Saturday, August 22, 2020

The Snyder Cut - Why?

Okay, so in 2013, Zack Snyder directed Man of Steel.  It wasn't the best Superman movie ever made, but it was serviceable.  In 2016, Snyder directed Batman Vs Superman.  It was an awful, bloated piece of dullness, and it was almost universally panned.  

In 2017, Snyder directed Justice League.  He had to quit before it was done, due to a personal tragedy, and Joss Whedon was hired to apply the final touches.  It wasn't a great movie, but it was a step up from BvS.  I actually like it, I just wish the villain had been better.

Look, Joss Whedon has his flaws.  I mean, he kind of peaked in the 90s, and a lot of his writing is... detectable.  As in, a character says a line, and you're like, "That sounds like Joss Whedon."  It's not bad, and sometimes it's pretty funny, but it's often obvious that all the characters were written by the same person.  But for the most part, I still like his writing.

In any event, I'd much rather watch a super hero movie directed by Whedon than Snyder.  Whedon actually seems to like comics, while Snyder only likes deconstructing them.  I'm really sick of the "deconstructing" trend.  It's not edgy or new, and frankly it's become just as tired as people think straight comic book movies are.

I'm convinced that Whedon's touches are the only reason Justice League was watchable.  Before he stepped in, Justice League was destined to be another four hour angsty snorefest.  Of course, the movie was too far along for Whedon to completely save, and he didn't want to alter Snyder's vision too much anyway.  So it's still a Snyder movie for the most part, and as such, it got mixed reviews.

I, for one, think it's underrated.  Like "Solo: A Star Wars Story", Justice League paid for the sins of its predecessors.  A lot of the people who hated BvS didn't even bother seeing Justice League, and I don't blame them.  I'm pretty sure a lot of the hate for the movie comes from people who didn't even see it.  But it still could have been better, and it joined the ranks of soon-to-be-forgotten super hero movies like Amazing Spider-Man movies or the Fantastic Four reboot.

And then rumors of the Snyder cut surfaced.  And for once, those rumors turned out to be true, or at the very least a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The new version of the film is on its way, much to the joy of Snyder fans.

Except... there aren't any Snyder fans.  BvS saw to that.  I mean, there's an exception to every rule, but I've yet to hear a lot of people stick up for BvS.  In fact, some of the people who hated on BvS are the same ones who demanded the Snyder cut of JL.

So what's the deal?  Explain this to me like I'm a five year old.  Why are people so interested in seeing a worse version of the same movie?  Who saw Justice League and said, "This would be better if it was twice as long, and featured a ton of slow motion dream sequences."  Might as well name Steppenwolf's mother "Martha" just for the hell of it.

Look, I want the Snyder Cut to be good, and I do plan to see it.  And I'll admit, some of the new footage does make me a little excited.  But I'm just not sure why anybody expects it to be better than the original cut.  We already know what Snyder is capable of.

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