The DC Universe has had a very dramatic history when it comes to continuity and questions of canon. And no DC movie captures this studio trait more than Zack Snyder’s Justice League. However, whether you’re a fan of Snyder or not – the fact still remains that Batman actor Ben Affleck thinks the said action movie is “genius”.
For film fans who may not know, Justice League was initially directed and had its story penned by Snyder and Chris Terrio. However, Snyder had to step down from the production after the death of his daughter- leaving Justice league in a state of post-production limbo. Joss Whedon took over Justice League but decided not to pick up from Snyder’s vision. Instead, Whedon embarked on a series of rewrites, reshoots, and changed many major aspects of the film in the process – ultimately creating a very different movie from the one originally planned.
The altered film ended up being a box-office bomb. However, Snyder managed to save the day once he released his version of the film in 2021. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, while promoting his new movie Air, Affleck was asked to break down what went wrong with the 2017 DC movie.
In his answer, Affleck explained all the issues with the production as well as why Snyder’s efforts in 2021 led to one of his most successful films.
“Justice League … You could teach a seminar on all the reasons why this is how not to do it. Ranging from production to bad decisions to horrible personal tragedy, and just ending with the most monstrous taste in my mouth,” the actor explained. “The genius, and the silver lining, is that Zack Snyder eventually went to AT&T and was like, ‘Look, I can get you four hours of content.’”
“And it’s principally just all the slow motion that he shot in black-and-white. And one day of shooting with me and him. He was like, ‘Do you want to come shoot in my backyard?’ I was like, ‘I think there are unions, Zack. I think we have to make a deal,’” Affleck recalled. “But I went and did it. And now [Zack Snyder’s Justice League] is my highest-rated movie on IMDb.”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League was likewise preferred by the majority of DC fans. The 2017 superhero movie only has a 39% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whereas Snyder’s cut of the film has 71% and a whopping 93% audience rating on the site. So yeah, we understand Affleck’s praise at the end of the day.
But don’t expect to see any more ‘Snyder cuts’. DC is getting a fresh slate with new co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran.
For more DC fun, you can read our Shazam 2 review, and look over our guide on who is in the Shazam cast.