I’m still not sure you do? But maybe I’m misunderstanding you.
Snyder was never fired publicly. The official story from Snyder and WB remains that in March, Snyder’s daughter died and Snyder subsequently chose to leave the film because of that.
If a rumor went around today that he was actually fired in March after the death of his daughter, that would feel pretty icky to speculate on.
But the story circulating (which has been corroborated by a couple sources but nothing official) is that Snyder was fired quietly in January or February, at least a month before his daughter died, before he announced he was leaving the film.
We’re not quibbling over the timing between a public and private firing, the story is changing from he quit to he was fired. That’s the significance.
Suicide isn’t some kind of isolated incident. The context that led to the suicide probably already weighed on his work already. So his mind wasn’t already on the movie with the first cut, and therefore the first cut was “unwatchable”.
Now this is me speculating and being generous to Snyder. I think we have no business in being harsh with him when it was announced that he departed the project because of personal reasons. If it is a face-saving exercise, I will entirely grant him that, in light of the tragedy.
That guy quoted by Polygon quoted in Collidor is entirely out of line IMO. If Snyder wants to be open about it, that’s his call. Others have no business sticking their nose in.
This is from a guy who only mildly enjoyed MoS and thinks BvS, Justice League, and Sucker Punch are all steaming pile of shit.
Snyder is a 1 hit wonder, right? 300 is the only watchable movie he’s made. Everything else is trash, and it’s not even fun trash like a Roland Emmerich or Michael Bay movie. It’s just depressing grimdark shitty trash.
The opening of that movie with the little girl is to this day the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in a theater. I realize it may not be top-craft filmmaking or genuinely terrifying on an objective level, but that whole scene just completely wrecked my day and still unnerves me even now, years later, thinking about it.
I enjoyed Watchmen and Man of Steel. Neither were perfect, but I thought both were entertaining. His movies aren’t as bad as people like to make them out to be IMO, they just don’t meet people’s expectations for the characters in ways that often rub them entirely the wrong way.
There was no point to the original, other than one discovered through serendipity. Agree that the remake is awesome though - I suspect James Gunn deserves some of that credit though.
300 was also awesome. Watchmen had issues, but nailed some aspects like Dr Manhattan and Rorschach.
I actually like Zach’s take on Superman - he certainly has produced some great images that look like they were out of Alex Ross paintings, and the action scenes have been coherent and probably the best depiction of Superman’s powers (although not character). Liked the grounded 1st half of Batman vs Superman and he did a good job with Wonder Woman in both that movie and Justice League.
I am now out of positive things to say about Zach Snyder.
I too will defend Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake. It kind of crashed a bit in the last act, but there were some wonderful scenes in that movie.
Watchmen was a bit flat, but no mortal man was ever going to be able to translate that sprawling graphic novel into a three-hour movie. Getting most of the beats halfway right was a relatively praise-worthy endeavor.
I agree that it had its moments, and that opening was killer. But it didn’t do much with its premise and some scenes, like the stillborn zombie, were just awful.
And the only other movie I’ve seen of Snyder’s was Watchmen, and it was ok, I guess. Probably not going to see a better Rorschach, I’d think.
Either the CGI for Cavil’s beard removal is some of the worst CGI I’ve ever seen, or they were doing CGI stuff to Superman’s face for unknown reasons and it’s still some of the worst CGI I’ve ever seen. It’s so distracting.
The first ten minutes of Dawn are just fantastic. The little girl; the boyfriend/hubby turning; the depiction of suburbia simply disintegrating; the neighbor going mad; the wonderful, long take shot from the hood of the car… it’s just all great.
The zombie baby was bad, but the dread and tension leading up to that horrible muppet were pretty good.
I loved the scene where the gun store owner (Andy) - who has been communicating through whiteboards - becomes zombified and holds up a blood-smeared whiteboard. For that matter, the short film (available on the DVD as an extra) showing Andy’s lonely life and death is great.
The newscasters were great too. And the celebrity sniping contest. And Max Headroom’s touching goodbye to his daughter.
Really almost everything leading up to the terri-bad armored car and chainsaw nonsense.
