So the narrative that's starting to take shape around Justice League is that Zack Snyder's version of the film...well, it might've sucked, and Joss Whedon was brought in to save the day. We've heard of extensive reshoots to lighten the tone, including rewriting entire characters such as Cyborg; and Ben Affleck has gone on record about the different styles the directors brought to the production. But the rumors about Snyder's cut keep swirling, and today there are two more and neither is good news.
A few days ago Batman-On-Film, who are pretty much in the corner of anything with a Bat-symbol in it, reported that an Snyder's early cut of Justice League was "unwatchable", hence the heavy reshoots...
“These reshoots – which are still taking place – are not standard pick-ups/additional photography. Why? Apparently, an early cut of the film was deemed “unwatchable.” Thus, substantial changes to the film were ordered.”
Oof, damn. How does a movie even get to the point of being unwatchable? I mean, for a major studio project with a reasonably talented director with big stars to work with? It just doesn't seem feasible, but considering the amount of time and money Warner Bros. pitched in for the reshoots, somewhere around $25M, they must've had a lot to fix.
Adding their own logs onto the fire are Slashfilm, who say that Snyder's original ending was done away with altogether. You may recall the original plan was for Justice League to be a two-part epic, the first featuring Steppenwolf as an emissary of Darkseid, and the second film with the latter as the main baddie. Well, apparently that's no longer the case and now Steppenwolf is the definitive villain, with added scenes featuring the Amazons and Robin Wright as Antiope to flesh out his backstory. Gotta make a guy named Steppenwolf credible somehow.
So ALL of this sounds bad, but let's put it in full context. If it's true, then we should be glad that Warner Bros. has taken steps to correct the issues. Period. The only thing that matters is the finished product. Remember, Rogue One went through a reshoot crisis of sorts, too, and the results were pretty great. So let's hold out hope that Justice League can achieve the same.
