'Zack Snyder's Justice League' is Slowly Turning Into a Silent Film

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'Zack Snyder's Justice League' is Slowly Turning Into a Silent Film

It's only been a week since Zack Snyder's Justice League was released on HBO Max to the delight of his ardent fans and the dismay of couch cushions everywhere. Of course, as we all saw, the movie wasn't presented in a widescreen image, like many of us were expecting, but rather the 4:3 "Academy" aspect ratio from classic Hollywood films and also that full-screen DVD of Miss Congeniality you accidentally bought at a 7-Eleven in 2002.  

Now Warner Bros. has dropped yet another version of the movie, this time in glorious black and white under a new title: Zack Snyder's Justice League: Justice is Gray ... which kind of makes it sound like the titular heroes are going to stop chasing motherboxes and start experimenting with BDSM -- which would at least be in keeping with Wonder Woman's origin story.

Between the aspect ratio, the black and white, and repeated use of intertitles --

Warner Bros.

-- it kind of feels like the Snyder Cut is slowly turning into an old-timey silent movie. Perhaps the next release will replace the Junkie XL score with some rando tinkling on an out-of-tune stand-up piano. 

Now, a lot of movie fans may roll their eyes at the "gray" version of Justice League since most TVs have picture settings that allow you to simply drain the image of color at any time yourself. Like you could make your own Wonder Woman 1984 Gray or even Live With Kelly and Ryan Gray whenever you want. But we're also pretty sure that a lot of people dunking on the black and white cut of Justice League were pleased as punch when Mad Max: Fury Road released its "Black and Chrome" edition. And critics said that the monochrome re-release of Parasite had a "certain crystalline beauty." So really, let's not stand in the way of Justice League as it slowly devolves backward through cinema history, presumably until we get the Snyder Cut in zoetrope form.

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter! And check out the podcast Rewatchability.

Top Image: Warner Bros.

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