Relative to the theatrical version, Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League does generally move the needle toward the positive end, but it doesn't solve all the problems of its predecessor, and it ends up creating a few of its own.
Positives are that the cast are mostly giving it their all, Ben Affleck, especially, deserves high praise for his take on a world-weary Bruce Wayne/Batman. The added Flash and Cyborg material fleshes them out, but both have the drawbacks of being "too much"; more on that below. The redesign of Steppenwolf is excellent, and the actual appearances of Darkseid are good. The entire back half of the film is mostly an improvement over the theatrical version, especially the action climax.
Drawbacks that keep the film from being a complete success are the running time; one thing where the theatrical version comes out ahead is that the exposition bringing the audience up to speed is done during the opening credits montage, the Snyder Cut takes an hour to relay the same information, and it becomes tedious. There are many scenes, that if they were too truncated in the theatrical version, are not trimmed enough for the Snyder Cut and it hurts the overall pacing. The best line of the previous version, which serves Batman and the Flash, is missing here. While some important scenes for the characters of the Flash and Cyborg are added back, they're also given "too much" for the story being told. For the Flash, it is Ezra Miller's "adorable" schtick, the awkwardly endearing nerd gets old fast. And it goes on well passed the the point of tedium. Cyborg is given what amounts to a "God mode"; Justice League comic writers sometimes admit that they have trouble coming up with stories that couldn't be solved by Superman alone, well here it's difficult to know why Cyborg needs any help sometimes. The "Knightmare scene" doesn't really make much sense here, bogging down the resolution of the film with what screams like a desperate attempt of a writer/director getting hired for a sequel. And much to my personal displeasure, Zack Snyder refuses to let the character of Superman actually BE Superman. Say what you want about Joss Whedon shoehorning in all manner of tone whiplash humor, but at least he actually let Superman have a likeable personality.
Still, for all it's faults, the Snyder Cut is worth a shot, and mostly improves on the earlier version.
Positives are that the cast are mostly giving it their all, Ben Affleck, especially, deserves high praise for his take on a world-weary Bruce Wayne/Batman. The added Flash and Cyborg material fleshes them out, but both have the drawbacks of being "too much"; more on that below. The redesign of Steppenwolf is excellent, and the actual appearances of Darkseid are good. The entire back half of the film is mostly an improvement over the theatrical version, especially the action climax.
Drawbacks that keep the film from being a complete success are the running time; one thing where the theatrical version comes out ahead is that the exposition bringing the audience up to speed is done during the opening credits montage, the Snyder Cut takes an hour to relay the same information, and it becomes tedious. There are many scenes, that if they were too truncated in the theatrical version, are not trimmed enough for the Snyder Cut and it hurts the overall pacing. The best line of the previous version, which serves Batman and the Flash, is missing here. While some important scenes for the characters of the Flash and Cyborg are added back, they're also given "too much" for the story being told. For the Flash, it is Ezra Miller's "adorable" schtick, the awkwardly endearing nerd gets old fast. And it goes on well passed the the point of tedium. Cyborg is given what amounts to a "God mode"; Justice League comic writers sometimes admit that they have trouble coming up with stories that couldn't be solved by Superman alone, well here it's difficult to know why Cyborg needs any help sometimes. The "Knightmare scene" doesn't really make much sense here, bogging down the resolution of the film with what screams like a desperate attempt of a writer/director getting hired for a sequel. And much to my personal displeasure, Zack Snyder refuses to let the character of Superman actually BE Superman. Say what you want about Joss Whedon shoehorning in all manner of tone whiplash humor, but at least he actually let Superman have a likeable personality.
Still, for all it's faults, the Snyder Cut is worth a shot, and mostly improves on the earlier version.