Zack Snyder on his critics: "You're living in an f-ing dreamworld!"

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I think people with takes on comic properties like Synder have their place but I think that was always the wrong perspective to make the spearheader of a DC Cinematic Universe, and certainly wrong to try and bring Superman back into the mainstream.

It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, or at the outset. Tim Burton did wonders with Batman, but Schumacher who came in after Burton parted ways because of issues and had to deal with executive oversight, sunk the project. and in the case of Superman the story spun was that Richard Donner was chased off by the Salkinds and his vision was ruined. Then Nolan came and got a total free hand and free run on the Batman to do three films as he saw fit (which Raimi didn't get to do with his three Spider-Man films so Nolan is an exception). So giving Snyder some amount of latitude was thinking with some solid reasoning behind it. Nolan produced it.

Snyder was on the face of it a more commercial choice than Nolan when he got to the Dark Knight. Before Batman Begins, Nolan made some indie cult movies, but nothing truly blockbuster. Whereas Snyder had 300 as this big success, work as music video producer, that Romero remake/homage, and he made a version of Watchmen which wasn't a total garbage fire even if it was a commercial failure. Unlike Nolan though, whose Memento is a really good movie, I don't think any of Snyder's movies were good (and I still don't rate him as a director). So I can understand why they thought Snyder was a good idea.

I definitely think that after Man of Steel they should have called a rain-check. They should have gotten someone else, like Mathew Vaughan who has expressed interest in Superman. Get that guy to do a sequel/soft reboot. Do what they did with JL in the sequel to Man of Steell...softly retcon the events of the film and downplay it stat, or treat it like how the MCU treat the Edward Norton Hulk movie, it kinda happened but nobody talks about it.

The Batman Superman team up movie should have been this great all-time screen moment and instead its...what it is. Gotta give props to Snyder...he made Superman and Batman in the same movie and same scene and ruined it. He's responsible for Justice League being a commercial flop...how is that possible. This should have been the movie version of the coffee scene in Heat when DeNiro and Pacino appeared for the first time. That was huge. The entire movie was built on them coming face to face and it was the scene at the center of the entire thing. We didn't get that. Snyder's most important contribution is casting Gal Gadot, and grokking that Batman and Wonder Woman have better chemistry than Superman and WW ever will, and of course backing Junkie XL who wrote the great Wonder Woman theme.

[manymade1]

Idk, I actually really like Snyder and his work. I don't understand why superhero movies have to be fun, escapism flicks. Like I'm not saying I don't want them, but I don't want every single super hero flick to be this. Sadly, this is becoming the case, which is why I've recently been put off superhero movies and movies like Star Wars. It was fine when we had a variety, but nowadays they just all feel the same.

I really liked how Snyder tried to actually put the spotlight on what I see as gratuitous violence in these movies. We're supposed to look up to these heroes, yet they're so quick to resort to violence, only for everything they did to be forgiven in the end. Obviously I read comics, so I know that's how it works, but still, it doesn't hurt every now and then to have something that challenges the norm, and I'm grateful for Snyder's films doing that.

I think people with takes on comic properties like Synder have their place but I think that was always the wrong perspective to make the spearheader of a DC Cinematic Universe, and certainly wrong to try and bring Superman back into the mainstream.

Yeah I mean that I agree with. WB should've known what they were initially getting into when they signed Snyder. The fact that they weren't willing to commit only made themselves look foolish in the process. Of course, I'm sure Snyder having Nolan's backing helped.

I'm actually curious to know what Nolan thinks of Snyder's films. I don't think Nolan hates superheroes as much as Snyder but I'd imagine he's not a big fan of using them purely as a means of escapism.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Superman required a director who looks at the world with hope and optimism, not someone who looks at the world the way Ayn Rand does. Snyder's perfectly welcome to believe that humanity is irrevocably broken and horrible, so we should only be looking out for ourselves, but that's simply not what Superman is about.

That said, Snyder was absolutely the right guy to bring Dr. Manhattan to the screen. Despite the many flaws of his Watchmen movie, this sequence is perfect:

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Superman required a director who looks at the world with hope and optimism, not someone who looks at the world the way Ayn Rand does. Snyder's perfectly welcome to believe that humanity is irrevocably broken and horrible, so we should only be looking out for ourselves, but that's simply not what Superman is about.

