Zack Snyder's Justice League is a dramatically different version of the superhero film from the 2017 theatrical version in its story and portrayal of its characters, and one specific Aquaman scene exemplifies this. The Snyder Cut, as it's colloquially known, debuted on HBO Max and international streamers in March of 2021, and has now hit home media in the U.S. Its release came after a long push to see Snyder's original version after the disastrous release of the retooled Frankenstein that was the theatrical cut of Justice League in November of 2017. In contrast to the theatrical cut coming and going with a lukewarm response at best, the general reception of the Snyder Cut has been quite positive, even leading to widespread calls of #RestoreTheSnyderVerse on social media.
The theatrical Justice League was assembled from portions of Snyder's original footage and the extensive reshoots helmed by Joss Whedon after Snyder's original departure. Aside from tell-tale giveaways of the reshoots like the very noticeable CGI removal of Henry Cavill's mustache, the two versions of Justice League stand apart for just how radically different the respective style, tone, and overall feel of each really is. One scene in particular involving Jason Momoa's Aquaman walking down a pier while drinking from a whiskey bottle in slow-motion is one of the best examples of the two versions being black-and-white in their differences.
The version in the theatrical cut is shorter, with Arthur Curry walking down the pier to the waiting ocean with White Stripes' "Icky Thump" on the soundtrack. The Snyder Cut's is a much more enveloping version of the scene, following Arthur as he leaves the bar after rescuing a fisherman (and saying the whiskey bottle he's departed with is "on him"), and all the way down the pier into a huge, crashing wave. Snyder's version of the scene features Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' "There Is A Kingdom" on its soundtrack, and this establishes a completely different feel for the very same scene.
The two-hour theatrical cut had little time to develop Arthur and his fellow new heroes The Flash (Ezra Miller) and the especially impacted Cyborg (Ray Fisher). The pier scene in this version uses "Icky Thump" to set up Arthur as simply the "cool" member of the Justice League. The Snyder Cut also uses this scene to pull back the curtain on Arthur, but Snyder's version alludes to him as a loner avoiding his destiny as the King of Atlantis. Simultaneously, Arthur can't hide from his Atlantean heritage and the sea itself as core parts of his identity, with Arthur standing stoically as the incoming waves seem to welcome him home.
This certainly isn't the only area where Justice League was changed, but it also shows that even much of the Snyder footage that was retained was in some way altered. By simply truncating Arthur's stroll down a pier and swapping one song for another, one version of the scene simply emphasizes Arthur as cool and the other hints at the king he will one day become. With the Snyder Cut now on physical media, comparisons like this are sure to be commonplace to highlight that, unlike the average director's cut, Zack Snyder Justice League is a completely new movie unto itself.
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September 19, 2021 at 11:30PM
