With the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, 2017’s superhero season has finally drawn to a close. DC’s most iconic hero team has finally come together (right now, over me), and the stage has been set for new adventures for years to come. However, for all of the questions that we still have about the future stories that will be set within the current DCEU slate, one other primary question still remains: to 3D or not to 3D?
That’s what we’re going to discuss today. While you can also check out CinemaBlend’s handy Justice League review amid all of the other critical reactions to get a sense of how the story and characters perform, today we will do a deep dive into a 3D screening to figure out if the extra money for a 3D ticket is worth your time. With that in mind, let’s dive in and discuss if this is the type of movie that even needs the enhanced format in the first place.
A Justice League story involves scaling up the action and combining the abilities of several heroes into one massive narrative. That means ramping up the scope of the adventure, which instantly makes 3D a natural fit. Much like the other DCEU films that preceded it, Justice League feels like a movie that naturally lends itself to putting on those glasses and watching Gotham, Metropolis, and Themyscira come to life in grand fashion.
Justice League was shot on 35 mm 2D cameras and then sent out for the 3D post-conversion process after the conclusion of principal photography. This by itself isn’t inherently a bad thing; after all, some great 3D movies have used post-conversion in the past. However, while a few (truly spectacular) shots in the film feel tailor-made to take advantage of the increased depth of field provided by a 3D conversion, the film’s scale still feels relatively small compared to other superhero films of a similar ilk, and it’s hard not to shake the feeling that well-constructed 3D sequences weren’t at the forefront of anyone’s mind during production.