Why | hate Zack Snyder

A whole different kind of Zack-attack

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Reviewer

t some point, you're going to find
A: filmmaker that becomes the
butt of all your jokes. Personally,
the one I’ve grown a seething contempt
for is Zack Snyder. Currently, Snyder’s
filmography consists of Dawn of the
Dead (2004), 300 (2007), Watchmen
(2009), Legend of the Guardians (2010),
and as of this Friday, Sucker Punch.
Odds are you’ve seen at least one of the
prior four and probably enjoyed it to a
certain degree. None of those films are
necessarily bad; in fact some of them get
a lot right. Snyder has an eye for colour
and filters that often give his films a
whimsical appeal. “So what’s her deal?”
you’re probably not wondering. Well I’m
glad you didn’t ask, because I’m going to
tell you anyway.
Dawn of the Dead, Snydet’s first
notable endeavour, is to date his most
Critically acclaimed film. While it really

Sucker Punch

is tripe compared to the 1978 original,
the remake stands as one of the better
horror films of the last ten years. This
may be because Snyder actually took the
time to adapt from the source material
and form his own creation. Since then
however, Snyder’s skills as a ‘filmmaker’

have sagged. Save for the manipulating

of character relevance (and development),
not a single film after Dawn of the Dead
has featured nearly as much initiative.
Granted, I’ve yet to see Legend of the
Guardians, but I doubt the plight of owls
maintains relevance here.

Snyder’s next major hit was
everyone’s favourite meme generator,
300. The move to copy the Frank ”
Miller-penned comic book series nearly
frame-by-frame is something I’ve
always questioned. At the time I knew
significantly less about film, but I still
felt that to approach soniething of such
magnitude should hold some level of
Originality (insert Avatar joke here).

Really, all that Snyder added was raping
Lena Headey and making the villain
Xerxes sexually androgynous.

The film led to much controversy,
partially for making our heroes appear
to be fascist killers, but also for carrying
some undertones of homophobia. To be
fair, I don’t think Snyder meant for his
characters to come off as.racist; he just
mindlessly copied the original frames.
However, subtle themes of homophobia
and far more obvious themes of misogyny
continue to appear in Snyder’s films
(including Dawn of the Dead).

From here we move onto where my
deep-seeded hate began, Watchmen. Terry
Gilliam once said that to transition the
iconic mini-series to the big screen would
require each of the twelve chapters having
their own two-hour film adaptation; I
agree. Snyder ambitiously attempted
the opposite, and like any dedicated fan
boy, he tried his best. Seeing as this is
Watchmen, though, “do or do not, there

 

 

is no try.” Again, Snyder mistook scenes
meant to place commentary on subjects
such as homophobia and took them
somewhat literally, and don’t even get me
started on Silk Spectre II.

I'll always consider Snyder a
twelve-year-old with a movie camera.
His largely R-rated films often cater to
his audience in such a simple-minded
way, after all. Snyder has proven one fact
throughout his career, though. Like the
first fifteen minutes of Dawn of the Dead
and “The Times They Are A-Changing”
in Watchmen, Snyder has shown he can
keep an audience’s attention without
draining their intelligence. Perhaps
Snyder could’ ve been a great music video
director, instead of a joke. Again, his
eye for colour and even special effects
could’ve made some great videos.

Alas, if you really want to see Snyder
try his hand at originality, his first non-
adapted feature, Sucker Punch, opens this
Friday March 25 across Canada.