Justice League vs. The Snyder Cut - Filmmaking Comparison

Comparing Zach Snyder's Justice League and the original Theatrical Cut finished by Joss Whedon provides a unique opportunity to look at exactly how filmmaking decisions- how a film is shot, colored, edited, written, and directed dramatically impacts how we perceive the plot it contains.

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#ThomasFlight #VideoEssay

Chapters:
00:00 Dark vs Light
01:07 Part 1 - Introduction and Context
02:55 Part 2 - The Tale of Two Tones
08:20 Part 3 - Pacing and Running Time
13:10 Part 3.5 - A Brief Aside About Editing
14:14 Part 4 - Story, Characters, and Stakes
22:01 Epilogue - Bad Re-Shoots and Additions

[laksha]

The very fact that there are 2 versions of the same movie allows for so much case study into film making. Its a great opportunity.

[ThisIsCreation-FollowOnTwitter]

The colour grade on Whedon's version looks like a Gillette ad. Look at the shot of bruce on the plane, its straight out of an ad

[mediamanjamessmith]

What’s interesting is the various different runtimes this film went through:

- 3h 40m was the version the WB execs saw
- 3h 20m from a photo Zach shared of JL film reels (likely his would be Ultimate Edition)
- Studio mandated it to be shortened (implying around 2h 30m)
- Zach leaves due to unfortunate circumstances and they get Whedon to make it 2hs.
- HBO Max get involved years later and say “not the 3h 40m version you trimmed, give us all 4hs”.

Crazy what this movie (and Zach & Deborah) went through, but it’s nice we all finally got this in the end

[wickedchild]

3:21 in the Snyder Cut the theme actually fits Arthur's personality trying to compensate his emotional weakness whereas in the Whedon Cut he just looks like Lobo

[George-vnco]

I know BVS has a bad rep, but the opening scene with Bruce racing to Wayne towers amid Superman & Zod's destruction of Metropolis, was a great example of using pedestrian/ human perspective to make things more relatable or immediate.

[kthxbi]

I'm almost glad the whole original vs snyder cut thing happened, because it has provided us with one of the best case studies of just how different two different tellings of the same story can be, how much a different directorial vision and edit can radically change even the most innocuous of scenes

[George_Glass]

This is interesting, because I was blown away by how the Snyder cut was literally like watching a different film. I couldn't understand how it was so much better with what I assume to be nuanced edits. A very comfortable and entertaining watch for a 4 hour film.

[scotchwars]

I love the scene where Cyborg fills the struggling mother's bank account with a few hundred thousand dollars

[TheCasualSubculturist]

Original was so forgettable to me that watching Snyder cut actually felt like a new movie.

[_moondream]

The Joker scene wasn't part of Snyder's original plan, he wanted to add it now due to the fact that he knows he won't be doing any more of these DC films. It's basically just there to give us a taste of what could have been in future installments. I think most of the "Epilogue" part of the film is there for that purpose. Jared Leto wasn't even paid for this role, he did it out of respect for Snyder and to help show the world what Snyder had planned. Sadly, we'll now never see these films.

[corbinpearce]

DC's selling point compared to marvel is how dark and gritty it is. It's what the universe what written on, and it's a theme it pulls off very well. Not everything needs to be family friendly.

[SamueITan]

I just love that despite the failure of the Josstice League, the cast and team never lost faith in Zack and even turning up voluntarily during the pandemic period, to help shoot scenes and complete his vision and give his Cut the Justice it deserves (pun intended) despite disagreements with the studio and not being paid big bucks.

Everybody that worked on the movie knows what a masterpiece it was and defended Zack's original cut till the end and this movie being released for everyone was a true Symbol of Unity between the Zack Snyder, his team, the Justice League and the Fans.

[ZA-]

I watched the movie with my mom without telling her it was a 4 hour long movie and she didn't even fall asleep, she didn't complain. She wanted to see more!

[TacticalTrucker]

The scene with Alfred in the tea made me feel that Alfred loves doing what he does and he does it with class and prestige

[phoenix_in_crimsontruth]

8:20 - I really liked how the opening shots in the Snyder Cut were longer and able to breathe, and it's already telling us exactly what is happening rather than just leaving us to guess the context of the scene as it jumps right into the action sequences. I also liked how different WW felt like as a character in that instance. The scene actually looks like it's setting up a character instead of just showing off cool effects or something like that.

[riddhabose]

Its been a very long time since I had seen such a brilliant video. Straight from the accurate analysis to the appropriate analogies through the editing. Superb effort man! True creator.

[c_bsvxlgjejqirylydzw]

The saturation is definitely part of the reason the original version looks fake. 3d artists know about the effect it can have, especially on bad renders.

[liggerstuxin]

The opening death of Superman with his scream heard around the world was powerful to me.

[pandalandalopalis]

i dont know if this was intentional but i love how you parallel the differences in tone with how you film YOURSELF talking. one version has a monochrome shirt with you almost in the middle, right behind the light so it feels darker; the other version has a coloured shirt with you on the side of the frame with other things in the shot that make it feel more open, and the lighting source to the side which makes it feel brighter.
i see u.

[ChristianGabino]

5:13 That one scene where Barry Allen as ‘The Flash’ landed on Diana as Wonder Woman on her strong breasts.

That one part was *FILLER*