Justice League: The Spence Edit

Well, there is a reason Spence is a legendary faneditor. He did again!

First, I want to say that I have watched the Whedon and the Snyder cut a couple of times each. I kind of enjoyed Whedon's version and I really liked Snyder's. My problem with Snyder's was the four hour mark, it's fine to watch it a couple of times but it becomes tiresome after that, and the numerous future teasers that we will never see. At least, not how Snyder visioned them. Spence addresses both of those issues with his edit, but he also mixes it up with stuff from Whedon's version. Thankfully, I did not mind most of those additions, maybe we could have toned down the humor juuust a little bit, plus some of the CGI fest at the end, but otherwise I was happy with that.

Beyond that, I won't delve much into the changes because, as you can understand, there are a lot. Just to name a few though, I enjoyed the new trimmed intro better, I loved the changes with all the material from Cyborg, especially the removal when he is testing his powers (my God, the CGI is realy awfull there), although there is an editing issue there that I will mention in a bit, for the most part I liked the light hearted additions from the Whedon cut and finally, I agree with Spence's logic on the removal of the scene with Wonder Woman and the terrorists. Great scene on one hand, didn't miss it at all on the other. And of course, having the length of the movie been at two hours and thirty five minutes, makes it faaar more easy to watch in any future DCEU marathons.

Technical-wise, the edit was almost perfect. You couldn't tell if a scene was missing or that something felt off or something. The cuts were seamless, with the exception of one scene. This was when we cut to the scene where Cyborg's father enters the room he is in. Firstly, that was kind of abrupt and secondly, when the scene cuts to Cyborg where we see him for the first time upfront where he looks out of the window, something happened there. It was like the picture momentarily came from down the screen, like a transition cut or something (it happens at around 00:43:30 if it helps). It was very noticeable and immediately took me out of the movie. I checked both the small file and the large one, and it happens in both. But that was the only editing flaw in the entire movie.

When it comes to the mid and after credits scenes, I didn't mind at all the removal of Martian Manhunter, but I was really sad to see that the racing scene between Superman and Flash was removed also. I mean, if we keep so much of the lighthearted scenes from Whedon's cut, why not keep this one as well which a very recognizable scene from the comic books?

So, to sum up, I most definitely recommend this edit to anyone who had the same issues as me with the original or/and he also missed some of the lightheartedness from the Whedon's cut and I assure you this will be your go-to version in the future. It will be for me and it just so happens that I had watched a week before Wakeupkeos' version of Justice League, one my favorite faneditors, but Spence's won me over!

Thank you Spence for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!

This was a great edit. I tried to watch the ZSJL when it came out but couldn't get through it. I found to to be very labored and self-important (so much slo-mo nonsense, etc.). This edit streamlines the film and cuts out all the excess without making it feel rushed. I really think this is something close to the film we would've gotten had Zack Snyder been allowed to see his project to fruition uninterrupted.

Cutting out the Wonder Woman bank heist scene was the right choice, despite it being a pretty good scene. Maybe it can be repurposed for a WW '84 edit.

Simply a fantastic edit. It serves its purpose perfectly.

This is a great way to watch the ZSJL cut. Spence has streamlined the film in a way that keeps you invested . Overly used slow motion action that Snyder prefers is trimmed way down.
The pacing is excellent and I never felt like I needed a scene to just get moving.
I will not address what is missing and what should have been added because this edit works. Too many of today's movies are bloated with unnecessary information. Which in my opinion is why fan edits have grown so much in popularity.

Thank you Spence for bringing out the potential for this Justice League as it appears we won't be seeing this group together again.

Well done

This is probably the most functional edit Justice League that I've seen, and that's including Zack Snyder's Justice League and the Theatrical Cut. You've done an excellent job of cutting out all the dead end sequel set ups, while maintaining the tone Snyder intended. However, I think you over-corrected a bit in your attempt to get the film under three hours.

The biggest problems with the story editing here are that characters like Wonder Woman and Desaad have had their introductions cut, while characters like Aquaman and Steppenwolf no longer have understandable motivations. I understand why you cut the Aquaman/Vulko scene and the initial Steppenwolf/Desaad scene, but the movie doesn't work without them. As it stands, Aquaman disappears from the movie after his initial appearance, and Desaad just shows up with no explanation of who he is or what his role is.

As I said, I understand that you were trying to streamline the film, but I honestly don't think a functional version of this movie could be less than three hours long (to be fair, that is a problem inherent in the script).

Those issues aside, however, your editing is very smooth and seamless. You were able to trim down overlong sequences and skip past unnecessary scenes in a way that felt very natural. The best example of this is how you used Batman's "doesn't mean I'm wrong" to skip past the awkward song for Aquaman. The way you cut Darkseid's final conversation with Desaad was also masterful; it felt like that was how it should have been edited the begin with.

Also, by reintegrating the "Everybody Knows" title sequence (the best part of Whedon's version), you were able to give the beginning of the film a lot of much-needed energy, as it now feels like there is a cleaner transition from "Superman is dead and everyone is sad" to "alien invaders are coming and we need to prepare." That was a wonderful addition.

I have more notes and comments, but this review is already too long as it is. This was an enjoyable watch, and I think with another edit that doesn't shy away from letting the film be three hours, this could be the ideal version of JL.

Quite possibly one of the best cuts of Justice League in existence, and that's not hyperbole. The "Wonder Woman vs the terrorists" scene and "Barry Allen saves Iris West" scene were great scenes in isolation, but did nothing to advance the plot and ultimately were not missed in this cut. Removing the Anti-Life Equation removed a giant plot hole, and again it was not missed.

I do miss Cyborg's vision of Darkseid, the little ship tease between Bruce and Diana, and Diana's interaction with Alfred that docked a point in the enjoyment scale for me, but overall this version of Justice League was just frigging awesome.

Very highly recommended. 9.5 out of 10.