Zack Snyder: good director?

[EnriqueH]

Lots of controversy going into MoS.

So what do you all think of him now? Has your opinion changed?

Me?

I was kinda excited about Snyder directing Superman. I enjoyed Dawn of the Dead, loved 300, thought Watchmen was a mixed bag but mostly kinda sucked and Sucker Punch was awful.

At this point, Zack is reminding me a little of M. Night Shymalan.

He did a a few entertaining films and then started to suck pretty consistently.

While I don't consider Man of Steel a bad film, I can't help but think it could've been better.

So my feelings of Snyder have dwindled considerably. He can definitely do eye candy, but I'm no longer convinced he can execute substance.

[cypher85]

Overall I would say that I'm a decent fan of his, my summary of his films is below.

Really liked 300

Loved Watchmen

Disliked Sucker Punch

Loved Man of Steel

Haven't seen Dawn of the Dead or Owls of Ga Hool

[Deleted]

Only seen Watchmen, 300, Dawn of the dead and MOS.

Watchmen was good, 300 is a decent film but not my thing, Dawn of the Dead was brilliant and MOS was very good.

I'd say he's fairly good, definitely not the hack many people make him out to be. The emotional element in MOS was pretty good for me, so he didn't lose any points with that film imo.

[crazy_asian_man]

I think he's half of a great director.

Visually he can do the stuff.... an AWESOME music video director.
Has great intentions with comic book adaptations-

BUT....
Even the worst tv director seems to be able to get smooth performances (They have to)... or realize what they need to get from performers to make a scene work. His success unfortunately tells him that he's not doing anything wrong to improve, imo.

[Metallo]

He's not a bad director but he's not a well rounded strong director either. Best thing i can say about his overall talent is he's passable. He's competent. But he doesn't have much range or depth of vision for a whole film. He gets the visual part but he overdoes it sometimes. Theres more to making films than a collection of "kewl" images. I think sometimes he can mimic drama but Im not sure he always really truly understands it. Without really strong material to follow he's usually screwed as a storyteller.

I'd say he's at the top of the heap of guys like Wiseman and Anderson. Either right next to Bay or just below him. A guy like John Favreau for example took a pretty thin Iron Man script and pulled it off. Not sure Snyder is a guy who could do something like that. His career has been built on remakes and adaptations of works from masters in their mediums and genres. When a George Romero leaves you a great blueprint you've already got a leg up.

[SteveS]

I have not seen his Dawn of the Dead.
Thought 300 was very good
Thought Watchmen blew chunks
Sucker Punch was kind of stupid but entertaining
MOS is unbelievably awesome

I will say this. The guy is a genius when it comea to the visual look of his movies. He has a WAY better feel visually than most directors could ever dream of. Look at 300. Visually it looks like something out of a dream which is mesmerizing.

[eccentricbeing]

He's the kind of the director that is dependent on a great script in order for his film to be good. I mean, that's the case with all films. But many directors are able to tune up a script if it's not up to par...either they'll rewrite it themselves or get their own writer to ghostwrite. Synder isn't like that at all. He's not a concepts man either. He's not going to give you 3-dimensions with subtext.

I'd say he's almost equal to Michael Bay. The only differences are that Michael Bay can slow it down and have character moments...and he actually makes original films from time to time.

To be perfectly honestly, Synder wasn't the problem with Man of Steel. His limitations as a filmmaker may have prevented the script from being great, but that can't be pinned on him exactly. The script needed one more draft to give more character moments and connections and he would've been set. I think he's very capable of delivering drama and character moments, but he's dependent on what the script gives him.

[Jor-L5150]

while the long knives are not getting put away anytime soon, i personally feel his stock went way up on man of steel.

[crazy_asian_man]

To be perfectly honestly, Synder wasn't the problem with Man of Steel. His limitations as a filmmaker may have prevented the script from being great, but that can't be pinned on him exactly. The script needed one more draft to give more character moments and connections and he would've been set. I think he's very capable of delivering drama and character moments, but he's dependent on what the script gives him.

I might have thought that.... but Snyder had perfect written material with "Watchmen" and botched it--- it's easier to forgive or cut some slack if saddled with a bad script, but that wasn't the case with Watchmen. My understanding is that he chose the screenwriter who rewrote it/adapted it.... and, as director, he could have overrode any parts of it anytime.

Anyhow, I'd love it if they released the shooting script by Goyer to get a better grip on whether or not it was really Snyder or Goyer who disappointed in spots, and who should get more credit in spots, as well....

[eccentricbeing]

The Watchmen script was not perfect material. The problem with Watchmen was that the source material isn't tailor-made for a movie. It would work much better as a mini-series. But as I said before...Synder isn't good with subtext, which Watchmen (the graphic novel) had plenty of.

