I wrote in the Whedon review that Superman felt out of place; well, he's no longer out of place in Snyder's cut. Pretty much all the complaints I had of him in Whedon's version have vanished in Snyder's cut:
- The most important complaint from the Whedon cut being that he seemed too OP & completely overshadowed the other members, which combined with his space-Jesus status made him completely obnoxious. In Synder's cut, he's still OP & still space-Jesus, but his OP-ness is not overshadowing the other members abilities and contributions, who also get to shine in the spotlights with their share of heroism. The team work feels much more balanced.
- The other big complaint I had with Superman was that in the Whedon, it seemed as though he was brought back wrong and was ax-crazy, then Lois Lane was heavy-handedly inserted into the story for no other reason than to bring him back. In the Snyder cut, Superman did not seem ax-crazy but extremely on edge because of his confusion about being brought back from death and his violence was provoked by Cyborg, who accidentally started the attack when he couldn't control his automatic self-defense system. Furthermore, we spend more time with Lois Lane in the Snyder cut and experienced her grief, so she did not feel forcefully inserted into the movie in the Snyder cut.
- Superman as guilt motivation of Batman also no longer seems shoehorned in the Snyder cut, but a logical follow up.
- Thank heavens the Snyder cut no longer had Superman make the condescending claim that he "likes justice". That, combined with portraying him as unquestionable light of the world while also beating the JL up, made him in the Whedon cut both jarringly hypocritical and obnoxious. In the Snyder cut Superman's portrayal was much more balanced, as Superman was still portrayed as hope, but at the same time also clearly as having the potential to be a threat.
Other improvements from Snyder's cut include:
- No more oversaturated orange color!
- Overall better fleshed out characters and plot that make much more sense!
- No more jarring tonal clashes between humor and dark mood to give you whiplash. There is still humor and the occasional quip, but toned down and balanced with seriousness to suit the mood of the film. (I do like quip-y dialogue that Whedon is well-known for, but he inserted it so forcefully in a movie that already had established a very different tone under Snyder's direction that it very visibly clashed on screen in a very ugly way.)
- Whedon's sexist jokes with Wonder Woman were taken out!
- Much better cinematography, the scenes had way more atmosphere in them. (Whedon is really bad at this; he's better off delegated back to the small screen.)
- Action scenes are better!
The "I still like it":
- I loved Aquaman and Wonder Woman bash bro team up during Whedon cut and I love their team up EVEN MORE now. They are excellent action bros.
The bad:
- Snyder really should've left Martian Manhunter out of the movie. He adds zero value to it and as a serving of easter eggs was just obnoxiously in your face. In an already 4 hours long film, he is just too much.
- Luthor's escape from prison and yacht scene adds nothing to the plot, or the character development of the main characters or of the main villains. It's a tease of a sequel that will never come. Again, too much added in an already 4 hours long film.
- Some of the music seems really cheesy.
- I like the new lamentation chant of the Wonder Woman theme and for the most part I think it's cool, but in some scenes it seems misplaced and because the chant is so obvious and recognizable, it becomes jarring to the scene.
The "okay...":
- Shiptease moment between Batman and Wonder Woman during the mouse scene makes me wonder if Snyder had planned to go the way of the early 2000s cartoon. Not necessarily bad, I don't mind it, but it kind of went nowhere.
- Joker dream scene. On the one hand, it gives Batman some extra depth and by appealing to the impact of Robin's death, but on the other hand, it might make an already 4 hours long movie feel overstuffed and doesn't add to the film's plot, but feels like a sequel hook.