That said, Snyder was absolutely the right guy to bring Dr. Manhattan to the screen. Despite the many flaws of his Watchmen movie, this sequence is perfect:

What makes you think someone who looks at the world the right way is right for Watchmen or "Dr. Manhattan" in particular (he's not an Objectivist, in fact he makes a completely anti-objectivist statement)? Alan Moore himself talked about how weird it was that the guy who did 300 would now do Watchmen and questioned Snyder's political convictions on that grounds.

I don't understand why superhero movies have to be fun, escapism flicks. Like I'm not saying I don't want them, but I don't want every single super hero flick to be this.

All movies are escapism of some sorts. Even the dark bleak ones. There isn't a single superhero movie that isn't fun or escapism. Even Batman Returns, Logan and The Dark Knight are definitely fun and escapist movies, even if they have a reputation for being dark. Snyder's movies are dark without having anything real to say or without revealing and making the characters complex and entertaining.

I really liked how Snyder tried to actually put the spotlight on what I see as gratuitous violence in these movies. We're supposed to look up to these heroes, yet they're so quick to resort to violence, only for everything they did to be forgiven in the end.

Man of Steel has Superman and Lois making out in the middle of what's basically "ground zero", and flirting and joking about it...and then ends with Superman casually taking down a drone and getting a finger wagging from Swanwick. How is that different from what you are saying? BVS has Batman opposing Superman because of collateral damage and then he proceeds to murder his way across metropolis in a batmobile and also kills those thugs in that warehouse or "let's them die" and of course his plan is to murder Superman. Not Tower of Babel decommission him non-lethally (which has the effect of actually torturing him...but we'll leave that aside for the time being). Then he finds out Superman is a brother from another Martha and that ends that.

[Darkcrusade25]

I feel like I need to meet Dan Jurgens in person and thank him for giving me a second shot with Superman. My first experience with Supes was with this guy but I just cant see Supes the way he did anymore.

[Jackalope89]

Even before getting into comics, wasn't a fan of how Snyder did Superman. I said it then, and I'll say it now; it was like watching Batman-lite with how everyone was. The Clark/Lois thing was one of the few things I liked. The action scenes were good, but I just don't feel Clark would let Zod get to Metropolis in any other universe. Pa Kent, so not the kind of person from most versions of Superman ("Don't save people, let them die!").

Snyder could do some great action scenes, yes. The Batman warehouse fight scene, easily the best live-action Batman fight scene to date. But for characters, and stories in general, that are supposed to be Hopeful in nature, yeah.

If he did a Batman film, more standalone from the rest of the DCU, I think it would be pretty good. Outside of that...

Let's just say I liked the more positive direction of Justice League (and Superman, obviously) than BvS and what not.

[stargazer01]

thank God Snyder is gone. Too bad it was 2 movies too late. He never truly got who Superman really is. I don't watch superheroes, and especially Superman to feel more depressed about the crude realities of the world, but to feel inspired and more hopeful.

https://twitter.com/Pheonix_Force/st...54135795920899

[Bored at 3:00AM]

What makes you think someone who looks at the world the right way is right for Watchmen or "Dr. Manhattan" in particular (he's not an Objectivist, in fact he makes a completely anti-objectivist statement)? Alan Moore himself talked about how weird it was that the guy who did 300 would now do Watchmen and questioned Snyder's political convictions on that grounds.

I don't think Snyder was right for Watchmen, which is why I said that film was flawed, but I think that Dr. Manhattan sequence is pretty much a perfect adaptation of Moore & Gibbons's origin issue, irregardless of his political beliefs.

I think Snyder also nailed it with this sequence in Man of Steel, even though I think that film similarly misunderstands the essence of Superman.

[GreatKungLao]

As always you all are taking things out of context. Please do me a favor: go here, play the one in the middle which is Watchmen Q&A, go to 1:48:00 and listen his speech about Superman and tell me how he "doesn't get Superman".

