Justice League was the biggest ensemble movie put up by DC Entertainment as it featured some of the beloved superheroes including Batman (Ben Affleck), Superman (Henry Cavill), Wonder-woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). They came together to take on the military general of Darkseid i.e Steppenwolf who is on a mission to collect all the motherboxes and restore the darkness in the world.
Justice League was supposed to be this massive, record-breaking blockbuster that would have set the stage for DCEU to expand and branch out into newer avenues. DC fans after a prolonged losing streak (except Wonder Woman) was banking on the success of JL as it featured some of the most popular and beloved DC superheroes, but it fell way short of expectations.
Having said that, there was definitely an improvement from the previous movies as it was certainly a step in the right direction. The most neutral and balanced review was given by Screenrant’s Rob Keyes who acknowledged both the achievements and shortcomings of the movie. Here’s what he said:
“The good: #JusticeLeague is my favorite DCEU movie. It will make you love its heroes and want to see them team-up again. The bad: #JusticeLeague rushes through a lot and its main story/lore and villain are rather stripped down and forgettable. The future: #JusticeLeague feels like a new start to the age of heroes and succeeds as a launch platform in that, even though some of its newer characters very much would have benefited from origin stories beforehand.”
Justice League was yet another DC movie that was hated by the critics but loved by the fans as it had the heart and the humor that the DC movies have been lacking a bit. The movie got all its characters right and we loved all the character interactions and the action sequences that were there in the movie.
WB kept it mandatory for Joss Whedon to make the movie under or exactly at 2 hours. Well, the reason behind that was this would allow the theatres to run an extra screening of the movie throughout the day, which would mean they could cash in more money. Well, even after all this, JL wasn’t a very profitable success. So, something might have been wrong for sure, and we know what it was.
Zack Snyder’s cut was originally intended to be about 2 hours and 45 minutes. That meant an extra 45 minutes of the movie. That could have included so many plots changing and plot defining elements which the movie was actually lacking. Whedon tried to give us a great movie with what he got. Still, the movie was missing a lot that was originally intended.
In a way, WB is itself responsible for mixed bag results as it is now coming out that some of the most amazing, top-notch VFX work and designs never made it to the final cut. For instance, there were massive digital effects work for characters such as Batman (Bat Cave and other stunning techs), Barry Allen’s computers and Cyborg’s sophisticated pieces of tech, none of this featured in the movie.
We all saw that there were so many scenes in the movie that popped up in the trailers but were missing from the final product. Through deduction, we also found out that some of those scenes were altered in the reshoots. Well, the parts that were not altered still managed to hit the editing bin as they were not fitting in the movie Whedon finished or just seemed to be unnecessary for the intended 2-hour cut.
One of the scenes that people were ‘hoping’ to see in the movie was surely where Alfred was talking to someone while fixing Mr. Wayne’s car. The comic con trailer for the movie ended with the scene where Alfred said to someone, “He said you’d come. Now let’s hope you are not too late.”
This little scene left us all with a suspense that who exactly is Alfred talking to over here. Before the movie came out, there were countless theories for this mystery person. Some believed that it might be Green Lantern, some thought it may very well be Shazam, while most of them were pointed towards Superman, as he had not appeared in the trailer, and the word ‘Hope’ used in this scene gave it away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YXBgUVPDFQ
Well, the entire scene that was deleted from the final cut of the movie has now been released as a bonus scene with the BluRay release of the movie. The mystery person involved over here is none other than Superman.
The Scene begins with Superman flying into the scene as Alfred is working on the car. Superman says,
“I assume you’re Alfred”,
To which Alfred replies all inspired,
“Master Kent. He (Bruce) said you’d come. Now let’s hope you are not too late.”
Finally, the mystery has been solved. In the scene, we saw Superman in his costume, so this means that this scene would have been right after yet another deleted scene when Superman goes to the ship and looks at the black Superman suit, but then chooses to wear the blue one. All this would have happened in the movie when the rest of the League left for Russia in the flying fox. It might have been deleted as it kinda broke the flow of the movie.
This scene showed how much people were thinking ahead of themselves, as they brought in Green Lantern, Shazam and what not. This proves that we should not believe in theories before seeing the final product. Justice League BluRay edition has an extra 2 minutes added throughout.
The movie also introduced changes pertaining to the character of Alfred, the Butler, and advisor of Bruce Wayne. Jeremy Irons, the popular English actor played him onscreen shed light on how this Alfred was very different than the earlier portrayals of him especially the one by Michael Caine in Nolan Batman trilogy. He said:
“We decided to try and change it a little bit from how he had been, make him less of a butler. I have a friend — now dead, sadly — very, very wealthy man called Paul Getty. He inherited the Getty Oil billions, and he was a neighbor of mine in England. And I remember going over there for dinner once.
He added:
“A very nice man parked my car for me. Another very nice man opened the front door for me. And another very nice man took my coat. And another very nice man gave me a glass of champagne on a tray. And another very nice man took me into introduce me to all the other guests. And I thought, ‘oh, very nice men here.'”
“Well, they were all ex-SAS [Special Air Service], and they were there to guard Paul. And yet they were opening doors, offering champagne. I thought, ‘that’s my Alfred.’ He’s a guy who will make a good cup of coffee, but if you need him, if you’re in trouble, he’ll be there with the experience that he’s garnered.”
There were two line of official synopsis released by DC Entertainment, the first was from the point of view of Batman who was the leader and responsible for putting together an elite team of superheroes to fight against the Steppenwolf, the other one put Wonder Woman at the center.
“In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of meta-humans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions”.
“Once again, Wonder Woman must demonstrate her ability as a fierce warrior. Facing a great enemy, she and Batman join forces to recruit a group of meta-humans to stand against this newly awakened threat. Having formed an unprecedented League of heroes, they set out to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.”
Go watch the movie and enjoy it.
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