T H E N A I V E F I L M M A K E R

The DCEU

In 2016 I was introduced to the DCEU when I saw trailers for Batman V Superman. Nolan had always been my definitive Batman and like many I was sceptical about the talks of Ben Affleck reprising the role in a new cinematic universe. But my mind was quickly changed when I was shown a trailer. The brooding, atmospheric shot of Batman and Superman staring eachother down converted me from sceptic to first nighter.

It was a film everyone I knew was talking about and my ticket was booked for the midnight showing; a double bill of Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice. I had been working night shifts at my local McDonald’s and every free moment we had was spent discussing old batman comics, what we were expecting, we argued for and against the gritty Man of Steel vibes that Snyder had created with Man of Steel (which I still hadn’t seen but trusted on my love of Watchmen). It was an exciting few weeks in which we all let out our inner geeks and got ready to go to the cinema and make a lot of mental notes.

The first film of the night was Man of Steel, I had only ever seen Cartoon Superman and was not loyal to that design, while I loved the animated renditions of Superman I had seen, I was quite happy to see Snyder’s take on the character, I liked to see Clark Kent as a lost soul, working odd jobs and smashing up the vehicles of awful bar patron. While there is a great deal of fair criticism of Man of Steel (Nobody can really argue that Jonathon Kent would realistically be annoyed with his son for rescuing his classmates). I think the criticism that fails to land is that Superman has to be a perfect, boy scout character. I fully believed and still do that inserting some inner turmoil was a good call, otherwise its not possible to relate to the demigod.

The follow up film was Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice…It was…..fine. I’m not going to list the issues with the film because its already been done hundreds of times over. Generally I liked it. Ben Affleck was great in his role, I actually didn’t mind Jesse Eisenberg as the demented son of Lex Luthor and most importantly I loved the gritty nature of the film, not to mention the incredibly gorgeous painting like shots and the always perfect music by Hans Zimmer.

Most of my criticisms were put to rest after I saw the extended cut, arguably the cut that should have been released but studios love to interfere. I don’t think critics would have been much happier with the extended cut, but I was, I thoroughly enjoyed it and have always trusted Zack Snyder’s overall vision with superhero films. I had been an apologist since seeing Watchmen as a teenager.

Soon After Suicide Squad would come out, it was even more long awaited by my friends in the kitchen, Not only did we all have a crush on Margot Robbie, but the trailer made it look like the most fun movie we were going to see that year! Kevin Smith said in his review that it was a real “Friday Movie” One that is playing in everyone’s minds while they slog their way through work, school and church. It was no exception to us and we were all very excited to finish our shifts and go watch it.

My brother Patrick and I went to see it first, it was what most of us were promised from the trailer; “A lot of fun”. It also had some really great moments. But it was not great filmmaking and I was beginning to worry that the dream of a DC Cinematic universe that would match that of the MCU was likely not to occur. I did see it a few more times with other friends and I enjoyed it for what it was.

I was holding out for Justice League though, I wanted more of the Snyder style, when checking for the release date I read November and foolishly not realised it was November the following year, so spent most of November 2016 getting over a humiliating dissapointment. When Justice League was released the following year I met up with an old friend and went to watch it, it was okay, but in every way was just passable. It really gave us nothing. Dawn of Justice was dark and gritty, Suicide Squad was fun, Justice League was neither, it was just a film to cross off the list and I stopped caring about the DCEU as a whole.

(Note: I did still go on to thoroughly enjoy Aquaman, Shazaam and Birds of Prey)

THE TURNAROUND

I was not expecting the Snyder Cut to be released, as much as I and the rest of the fanbase wanted it, I was under the impression that studios were not the listening type. But a few weeks ago Warner Bros released the film in its four hour glory. I had to take a take a brief break to ensure I moved slightly over the course of 6 acts and epilogue. I was also surprised by the 4:3 Aspect Ratio, a homage to classic Hollywood cinema but also doing some incredibly stuff with the cinematography, almost turning the heroes into God like characters to be looked up to.

See this article by Gregory Lawrence on the aspect ratio.

The film is all round an incredibly follow up to Batman V Superman, it is far superior to the film, although it is long and you will probably have to take a break and move around your living room for a while just to ensure you don’t pass out. It introduces each of the justice league with their tragic backstory and individual trauma in tact. It shows Bruce Wayne’s inner turmoil as he tries to prepare for an impossible fight.

The fight scenes are mind blowing, the cinematography is gorgeous, the music fits perfectly and I finished this film so happy with what I had just experienced. It was everything I had wanted in back in 2016. This is now the canon Justice League and what I will forverer be referring to when talking about the film, the previous cut can go in the bin.

There is one issue though…

Nobody can deny that Justice League is so bloody long! I don’t mind this, I’m open to a four hour film! I would still like to see a 4 hour Justice League, But what I objected to was the setup of so many characters. This was the same issue I had with Batman Vs Superman, although Justice League provided truly gripping backstories for all of the Justice League, I think they would have been serviced better through their own films.

It would be hard to argue that the DCEU is DC’s answer to the MCU and Justice League is their Avengers. But the difference is the MCU took their time to setup most of the avengers in their own film, they made hundreds of millions of dollars via their character’s solo films and when it came to The Avengers; the audience new what was going on and we could jump straight into the action.

I think the whole team did a great job at working with what they had. They successfully fitted into Justice League the origins of several characters with a great deal of seamlessness, with stories compelling enough to make us want stand alone movies. But I think the Snyder cut could have been a whole film’s length shorter and just as good had they seperated the content. But the fast building of a cinematic universe dropped the ball.

Overall…

I really liked The Snyder Cut. I think it was a great movie and would recommend it to my friends. But I think the criticism the DCEU has faced is perfectly valid. I do however hope that we will see more pieces of work like this from the DCEU.

~Alexander~