[Jokerz79]

One of my issues with his Watchmen is at the core of that story is exploring the mentality it would take for a normal human to put on a costume and fight crime. But Snyder films the fight scenes like these characters have super strength take Comedian's death in the comic it's a pure beat down but in the film Comedian is put up a heck of a fight to the point Comedian punches a fireplace made of brick or marble putting a hole in it and doesn't even flinch.

Will say ironically my favorite Snyder film is Dawn of the Dead which is amazing for it to be since Romero's Original Dawn of the Dead is one of my all time favorite movies. But I respect Snyder took the concept paid some homages and did his own thing and it worked it's not as good as the original IMO but it's good.

[qwertyuiop1998]

Every once in a while,Snyder will saying something S-H-I-T stuffs.Made me wonder where his confidence come from

[jetengine]

The issue with changing the Squid is that 30 odd years in universe has been spent saying "Manhatten is unstoppable, you cant kill or delay him, you can distract him or maybe get out of his attack range via throwing everything at him" but that's it. The Squid was a feasible thing to unite humanity against, it could be killed. Manhattan can't.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The issue with changing the Squid is that 30 odd years in universe has been spent saying "Manhatten is unstoppable, you cant kill or delay him, you can distract him or maybe get out of his attack range via throwing everything at him" but that's it. The Squid was a feasible thing to unite humanity against, it could be killed. Manhattan can't.

Yeah. And again Dr. Manhattan is an American sponsored superhero. In the climax, Veidt unleashes his Ultimatum Wave on multiple cities across the world, so how would that end the Cold War when what it would do is get the commies to say, "You see the Americans were the morons we all told you the were all this time. They sponsored this loose canon and it went rogue taking them and the rest of the world. There is no Dr. Nevsky Prospect comrade. We're the good guys all this time."

A giant squid attacking Manhattan from an interdimensional point would have been evidence of an alien invasion. That could work and it happening in America i.e. free press and free media is important in getting the rest of the world to "Look on my works, ye mighty and despair".

[jetengine]

Yeah. And again Dr. Manhattan is an American sponsored superhero. In the climax, Veidt unleashes his Ultimatum Wave on multiple cities across the world, so how would that end the Cold War when what it would do is get the commies to say, "You see the Americans were the morons we all told you the were all this time. They sponsored this loose canon and it went rogue taking them and the rest of the world. There is no Dr. Nevsky Prospect comrade. We're the good guys all this time."

A giant squid attacking Manhattan from an interdimensional point would have been evidence of an alien invasion. That could work and it happening in America i.e. free press and free media is important in getting the rest of the world to "Look on my works, ye mighty and despair".

The only thing I'll give it is that it at least ackowledges that Manhatten IS the problem. He's the thing that unhinged the cold war. If he didn't exist it'd still just be a normal world with the astericks of "Some Americans attempt vigilante work at times". Though theres also the issue that even if they defeat Manhatten....he's 80% of Americas defense policy.

[GreatKungLao]

I can't believe to the sheer amount of bias happening here. How dare you call yourself a Superman fan and then act so unsupermanish. Being glad and happy about that a living human being, a person is not going to do his dream job with characters he likes, which was accompinied with a family tragedy and there were people who were joking even about that. Screw you all who will take this post personally and I hope some of you will, because you deserve to be called out for being a bad person. Zack Snyder has his opinion, has his vision, he is an artist and he has all the rights to do whatever he wants with a character that is almost a century old. There isn't much what Superman wasn't throughout all these years, so who the hell are you to tell how to get him right?

I love this quote he says during Q&A about Superman: "This character is confortned with a world that doesn't care about this stuff as much as he does" when talking about his goodness and belief in truth and justice. He is right. Superman's optimism was never challenged as much as in MoS and BvS. Leading a life of an optimist is freaking hard, it is difficult, optimism can be damaged and it does with Superman, but he finds strength to recover. This sequence is everything







Optimism prevailed.

On top of everything, Zack Snyder did three screenings of three director's cuts of his films Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen and Batman v Superman as charity in Art Center. All of the earned money from tickets will go for restoration project of this Art Center. What was the last Superman thing you did? I thought as much. Try actually act as Superman for once, leave the man alone and allow people to enjoy other interpretations that they find connection with or else be ashamed to consider yourself a Superman fan. He wouldn't be proud of such behaviour.