Anthony Stokes on why Zack Snyder directing Justice League isn’t a big deal…
Warner Bros. and DC have done it again. Another announcement that I’m sure was expecting to make fans excited did quite the opposite. Zack Snyder is directing Justice League. Is this really a surprise? Warner Bros. has no other directors for its DC properties in reserve right now, and for some reason Zack Snyder is the only director they can trust. But is he the problem?
Let me start by saying I dislike Zack Snyder. He’s a pastiche of better directors, like the Wachowskis specifically. A smart man’s Michael Bay, he once said “People think my films are just about visuals but they’re actually pretty deep”. Visuals are exactly where his films excel. I have no doubt that Zack Snyder wants to be like Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, and Edgar Wright. But he’s not even at the level of the Wachowskis. He doesn’t have a Matrix or even a Cloud Atlas. But the atrocity that was Man of Steel wasn’t his fault.
When you get down to the bare bones of what directing is, it’s filming a script that you are handed. Now there are directors like David Fincher who have a heavier hand in the story structure or themes, but when you get down to the nitty gritty directing a movie is about reading a script and doing your best to bring it to the big screen. And in that regard Snyder isn’t a bad director. Most people would consider him a good action director. I’ve already mentioned that personally I dislike his style, but he can film clear, watchable action scenes. He’s also pretty good at getting good performances out of his actors. Zack Snyder is somebody who wants to make deep movies but hasn’t been given the means to do so yet, because his scripts have been so weak.
The problems with Man of Steel are mainly with its script. Sure there are glaringly obvious issues that any director with any pull or competency would’ve fixed, but the issues with Man of Steel really fall on David S. Goyer. Snyder does have masturbatory scenes of carnage and overblown action scenes, but the script called for them to be there. The opening sequence of the movie on Krypton was damn good. I think even people who hated Man of Steel can agree that’s the best part of the movie. And even though Snyder rips off other sci-fi movies and the dialogue is a little cheesy, it works. But David S. Goyer is somebody who works best as a story guy. He’s not very good with dialogue and he’s not very good at setting up scenarios that make sense. Much like The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel suffers from being overlong, having cheesy moments, and set ups that don’t follow logic. Goyer is the one that deserves the blame, not Snyder.
The bigger problem to me is that Warner Bros. is fast tracking these DC movies to catch up to Marvel, but is not following Marvel’s approach enough. I’m worried that Batman vs. Superman and Justice League will feel like a second and third parts of a Man of Steel trilogy. Marvel gets different directors to keep things fresh, whilst keeping a consistent tone throughout. With Snyder directing every DC movie, it’s going to feel incredibly redundant. Warner Bros. needs to give somebody else a try. Hopefully Ben Affleck will make a solo Batman movie, maybe even taking inspiration from the Arkham games. But for now, don’t worry about who’s directing Justice League – worry about who’s writing the script, because that’s what’s been hurting DC movies lately, not Zack Snyder.
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker.
Originally published May 2, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
