My original review of 2017’s Justice League was not kind. I saw the film twice at the cinema and once on home media and each time my opinion of the film got worse. It was half baked with wasted characters, underwritten lead heroes and villains, had poor CGI and massive tonal issues.

These issues in the main were caused by a family tragedy and a nervous studio. Director Zack Snyder had helmed Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice prior to Justice League. His darker vision of DC superheroes who are Gods among us were getting mixed audience reaction and not providing the sort of returns that Marvel were achieving with their superheroes. It was making Warner Brothers nervous resulting in them asking for a lighter tone. Then a family disaster met the Snyder’s. Zack’s daughter Autumn lost her battle with depression and tragically died during the filming of Justice League. Zack and his producer wife Deborah stepped away from the film and Warner Brothers put Joss Whedon in the director’s chair. Whedon was the man behind the first two Marvel Avengers movies and was given the directive to make the film lighter. His additions were so wide reaching he was given a screenwriters credit. The result was a mess.

A zealot like fan campaign, four years and $70 million in effects work now brings us Zack Snyder’s Justice League. At just over four hours long it promises the directors original vision using all but one scene that was filmed in the original shoot. Is this version, dedicated to the memory of Autumn better than the original and is it a good movie in its own right?

The plot is largely the same. Superman is dead. Batman is attempting to put a team together for an impending attack on Earth from an unknown cosmic villain and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

The major changes however relate to tone, visuals and a comprehensible storyline. Joss Whedon no longer has a screenwriting credit on this version of Justice League. Which means all the erratic humourous additions that made the tone yo-yo from deadly serious to slapstick are gone. Snyder’s vision is serious and important and aside from small injections of humour from The Flash the film stays like this throughout. The visuals of the film have also met the same equalisation. All of the visuals match. The steel grey palette and pervasive darkness spans the entire course of the film giving it a visual continuity it sorely needed. Perhaps most importantly the incredibly long running time means that the story now makes sense. Our main villain Steppenwolf’s task is explained properly and we even see DC’s ‘big bad’ Darkseid and get explanations for Mother Boxes and the Anti-Life Equation that are essential goals in his plan.

Our heroes also get more time to breathe here. Any reservations that I had for Ben Affleck’s Batman/Bruce Wayne are washed away by this film. He makes a brilliant Bruce and a solid Batman now that we see more of him and he behaves consistently. When the original film launched it was the introduction for Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) and it did them all a massive disservice by distilling them down to one note archetypes. Here they all get much more to do and have much more of an introduction. Cyborg is treated to an entire backstory and is improved the most. Previously his sullen teenager was hugely grating, now he at least has a reason to be a sullen teenager. I still find Ezra Miller’s portrayal of The Flash disappointing though. But that is more my expectation of the Barry Allen I know and love from the comics not being this version of the character. At least he is still consistent throughout.

There is also more time for those huge stars who had a walk on part in the original. Now they get up to a whole few minutes instead of seconds. Mera (Amber Heard), Commissioner Gordon (J.K. Simmons), Lois Lane (Amy Addams) and Alfred (Jeremy Irons) all get a little more to do. And in true kitchen sink fashion Snyder throws in at least three more DC characters I do not recall from the original.

Giving Snyder complete creative control does come with a very specific film making style though. With Snyder the stakes are high. Every moment is treated with ominous portent. His heroes are Gods, their power is immense. Destruction is massive and slow motion is pervasive. Honestly I found moments in here hugely enjoyable and moments that were equally silly. For every moment of awe inspiring heroism you have a fisher woman sniffing Aquaman’s discarded jumper. For every example of immense power you have a slow motion hot dog being rescued for some actual dogs. Although I would say the only true misstep for Snyder’s creative control is the hideous 4:3 aspect ratio. I appreciate he is saying it is to provide a feeling of grandeur in IMAX but lets face it, the majority of people watching this film are doing it via a streaming service in their home. It is though, a frustration that will fade as you get drawn into the film.

It actually feels like Snyder is trying to make the DC Universe have a similar sort of scope to Lord of the Rings. At one point in the film we are even treated to a flashback fight where the three races of Earth, the Atlanteans, Amazons and Men band together to take down Darkseid thousands of years ago. It feels exactly like the prologue to Peter Jackson’s film series. Instead of Elves, Dwarves and Men hiding rings we have Atlanteans, Amazons and Men hiding Mother Boxes. Oh and if you think his obsession with mothers in Batman v. Superman was badly managed, he does slightly better in this film with his obsession with fathers, something you may remember from Man of Steel.

Overall, this is a massive improvement on the original and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so that I watched it twice in the first two days of it being available to stream. As a stand along superhero film I think it really hits the mark too. If its length puts you off it is broken clearly into six chapters and an epilogue to give you places to pause. If it is Snyder’s super serious and dark tone that puts you off then you will find this like purgatory.

Now is there anything he can do about the final thirty minutes of Man of Steel and the entirety of Batman V Superman?