The Snyder Cut is Real

I am a Snyder Cut truther. I always believed a six-hour version existed in an unfinished form because that’s definitely the kind of guy Zack Snyder is. I never participated in the #RelasetheSnyderCut though. I just didn’t care that much and never expected anything to come of it. Maybe in a decade, a documentary would be released and some of the unseen footage would make it into that. To have the announcement that it will be finished and released next year is incredibly surprising. I can’t wait.

You see, I love Man of Steel. I think, somewhat unpopularly, think it is one of the best Superman films and superhero films, period. I don’t like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as much. I do like it, but I think it has clear issues that keep me from enjoying it as much as I would like. So, you might say that I am a big fan of what Snyder crafted before leaving Justice League.

Unfortunately, Justice League was a mediocre movie that bombed at the box office. Stitched together from the footage shot by Snyder and reshoots done by Joss Whedon after Snyder stepped away, the movie is a tonal and thematic mess. It is by no means a terrible movie, but I have never felt the desire to watch it again. I have always firmly believed that if either director were able to make their own version, it would have been a significantly better movie.

So, now we get to see that. More or less. Obviously, three years have passed and that will have an effect on where Snyder and his collaborators’ heads are while they finish. It may also be in a different format. Apparently, Snyder pitched the potential of turning the film into a series of 4-6 “chapters” (read: episodes) as an option. He says he knows exactly where each part would end. I believe it. Zack Snyder is nothing if not a detailed planner. I don’t necessarily want it in that form, but I will take it.

For the fans that just want to see Snyder’s vision, myself included, I am very happy to see this happen. Regrettably, the Snyder Cut fans have not always been the most…reasonable crowd. As with any online group, a number (in this case, a significant one) have a habit of turning aggressive and toxic at a moment’s notice. I worry that the success of this movement will only reinforce that behavior, as it has the Star Wars fandom in recent years. We’ll have to wait for a verdict, but I have hope because the good people always outnumber the bad in these situations, even if the bad are often louder.

In the end, this endeavor may end poorly. Maybe Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League isn’t actually that good. Maybe it’s what everyone hoped the theatrical cut would be. It will be a year, maybe more, until we get answers to that. For now, what we have is the passion of fans winning out. Not in a negative corporate pandering way, but in a genuine way created by the respect between a creator and his fans. That gives me hope and that is, after all, the point of these films.