Justice League: The Unity Edition

This edit is an interesting take, grabbing stuff from both versions, it turned out really unique.

The new “You're the best" song at the end has some minor audio issues, both during the song and at its end transition.

For me, there was also a huge missed opportunity on the Mercedes car product placement, it should have been removed. I mean, any product placement in a film is terrible, but in a superhero film, it looked really wrong.

This was a really fun time. I only saw the Whedon and Snyder cut once in full and have seen the incredible Spence fan edit since then so my recollection of the color correction of the original footage is hazy. However, the image quality is superb, as is the sound.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of either officlal cuts of JL, though I consider the Snyder cut superior if only because it's a more consistent and seamless vision of the film. It also as more fleshed out character narratives for Cyborg and Flash. Cyborg especially sticks out as the nominal protagonist of the Snyder cut but is a complete non-entity in the Whedon cut. The main flaw of the Snyder cut is that is it overly long with padded out storytelling, sequel setups that will go nowhere and the usual atrocious overuse of dramatic slow-mo common of Snyder's work. His Superman also continues to be awful.

This edit mainly uses the Whedon cut Superman, a more lighthearted and funny incarnation. This version however also suffer from being underused by the narrative, A consequence of the character's death in BVS that can't be changed unfortunately. The infamous CGI upperlip also has to be contended with, nothing to do about it.

A good word to describe this edit is breezy. The seamless fusion of both version into a whole makes for a fast-paced and action packed adventure. Opening the film with the Amazon attack and following the title card with an amazing dream flashback to Superman's death with appropriately grim colors for that sequence was the kick in the butt both versions of the OG film needed to put the film into high gear.

I admit being baffled by the placement of "don't fear the reaper". The audio editing and the cover of the song selected were exquisite, but the song itself didn't land with me. More successful was the use of 'Hurt", "The Grid" from Tron: Legacy (as Cyborg's theme) and the fistpumping and cheestastic use of "You're the best". Sincerely, all the music mixing and tinkering bar that first example landed with me.

On the villain front, Steppenwolf was never much of a major villain in the comics and he isn't much of a villain here either. He's noticeably better than the Whedon version (though this edit uses that version) through the use of inserted dialogue of the Snyder cut to give him his Snyder motivation. Though the "Mother" talks rear its way in a bit too much for me.


BionicBob's cut has 3 mid-credits scenes. I disapprove of the first one, since there never will be a Justice League vs Darkseid film in this continuity it feels like unfulfilled sequel baiting. The second one is perfect and the third is a cheeky morsel to BionicBob's future edits.

The Unity Edition is the right name to describe this cut. Probably the best possible bridge between the two official cut and would a surely fared better than Whedon's version in theatres. Unfortunately, we will never know.

While this isn't really in line with my personal tastes (I'm a Post-Crisis Boy so I always liked Snyder's interpretations, his Superman reminded me a lot of Byrne and Jurgens. Dan Jurgens even has been a public Snyder fanboy), hence "enjoyment" being lower than the objective ones, this is by far the best "theatrical length" version of the film I've seen. Where most either become too Whedon-esque or just end up being "over-corrections" of Snyder's Cut, this finds an actually very good balance between the two that I could've bought as a version of the film Snyder might've made in 2017 had he stayed onto the film and directed/edited Whedon's rewrites himself in line with what WB wanted. Essentially, had Autumn Snyder not passed away, had Geoff Johns not been so adamant on forcing Snyder out entirely, and had Whedon not been a jerk about the movie (As he was apparently extremely hostile to Snyder in every attempt he made to talk to Whedon), this might've been the film we got. Do I like it as much as Snyder's Cut? No, but that's personal taste. I like Post-Crisis sincerity more than the "wink to the camera" jokes and campy Silver Age style Whedon used, so even a better balance of those doesn't appeal to me as much. That said, I actually don't find the needle drops too distracting from Snyder's style. I mean, Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch all had needle drops (The first one was also written by Gunn, starting Snyder and Gunn's friendship and respect for each other. Just a fun fact), it's not like Snyder doesn't do music videos in his movies all the time. He just didn't do it in MoS and BvS (One of the many reasons I actually find those films to feel less Snyder-ish compared to other Snyder films). And plus, this is 1000x better than Josstice League or any variation thereof honestly.

On an objective level, this cut is very solid. Just know that it is definitely not for hardcore Snyder or even hardcore Whedon fans. I've still yet to see a theatrical runtime version of Snyder's Cut that really embraces his style (As in, not an alternate reality where Snyder directed and edited Whedon's rewrites, but a world where ZSJL was simply cut to ~3 hours really well) that isn't either heavily "over-corrected" or doesn't have decisions counter to the intent of the film, so hardcore Snyder fans should stick to the official Snyder Cut. And big Whedon fans who just want a less overtly ugly and more, well, "finished" Josstice League should stick with Justice League Reborn. This cut is the best "middle road" between the two, but it is still a middle road.

I thought this edit was alright, although some of the audio could use some tinkering. Namely you could clearly hear what lines were from Snyder Steppenwolf and what line were from Whedon Steppenwolf. I also fell some of the scenes could use some more smooth transitioning.
But my biggest problem though, is actually some missed opportunities.
Namely, I would've liked to see, or should I say hear, more Snyder Cut music. Can you imagine the Immovable theme playing as Superman says "I believe in truth, but I'm also a big fan of justice" and joins the final battle against Steppenwolf?
I would've also liked to see Cyborg's knightmare vision while he's trying to separate the motherboxes, explaining why he said "That's a lot" and why Steppenwolf said "Now do you see it?"

This was a fun way to watch the Justice League. Loved the choice of music. i have both the whedon and snyder cuts on blu ray and slightly preferred the snyder version, but this i think will be my new go to when i want to watch Justice League. this version reminded me why i liked dc comics back in my younger years and overall why i like superhero movies and tv shows. great job Bob