Zack Snyder’s Justice League: The Snyder Cut vs the Theatrical Cut

The action sequences

Another way showing how scene composition affects both movies are in their action sequences. Watching both versions, you can tell that most of the edits in the theatrical cut involved trimming the fight scenes. While this certainly helps makes for a shorter movie, it also robs what is Synder’s greatest strength as a filmmaker: That when it comes to hyper-stylized fight choreography, Snyder is second-to-none.

It also makes a huge difference when the score is composed by Tom Holkenberg, a.k.a. Junkie XL, instead of Danny Elfman. As good of a composer as Elfman is, his score doesn’t pump up the adrenaline the way Junkie XL’s does.

Thus, when Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) fights the terrorists at the London bank, the Synder Cut really sells just how powerful the Amazonian princess really is, and ultimately her sense of compassion towards the hostages. When Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) arrives to take the Mother Box from Themyscira, the Amazons’ desperation, courage, and self-sacrifice are even more pronounced.

Then there’s how each director approaches the film’s climax. In the theatrical cut, Whedon establishes that there are poor families settled around the derelict Russian nuclear power plant which Steppenwolf and his army use as a base of operations. Clearly, Whedon added this development as a way of raising the stakes while also giving the Justice League an excuse to engage in some lifesaving heroism and witty banter. Also, these scenes are shown during the daytime with a brighter color grade, which has an effect of making the movie feel “safe.”

The Snyder cut removes this subplot entirely. Instead, the town surrounding the power plant is abandoned due to it being the site of a nuclear meltdown; in fact, it’s the very reason why Steppenwolf chooses this place as his base, with the residual radiation being what powers the Mother Boxes. In addition, the base changes with each Mother Box installation instead of all at once like in the theatrical cut. The climax is also shot at night when all three Mother Boxes have fused together, giving these scenes a greater feeling of impeding doom that the League must stop.