Zack Snyder refined his flair for visuals as a music video director, hence his directorial debut Dawn of the Dead (2004) was indicative of film in the early 2000s, fast paced, bloody with a rocking soundtrack. Zack seemed to have discovered his niche with 2006’s 300 – based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, concerning the battle of Thermopylae, it had gorgeous visuals complete with glistening six packs. It was all action and no story, protagonist King Leonidas / Gerard Butler’s only character trait being that he is tough and likes apples. It seemed as if this would be Snyder’s bread and butter, however he was spurred on by the success of 300 to take on a comic book, said to be unfilmable…
Watchmen to Man of Steel: A Leap of Faith
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons graphic novel (published in 1987), was successful, not only for its cynical take on a world that had rejected vigilantes, exploring a mystery in the grips of the cold war, but also for its swaths of information between chapters that fleshed out its world, impossible to convey in a feature film. Although the 2009 film is polarizing, it is largely seen as a success, Snyder using visuals effectively yet again. However, doubts started to creep in- his ability to coach actors, his use of dialogue and his concentration on visuals over story were derided. Despite this, his big break came with the announcement that he was taking on DC’s most iconic character with 2013’s Man of Steel. After the success of Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, DC tuned to Snyder, buoyed by his take on Watchmen and convinced a darker last son of Krypton was the way forward. It is unclear whether the executives at DC and Warner Bros. had watched Snyder’s passion project – 2011’s Sucker Punch; a juvenile, unpleasant wet dream featuring scantily clad women fighting robots and Nazis in elaborate dream sequences – this should have been a foreshadowing of things to come. Snyder is bombastic by nature, like the scorpion stinging the frog in the famous parable, he can’t help being who he is, was this the right man to trust with your most lucrative property? Man of Steel was poorly received. It was the first example of a sense of nihilism creeping in, to what would come to define the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) with millions of civilians killed and Superman murdering Zod being real bones of contention for fans. The film also lacked the fun and adventure that Marvel had cultivated so well. The box office was impressive however, so Zack marched on with a sequel.
Batman VS Superman: The Dawn of Depression
There was mass hysteria when DC tweeted that Batman had been incorporated into a Man of Steel sequel and it would be called: Batman VS Superman, never had the two titans of DC comics appeared together in one film. Even when a poster of a Batman/Superman film was shown in Will Smith’s post-apocalyptic; I am Legend, fans lapped it up. This was big news, as it turned out that not only would Superman and Batman face off, this would lead into a Justice League film, teased with the subtitle, Dawn of Justice. But could Zack handle it? The visuals would be great but what about the story? Come March 2016 and the early reviews were not good (they were just out of touch academics who didn’t get comics books, right?). The story was overcomplicated, part of a convoluted scheme by Lex Luthor (an irritating Jesse Eisenberg still playing Facebook’s founder, instead of the calculating, self-assured supervillain so well portrayed by Gene Hackman), to discredit Superman and turn Batman against him. This story was improved by The Ultimate Cut; released on DVD and Blu-ray and totalling 3 hours, it made the overarching plot make more sense, however it couldn’t repair the film’s real problem. This epic is depressing, unpleasant and ultimately pessimistic. Snyder got so obsessed with the dark side of Batman, expertly captured in Tim Burton’s gothic fairy tale and comic book storylines such as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, that he made Ben Affleck’s older, burnt out Dark Knight, unlikeable and, worst of all, stupid. Snyder takes us through the hero’s journey but forgets to end on a triumphant return, instead leaving the audience browbeaten after the Death of Superman (an iconic storyline that needs its own series of films to do it justice). Out of all the issues raised with the film, this feels like the fundamental flaw. Superhero films can be dark and brooding but they are meant to be fun! DC and Warner Bros. were already sold into his vision and had signed a contract for Zack to go onto direct a Justice League film, they were locked in now and just had to pray.
Justice League: A Hog with a Silk Shirt is still a Hog
We finally make it to the big one, the most lucrative DC property that has been around since the 1960s but had never made it to the big screen. What should have been a massive moment for comics and cinema was in trouble from the start. Firstly, unlike Marvel’s Avengers, which had been built up by multiple films, introducing us to the various characters that made up the super team, Batman VS Superman featured Wonder Woman on a laptop, looking at security footage of superheroes. It was no coincidence that Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman was the most popular member of the team after her well received 2017 standalone film. Justice League then had to introduce The Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman within a two-hour film – characters with decades of backstory to comb through. Then a tragic and unforeseen issue arose – Zack Snyder’s daughter committed suicide and he stepped away from the project. Warner Brothers quickly brought in Joss Whedon (who had been instrumental in the MCU by directing the first two Avengers movies) to provide reshoots and complete the picture. The result, released in late 2017, was a horrible mess. The reshoots were disastrous – Ben Affleck looking red and bloated after a stint in rehab, moustache-gate (after Henry Cavill’s handle bar wasn’t allowed to be shaved off while he was filming Mission: Impossible) and terrible humour thrown into scenes, trying to match the banter of Avengers. Although, once again, Synder will now produce his own cut of the film, totalling four hours and streaming on HBO Max from March 18th. As the saying goes, ‘a hog with a silk shirt is still a hog’.
Conclusion
As the curtain closes on this iteration of the DCEU, the post-mortems are starting. None of this is Zack Snyder’s fault, he has just been playing with his toys, the only way he knows how – fast, bloody and with a grey filter (he evens wants to release a version of Justice League in black and white). Warner CEO Kevin Tsujihara (later resigning in 2019 over a sex scandal) and President of DC Entertainment Diane Nelson (who left in 2018) were both at the helm when deciding Snyder should have the keys to the kingdom. Instead of a steady hand like Kevin Feige at Marvel Studios, they entrusted the representation of DC’s most important characters with a director who wants to blow up the world without rebuilding it. Like Batman, Kevin and Diane were meant to be the master tacticians, however they handed control to the Joker, as we now know, just wants to watch the world burn. The kingdom has not been ruined but now needs serious renovation.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE SNYDER CUT will premiere in the UK on Sky and NowTV March 18th
