From the moment it was announced thatZack Snyder’s Justice Leaguewould be presented for home viewing in the unorthodox aspect ratio of 4:3, rather than the much more common (and screen-filling) 16:9,people have been clowning on it, especially with the HBO Max-added message assuring the viewer this is how directorZack Snyderwanted it to be presented. Yes, a standard widescreen television has black bars on either side of the frame. And yes, you may interpret this as Snyder unduly assigning himself as much cinematic value as prestigious, modern users of this aspect ratio likeFirst CoworThe Lighthouse— or even any of the actually classical films that used this ratio by default. But in my viewing of The Snyder Cut, I found myself swept into the strange charms of the 4:3 aspect ratio choice, for reasons both practical and creative. I wouldn’t want to experience this film any other way.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Determined to ensure that Superman’s ultimate sacrifice wasn’t in vain, Bruce Wayne recruits a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions.
Why Can’t Modern Televisions Replicate the IMAX Experience?
Have you watched aChristopher Nolanfilm on Blu-ray recently? If you’ve popped inThe Dark KnightorTenet, you may have noticed the films flip aspect ratios somewhat aggressively, sometimes from shot to shot within the same scene, from a wider 2.39:1 (bars on top and bottom) to a taller 1.78:1 (filling the entire screen). This is an attempt to replicateNolan’s preferred theatrical experience, which involves switching between IMAX-camera shot footage — rendered on home video in 1:78:1 — and 35mm-camera shot footage — rendered on home video in 2.39:1. Actual IMAX theaters are not presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio; depending on what kind of IMAX theater you attend, you’ll either get 1.90:1 in a digitally projected, what some might call a “fake” IMAX theater, or 1.43:1 in a laser projected, what some might call a “true” IMAX theater. But by switching to a taller aspect ratio in the middle of these two IMAX aspect ratios, the 1.78:1 gambit aims to give you that jaw-dropping “wow it’s the whole screen” feeling you’d get watching in an IMAX theater.
I just don’t quite think it works at home, to be frank. Modern televisions are nice and all, but cannot replicate the energy that radiates when you get an IMAX screen filled to the brim. Instead, it just becomes a distracting eyesore of a technique, especially when the aspect ratios shift from shot to shot (and to be fair to Mr. Nolan, he’s not the only one using this technique for home video; other IMAX-shot blockbusters likeMission: Impossible - Falloutgo for it as well). So much of the decision to presentZack Snyder’s Justice Leaguein 4:3 — which my math nerds will notice is a lot closer to the correct IMAX aspect ratios than other Blu-ray attempts — comes from a pragmatic consistency, a goal to avoid this constant ratio switching. Snyder’s aspect ratio decision came well before it was to be a solely HBO Max release; it was always his plan to achieve a consistent visual language rather than fall into this ambiguity of intent. Here’sDeborah Snyder, his producer, and wife, speaking toDeciderabout the decision:
“The film was originally shot that way. You know, don’t forget it was intended for the theatrical release, and it was intended to have an IMAX release. But now that it was on HBO Max, Zack didn’t want to change the aspect ratio, because everything was framed that way. And it’s also, I just think it’s just so unique. You’re getting so much of the picture, you’re seeing a lot more. If we then made the decision to just chop it off, we would be losing part of the frame. So it was really important to maintain the aspect ratio because that’s how it was originally intended to be. That’s how it was shot. That’s how the visual effects were done.”
Why Is 4:3 the Only Way to Present ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’?
From a nuts and bolts perspective, if the intention ofZack Snyder’s Justice Leagueis to present Zack Snyder’sJustice League, then it certainly sounds like a 4:3 option is the only option, given the film’s construction in that format from the very beginning. Deborah Snyder brings up another great practical point that we’re actually seeing more information than we would if it were cropped to a 1.78:1 image (the fact that the word “cropped” must be used certainly clues you in there).
Butwhat does this aspect ratio do to the creative execution, the mood, and the uniqueness (to borrow Deborah Snyder’s word) of the piece? Scoff all you want at the idea of a comic book movie where a bunch of superheroes punch CG villains attempting to attain the visual language of classical cinema, but boy howdy does it work for me. It feels like no other comic book movie out today, movies that tend to stuff their wide, 2.39:1 aspect ratios with all kinds of busyness, people, actions, and things, and then edit them within an inch of their lives (I loveAvengers: Endgame, but that final battle sequence gives me a headache if I watch too intently). Here, the narrower scope speaks to Zack Snyder’s impeccable use of intention as a cinematic tool. There simply isn’t enough room in the frame to see a bunch of heroes from left to right all the time, so different, planned, decided compositions occur in their place.
How Zack Snyder Pays Homage to ‘Star Wars’ in ‘Rebel Moon’
The film is enjoying a limited theatrical run before arriving on Netflix tomorrow.
In fact, since the film can’t go wide, it instead goes very tall, giving its superheroes the mythical status of being looked up to both literally and emotionally; a perfect choice for a superhero universe that has often been compared to removed stories of Gods, as opposed to Marvel’s more in-your-face stories of human beings. You hearbehind-the-scenes dirtabout the MCU hiring indie directors to work on characters and stories, then using their house team to cover and edit the action. This level of anonymity, of assembly line sequence construction, of anything other than purposeful choice simply could not work in such a purposeful frame size.
Combine the aspect ratio’s necessity of intention with Zack Snyder’s propensity for desaturation, slow-motion, and sound and motion trumping straight dialogue scenes, and well, I thinkZack Snyder earns his comparisons to classic, even silent cinema, and then some. The 4:3 frame uses our cultural colloquialisms and connotations regarding the 4:3 frame perfectly, making the film feel either timeless or frozen in amber from another time (and most importantly, distancing itself wholly from the 2017 cut of the film, presented in a cropped and standardized 1.78:1). Every second of the four-hour epic is heavy with Snyder’s intention, and it all starts from his idiosyncratic, highly personal aspect ratio choice, a choice that will immerse you wholly even as it leaves your television blank on either side.
Zack Snyder’s Justice Leagueis available to stream on Max in the U.S.
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