but they were also getting to be a lot less entertaining and a lot less profitable. So: Bring on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer guy! Whedon predictably drained all the brooding, somber heft out of the project and replaced it with fizz and candy.

I shared in the general rejoicing when Snyder was allowed to finish and deliver his four-hour version of the film — Zack Snyder’s Justice League — to HBO Max. Snyder is an interesting filmmaker; Whedon is not. Snyder has ideas; Whedon has quips. Nevertheless, Snyder’s movie is a letdown.