If there’s one thing there has been no shortage of in the past decade, its opinions about filmmaker Zack Snyder’s take on the DC universe. Those opinions vary from “Man of Steel” through to the DECU’s last remaining vestiges on hand this year.
Snyder himself directed three superhero films for Warner Bros. and DC – 2013’s “Man of Steel,” 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and what ultimately became 2021’s “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”.
Recently all three films were screened in cinemas as part of Snyder’s Full Circle charity event. The filmmaker attended a Q&A at said event where he discussed the legacy and larger cultural conversation the films have left behind.
According to The Direct, Snyder revealed that he believes most of the negative reviews for the second film ‘Dawn of Justice’ were a result of audience expectations over the tone and so were not getting his approach to the material:
“I think, and maybe I’m wrong. but I feel like a lot of people went into the movies for going like, ‘Oh, it’s the superhero romp, right? Let’s have fun with it’.
And we gave them this sort of hardcore deconstructivist, heavily layered, experiential modern mythological superhero movie that needs… that you really need to pay attention to.
That was not cool [for them]. That’s not something anyone wanted to do. They were like, ‘What? No! That’s exhausting. How about, why do they fight at night?’ I hate that.”
The film was poorly received by critics but proved a solid box office success – grossing $873.6 million worldwide. A subsequent ‘extended edition’ on home video was better received.
Snyder has now moved on to non-DC projects including “Army of the Dead” and more recently his upcoming two-part film space opera saga “Rebel Moon” which debuts its first film just before Christmas.
