The DCEU and Warner Bros. handling of DC properties as a whole has been a tragicomic dumpster fire I'm strangely still invested in. When Man of Steel launched back in 2013 I wasn't a fan, but after a few years of watching what Marvel had been building on the big-screen I at least walked away excited at the potential of getting to see some of my other favorite superheroes inhabit their own MCU-style cinematic universe. Here I am 8 years later still waiting for them to work out the kinks... The first two films to follow MoS, which took nearly a full 3 years to arrive, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad were widely ridiculed critical DISASTERS that made the entire franchise look dead on delayed arrival. A Wonder Woman standalone film did manage to restore some goodwill, but it was quickly lost again with the release of the original and still canonical Justice League. A failure of epic proportions many have blamed the lack of success on as being the result of Zack Snyder, who had largely helmed the DCEU up to that point, leaving production at some point due to a family tragedy and Joss Whedon stepping in to finish the movie. It's now clear that isn't entirely the case, but more on that in a minute. Since then WB has clearly struggled with knowing what to do with the DCEU. Largely moving away from the "shared" aspect entirely and letting the heroes have their own solo outings. The results have been decent, but still problematic. Aquaman and Shazam! have been well-received, but Birds of Prey has proved divisive and seemingly not even the most radical of feminists rallied behind Princess Diana's return in 1984. The only things we know for sure are coming next are another Suicide Squad that's not exactly a sequel or a reboot and maybe a Dwayne Johnson led Black Adam movie that I haven't really seen anyone get all that excited over, with standalones for Barry Allen and Cyborg remaining in development hell as directors repeatedly join and abandon the projects left and right. There's no indication these characters will ever link up again, Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck (Superman and Batman respectively) have reportedly abandoned ship all together, and even more damning is that Warner Bros. has begun to produce films featuring the same heroes and villains that are completely unconnected. Which brings us to the "Snyder Cut." Following all the rumors that all the footage for Zack Snyder's nearly completed Justice League still existed after Whedon assumed control, changed the tone, and added in his own new material a movement similar to the one that got everyone's favorite anthropomorphic hedgehog redesigned for Sonic the Hedgehog began and WB actually let Snyder release his original vision in all its uncut 4-hour glory. Spending a lot of money on a non-canon piece of fanservice that still leaves their ultimate plans for the DCEU up in the air. The results are an improvement to be sure, but this isn't likely to be a vindication for anyone other than Snyder himself and the particularly delusional members of the fanbase who are still trying to convince everyone that the 31-minutes of footage added in the "Ultimate Edition" of Batman v Superman somehow magically fixes everything wrong with that film. That's because it reveals some uncomfortable truths about just how inherently flawed Justice League was to begin with. Make no mistake, this isn't a super long director's cut. It's an entirely different super long movie. A lot of the scenes and of course the story are the same, but are handled in distinctive ways. Things like the moodier score and Snyder's trademark visual style give scenes and moments a darker tone. Such as how the villains look like they were pulled straight off of the cover art for a metal album. The narrative has also been greatly expanded allowing every little idea room to breathe and be fully fleshed out. We can now see exactly where exactly Snyder was intending to go with these heroes, which unfortunately comes with the tradeoff of also having clearer knowledge of the mistakes he made trying to get them there as quickly as possible. Rather than acting as a film that works on its own while hinting at the bigger threat planned for later on down the road the way the first Avengers did for Thanos, this is essentially an overly long trailer for what might have been a pretty sweet adaptation of the Injustice video game. Nowhere is that more evident than with Steppenwolf. Who, yes, is portrayed more menacingly here, but is still uninteresting on his own and only serves to constantly remind viewers that Snyder had planned to bring Darkseid to the table at some point, likely in the very next sequel. It makes you wonder why Snyder didn't just go ahead and make that movie instead. It's not like he hadn't already cut necessary corners to get this far anyways. Which is why Flash and Cyborg get introduced and established here rather than in their own solo origin flicks; something that disrupts the flow of the story. Speaking of those two, they really exemplify how the whole team dynamic is handled a little better here as they both play a more integral role in saving the day. So now only Batman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman are useless. Something that makes the special theme music that plays every time the Amazonian so much as looks in a different direction during a fight seem really silly after a while given how little she's actually able to do against Steppenwolf. They all still come off as inconsequential when compared to Superman though who, after hours of his peers getting slapped around, defeats the villain in a hilariously anticlimatic and one-sided beatdown that makes it hard to take the other members of the League seriously going forward because of how easily outshined they were. I think it's time we stop demonizing Whedon for his version. Yeah, his changes and additions were bad, but it's clear now that what he had to work with wasn't all that great in the first place. Most of the flaws found in his take are still present here, only marginally more tolerable. Even now without any sort of discernable direction for it to go the DCEU is probably better off without Snyder as at least WB has the potential to salvage things and with the necessary groundwork he was either too uninterested or unwilling to lay. Because while his Justice League is a better movie, it's still not a good movie. Oh, and Jared Leto's Joker is still the worst thing ever.