We Need to Talk About Zack Snyder

Three and a half years ago, a little-known film called Justice League was released on November 17. While it was originally directed by Zack Snyder, the film underwent reshoots to fit more align with what Warner Brothers wanted for their DC Extended Universe. Snyder stepped away to let Joss Whedon pick up where he left off. As a result, Snyder fans and disappointed moviegoers felt cheated on the delivery of the final product. Many critics called Justice League a "Frankenstein" film for being a mashup of two director's vision. All that said, Snyder is now getting the chance to release his own cut of the film by Warner Brothers to please his fans. Yet, was it worth it? Is it necessary to have a redux of a film no one wants to see again? What does this say about DCEU and Warner Brothers? Is Zack Snyder really worth public sympathy?

Zack Snyder has always been a director with a mixed reputation. He's one of those popular directors that many moviegoers will recognize. One of his famous film techniques is using slow-motion shots in and out of fight scenes. The most famous is in his film 300 where King Leonidas and his army slay his enemies while the camera zooms in and out to show Leonidas' brutality. Other films that Snyder directed before joining the DCEU are Dawn of the Dead (2004), 300, Watchman, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and Sucker Punch. A majority of these films have mixed-to-negative critical reviews. Somehow, they warranted him enough recognition and credit for Warner Brothers to make him the director of Man of Steel. That film, too, earned mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Despite that, Man of Steel earned enough box office money to start a new superhero cinematic universe. Snyder continued to serve as director for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice which got more bad reviews than Man of Steel. And now, Snyder has placed himself as a member of Warner Brothers' top directors for the DCEU.

Because of his work with Warner Brothers, Snyder was placed as director of Justice League. It would be the big team-up film that gathers up the DC's counterpart to Marvel's Avengers. After shooting and attempting to edit his film, Snyder had to step down during post-production. He received the news of a personal family tragedy at the time and needed time to grieve. Warner Brothers, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to do and turned to a former MCU director to help redeem the situation. In all honesty, it didn't. After November 17, 2017, many Snyder fans were upset that his film was unfairly stolen from him. They created an online movement called #ReleaseTheSnyderCut to see what Snyder wanted to do with the film. It gained so much popularity that Warner Brothers decided to give Snyder the permission to re-edit the film to his original vision. Justice League: The Snyder Cut will be released on May 18, 2021, but only on HBO Max.

Human empathy can be beautiful sometimes. Through times of hate and cruelty, it's important to show some compassion towards those who have suffered. When it comes to a director of bad filmmaking, it feels very strange. All the films mentioned before are not films that are as good as MCU or well-made action films. Zack Snyder is a bad film director who doesn't understand the basic elements of storytelling or respect for original works on any source material. All of his films in the DCEU take a dark and gritty tone, but they sacrifice the most popular and fundamental traits of the DC superheroes to make them "cool." He is also one of those directors that like to sexualize his leading ladies. His film Sucker Punch is guilty of this despite him wanting to make a feminist type of film inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He did help bring Wonder Woman onto the big screen, but her live-action portrayal has gained a couple of controversies after the release of her solo film. He has also acted as executive producer and a story consultant to other DCEU films. Warner Brothers keeps digging a bigger hole for themselves with their fan backlash and scandals with specific actors and creative executives with Snyder included.

As supposed fans anticipate his version of Justice League finally being able to be seen on HBO-Max, it should be remembered that film viewers are rewarding a terrible filmmaker. It's almost as if Michael Bay or Guy Ritchie were being rewarded and forgive because of studio meddling. We all want good films to be rewarded. When bad films fail, it's up to the director to learn from his or her mistakes. Yet that can't be possible for us or Zack Snyder. All movie viewers are getting Justice League 2.0 whether they want it or not.