Zack Snyder’s Justice League [HBO Max]

At a running time of four hours and 2 minutes, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is way too long. It has six “Parts” and an Epilogue (which is essentially a commercial for the upcoming sequel). The movie opens with Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) trying to recruit Aquaman (Jason Momoa) to join a group that he believes will be necessary to battle the upcoming invasion from Space. Aquaman turns Bruce Wayne down.

Bruce Wayne has better luck recruiting Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and The Flash (Ezra Miller). Together they face the might of an ancient threat thousands of years old. Incredible devices called “Mother Boxes” were left on Earth and hidden away. Now forces arrive to claim the Mother Boxes and conquer Earth.

Zack Snyder provides the backstory to this movie: Thousands of years ago, Darkseid and his legions of Parademons attempted to conquer Earth using the Mother Boxes. The attempt was foiled by a unified alliance of Old GodsAmazonsAtlanteans, humanity, and a Green Lantern.

After the battle, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in different locations, guarded by the Amazons, Atlanteans, and Humanity respectively. In the present, Superman‘s death triggers the Mother Boxes’ reactivation, attracting Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid’s servants, to Earth. Steppenwolf, who has fallen out of favor with Darkseid, aims to regain it by gathering the boxes to form “the Unity,” which would terraform Earth in the likeness of their world Apokolips.

Needless to say, the Justice League doesn’t stand much of a chance against Steppenwolf and his legions of Parademons. Even with the addition of Cyborg (Ray Fisher), the invaders have the advantage.

You can probably guess how the balance of power is changed. There are plenty of long battle scenes. Jeremy Irons is wasted as Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred. Amy Adams is wasted as Lois Lane. A lot is wasted in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. But the biggest waste might be your time. GRADE: C

22 thoughts on “Zack Snyder’s Justice League [HBO Max]

  1. Steve Oerkfitz

    Not normally my kind of movie but I watched it anyways. I liked it much better than Joss Whedon’s Justice League. Yes, it is long but I watched it over several days much like a mini series. I would give it a B.

    Reply
  2. Jeff Meyerson

    Sounds like a total ripoff of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, only a lot longer and less interesting.

    Hard pass.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, you’re right about the similarities between JUSTICE LEAGUE and INFINITY WAR. The MARVEL approach was infinity better that DC’s!

      Reply
  3. Michael Padgett

    Snyder looked to be a rising star with his first feature, a terrific remake of Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD, and followed it with the great looking but boring 300. But then he shifted into the sort of movies I have no interest in, like this one.

    Reply
      1. Todd Mason

        Was never any good. 300 and SUCKER PUNCH were enough to make anyone worth ignoring; WATCHMEN gained what little it had from its source-comic.

  4. Dan

    Four Hours Long?

    Remember when you used to plunk down a dime for a comic book with two or three stories, a letter column, and ads for Sea Monkeys?

    Reply
      1. Steve Oerkfitz

        Blackhawk. A favorite of mine as a kid. One of the few comics never filmed as far as I know.

      2. george Post author

        Steve, Political Correctness will cause problems with a BLACKHAWK movie depending on how they deal with Chop Chop.

    1. Todd Mason

      They were going from 15c to 20c when I first read ’em, and 25c for the standard ones when I was reading childhood DCs, Marvels, Charltons and Gold Keys…ca. 1974. Sea Monkeys very much in evidence.

      Reply
  5. Todd Mason

    People seem to agree with Steve above that this is better than the Whedon JUSTICE LEAGUE hodgepodge (not too tough), but as someone who hasn’t enjoyed any ZS film (jerry House’s recent recommendation of the Pitch Meeting parody critiques of the various Snyder droppings among others [STAR WARS films, too] have been spot on as far as I’ve gone through a number of them. But, then, I don’t like the Nolan films, either. Two flavors of ponderous dopiness, much more so than is demanded by their being superhero comics films. (Just in my sleepy state, took in a Capt. Marvel aka Shazam and Superman v. Black Adam animation, since I finally activated our HBO Max account–wow, it’s Much less sparsely populated than I expected–and that, while not superb, is better than nearly all the DC movies…their tv series also keep a higher average.

    Ah, well. As Snyder can even muck up projects, such as this, with Diane Lane playing Martha Kent, I’ll probably keep ignoring the future efforts.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Todd, as you point out, there were plenty of elements in ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE that went to waste: Diane Lane, Amy Adams, and Jeremy Irons just to name a few. Great actors with nothing to do…

      Reply
      1. george Post author

        Todd, Amy Adam and Jeremy Irons–two excellent actors–were also wasted in ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE just as Diane Lane was wasted in his SUPERMAN films.

  6. maggie mason

    I’d watch it, but 4 hours is way too long. If it comes to hbo, I’d watch it over several days, or if I can get it from my library. Not worth tying up a netflix dvd rental for days.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Maggie, I suspect dividing ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE into six Parts was done so people wouldn’t have to endure the whole 4 hours and 2 minutes…like I did. They could break it up into… Parts.

      Reply

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