On The Air: Zack Snyder's Justice League (2017-21)

 Fans & critics alike were displeased with 2017's "Justice League", especially after director Zack Snyder had to step down due to a death in the family, and Joss Whedon was brought in to finish the project, taking no credit for his work as director.

Since then, Whedon has been vilified for alleged on-set abuses by cast member Ray Fisher and actors that Whedon has worked with in the past. Snyder, meanwhile, was given the green light by WB to release his cut of the movie, twice the time, twice the thrills, and, well, twice the drama.

"Zack Snyder's Justice League", dedicated to the memory of the auteur's late daughter, Autumn, clocks in at an unwieldy 4 hours and change. You know. "Ben-Hur" territory back in the day. There are plenty of changes, plenty of scenes that Whedon had shot were removed, replaced with material that Snyder wanted in. More backstory is given to the central characters to allow the plot to actually breathe a little more, and for the story to make sense, although burdening Barry Allen, aka the Flash (Ezra Miller), with the clowning, buffoonish personality given to his successor, Wally West, in the 2001 Justice League animated series, can be explained away by making Barry, presented here as a college student not yet employed as a police scientist, someone the kids can relate to. You know, a role model.

The core plot remains the same. Steppenwolf, Darkseid's once trusted lieutenant, arrives on Earth, hoping to regain favor with his boss. Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) assemble the rest of the team, but need to resurrect Superman (Henry Cavill) in order to ensure that Darkseid doesn't arrive on Earth. There are trust issues with Cyborg (Fisher) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa) before they're forced into action when Steppenwolf and some parademons go after their loved ones, an age old comics trope.

Snyder's cut would get an R rating in theatres for coarse language.

Here's the trailer:

Seems Snyder is not among those who'd rather see Bruce Wayne and Selina "Catwoman" Kyle hook up, instead continuing to tease a relationship between Wonder Woman and Wayne, as more than just business partners, that is. However, some scenes are inserted in the wrong places, disrupting some of the flow, just the sort of thing that Snyder wanted to avoid. Well, no one's perfect.

Rating for the original version: C.

Rating for the director's cut, airing on HBO Max: B-.