Why The New Snyder Cut Trailer Is Already Better Than The Entire 2017 Justice League Movie

Three years ago, DC assembled all their greatest heroes for one massive motion picture spectacle, and... well, it was a dud. While you might occasionally find someone who'll tell you that Justice League was "okay," you certainly won't hear any die-hards singing the film's praises.

To be fair, Justice League had a lot stacked against it. Warner Bros. and DC's efforts to duplicate the small miracle that was Marvel's Avengers success was always going to be a gamble, and with an uber-dark set-up film that split audiences in Batman v Superman, director Zack Snyder leaving mid-production, and the last-minute choice to swap in Joss Whedon being a huge disaster (according to choice words from Cyborg actor Ray Fisher), it's no wonder that the finished film is a bizarre mix of Marvel-wannabe quips, overly moody visuals, and the most frightening CGI upper lip in cinematic history. 

Ever since that day, Snyder's fans have clamored for the release of the mythical "Snyder Cut," a version of Justice League that would be true to the original director's vision. And in August 2020 at the virtual DC FanDome event, the first trailer for Snyder's newer, shinier DC Comics extravaganza was finally unveiled. While the Snyder Cut trailer is less than three minutes long (and for some reason, scored to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"), the small glimpses offered of Cyborg's backstory, Iris West, Superman's black suit, a reworked resurrection, and the arrival of Darkseid already point to a dramatically improved film. 

How so? Three words: consistent creative vision.

Okay, so when Snyder last held a firm grip on the steering wheel, he delivered Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Response was polarized, to say the least. However, regardless of whether you think the film's exploration (and deconstruction) of two American icons landed (or whether mixing the Death of Superman with The Dark Knight Returns makes any sense), BvS was, without question, an ambitious film. It grapples with complex themes, mixes ancient mythology with contemporary politics, clearly has something to say about society, and most importantly, it's true to Snyder's vision — for better or worse. 

Justice League, by contrast, was pure fluff. And fluff is certainly not without merit, but it feels inappropriate when it's built upon a dark foundation that deconstructs icons in gruesome detail. You can't go from a murderous Batman to a quippy one. It doesn't work. Trying to do so resulted in a tonally inconsistent mess, with Whedon-style jokes forced into Snyder's dramatic scenes, as Screen Rant points out, like Flash's weird monologue about brunch. Thus, while Snyder's new trailer might not be everybody's bag, it's definitely true to the director's vision. It's a Justice League that fits snugly next to Snyder's previous entries, satisfyingly addresses loose threads, and will accurately present the story that he wanted to tell. For that alone, this trailer is already better than whatever it was that hit theaters in 2017. 

Zack Snyder's Justice League will premiere on HBO Max in 2021.