I saw Snyder's Expanded Justice League...

I predicted there would be another cinematic Justice League; I just didn't expect it would be a miniseries-length version of Kal-El's resurrection against Cairan Hinds' Steppenwolf and gurgling horde. But that's what we got and all at a four-hour running time. Talk about an ultimate, special-edition, director's cut! Whoa Nelly!

Of course, Chris Terrio's bracketing, Mother Box plot isn't much at all different at heart, but then nor was Zack Synder's expansion of Batman v Superman. It's the little things that count, and if they're worthy supplements, as they are here, they can make a world of embellishing difference. (I mean, that's why we read novelizations. It's to probe at length those inside passages and alternate corridors we but merely grazed. Revamped movie editions can perform the same way.)

On this basis, JL now houses Peter Guinness' DeSaad and Ray Porter's Darkseid, along with Jared Leto's Joker (and the latter not necessarily adversarial to Batman in his Knightmare/Killing Joke-nod relegation).We get more shots of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Amber Heard's Mera, too, so visually the JL extension is far superior in the long-legs-and-curves department. I've no objections there. Hip, Hip, Hurrah!

Above all, the extended cut's tone is seamlessly Snyder's. This isn't to take anything away from Josh (Marvel's Avengers) Whedon, who saved the day with what he had to work with, thanks to a daunting deadline, but for continuity sake, the surreal, foreboding strand started in Batman v Superman was fueled for sequelization. Its haunting extrapolation feels warm and snug reinstalled. (To cement an ongoing, Wagner-ish sprawl, Tom Holkenborg's score replaces Danny Elfman's lively one.) 

What now exists is like an expanded Tolkien movie. One needed digest it all in one sitting, but could choose to nibble the content in portions. The chewier structure will give fans more to absorb over the long run and make the new JS the topic of superhero discussion for years to come. Damn good idea, really.

Reputedly, Snyder won't build a JL2. However, it goes to reason that his Watchmen-seque aroma will yet dominate Andy Muschietti's brewing Flashpoint (or whatever the Barry Allen vehicle might be called) since its themes are likely to be as parallel and cynical as its printed-source material, even if lightened here and there by Ezra Miller's mellow charm.  

And with all this considered, how can one argue that Synder's style is unworthy? Whether DC/WB wish to capitalize on it may be debatable, but that this jumbo JL has manifested speaks volumes. Its need to stoke the dark-crusader flames can't (and shouldn't) be undermined. In other words, if ever there was an atmospheric formula to exploit, this is it. 

So, what does it all really mean at the end of any can't-please-'em-all, superheroic day? No matter if they turn out short, long, dark or bright, mega-buck DC movies are here to stay. Zach Snyder's JL pretty much seals it.