What became known as the DCEU started with Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel,” a film that received a soft response at launch though the reaction has improved with time.
It was Snyder’s follow-up though, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” that drew divisive reviews. It was a film with plenty of obvious problems, and while a later director’s cut fixed some of them, the response to the movie remains decidedly mixed.
In a recent interview with LightCast the filmmaker’s wife and producing partner, Deborah Snyder, looked back at the reaction to the film nearly five years ago and indicates part of the problem is that the media coverage was mostly about unfulfilled expectations as opposed to judging the film on its own merits:
“We’ve had our share of unkind press. Some of it, though… It’s interesting because I think… [Batman v Superman] is the perfect example. ‘It’s too dark.’ Too dark compared to what? I think that some of the reactions were ‘It’s not funny enough. It’s not the movie I expected it to be.’ And you’re [saying], ‘Is that the movie’s fault or is that your fault for having a preconceived notion of what it should be?’ It was kind of interesting to read things like that.”
Meanwhile, Zack Snyder himself recently discussed with MinuteMen the reaction to the most infamous scene of the whole film – the moment where Batman and Superman stop fighting when they find out their mother’s share the same first name:
“Clearly I am a fan of, and am very interested in how ‘Martha,’ that concept is central to the film. I mean, it’s 100% the lynchpin that holds the entire movie together. I think it’s indicative of the way that Batman v Superman was received that its central tenant was sort of belittled and made fun of. I personally think it is like this beautiful and incredibly symmetrical idea that it completely finishes it as a concept. It all is 100% with intent and intention to be all the images that you see, as far as their inspiration and stuff like that.”
With Snyder now finally able to finish off his vision with the recut “Justice League” next month, there’s understandable curiosity as to whether it’ll narratively correct some of the mistakes of ‘Dawn of Justice’ and in turn improve the reaction to that film over all.