Tim Burton said something along the lines that he wouldn't know a good script if he saw one. That's kind of filmmaker Burton is. That's the kind of filmmaker Snyder is.

[subzero]

man of steel is the first film ive seen directed by him so i think hes a very good director!

[crazy_asian_man]

The Watchmen script was not perfect material. The problem with Watchmen was that the source material isn't tailor-made for a movie. It would work much better as a mini-series. But as I said before...Synder isn't good with subtext, which Watchmen (the graphic novel) had plenty of.

Tim Burton said something along the lines that he wouldn't know a good script if he saw one. That's kind of filmmaker Burton is. That's the kind of filmmaker Snyder is.

Actually, I was referring to the source material being perfect- not the script. I have to say, though--- I do think that the voiceover portion he did with Dr. Manhattan was fantastic and that the pacing and editing is MUCH smoother overall in the ultimate cut than MOS.

[Metallo]

Exactly. Much of Watchmen is as good as it is because Snyder followed the source material pretty closely at times. It takes skill to adapt this stuff but you'd also have to be an idiot to totally ruin some things.

While talking about working on MOS Snyders said that he deconstructed superheroes with Watchmen. Bullshit. Alan Moore did. It's very telling to me that he allowed his name to be left on the adaptation of For The Man Who Has Everything.

[atp]

No

[dejan]

Definitely a big resounding:

[Metallo]

I’d say I and a few others called it pretty spot on. Snyder’s been condemned to a Netflix purgatory.

[crazy_asian_man]

Jun 28, 2013 12:29:46 GMT -5 Metallo said:

Exactly. Much of Watchmen is as good as it is because Snyder followed the source material pretty closely at times. It takes skill to adapt this stuff but you'd also have to be an idiot to totally ruin some things.

While talking about working on MOS Snyders said that he deconstructed superheroes with Watchmen. Bullpoop. Alan Moore did. It's very telling to me that he allowed his name to be left on the adaptation of For The Man Who Has Everything.

I don't mind if directors are self-deulsional, as long as I like their output... but oddly enough, Snyder isn't the worse director for superhero adaptations imo- at least he provides good-great eye candy. (Don't misinterpret me, I'm also still glad he's OUT of DC/MARVEL.)


While Antman is solidly an ok movie all around, oddly I'd rewatch the JLA Snyder cut or MOS first- for the visuals even if MOS is really a bad film that looks great.

[Metallo]

Jul 8, 2022 21:12:14 GMT -5 crazy_asian_man said:

Jun 28, 2013 12:29:46 GMT -5 Metallo said:

Exactly. Much of Watchmen is as good as it is because Snyder followed the source material pretty closely at times. It takes skill to adapt this stuff but you'd also have to be an idiot to totally ruin some things.

While talking about working on MOS Snyders said that he deconstructed superheroes with Watchmen. Bullpoop. Alan Moore did. It's very telling to me that he allowed his name to be left on the adaptation of For The Man Who Has Everything.

I don't mind if directors are self-deulsional, as long as I like their output... but oddly enough, Snyder isn't the worse director for superhero adaptations imo- at least he provides good-great eye candy. (Don't misinterpret me, I'm also still glad he's OUT of DC/MARVEL.)


While Antman is solidly an ok movie all around, oddly I'd rewatch the JLA Snyder cut or MOS first- for the visuals even if MOS is really a bad film that looks great.

I think at this point they can do anything with spectacle. Todays superhero films live or die on character and story and I think Snyder is a failure when it comes to both.

[crazy_asian_man]

Jul 8, 2022 23:08:08 GMT -5 Metallo said:

Jul 8, 2022 21:12:14 GMT -5 crazy_asian_man said:

I don't mind if directors are self-deulsional, as long as I like their output... but oddly enough, Snyder isn't the worse director for superhero adaptations imo- at least he provides good-great eye candy. (Don't misinterpret me, I'm also still glad he's OUT of DC/MARVEL.)


While Antman is solidly an ok movie all around, oddly I'd rewatch the JLA Snyder cut or MOS first- for the visuals even if MOS is really a bad film that looks great.

I think at this point they can do anything with spectacle. Todays superhero films live or die on character and story and I think Snyder is a failure when it comes to both.

Snyder's "Sucker Punch" that he wrote/directed really was vomit-inducing.... except for some action scenes that were really nice in the director's cut.

With Marvel- I'm still kind of shocked that with (presumably) equal resources for all their films, that only a couple of their directors come out with films that really look fantastic (Rousso brothers come to mind at the top, Gunn's first Guardians looked great)- nothing that Marvel has put out has ever looked BAD, but it's odd how not all of the choices made make a really great looking sequence, but serviceable one.).

I do give credit to Snyder that I did love how the JL movie looked- so I'd totally be fine if Snyder demoted himself to being strictly on visuals, but..... just glad he's not overseeing DC's future.