Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had a lot of expectations going in. Prior to that film, Snyder had delivered the incredibly divisive Man of Steel. While the film had its defenders, MoS’s Superman was seen by many as a bastardization of the character they’d learned to love in the comics and in previous films. What’s more, some fans couldn’t stomach the amount of destruction Metropolis went through, and felt that the movie should’ve showed more consequences. Lastly, Batman v Superman was going to be the movie that officially kicked of the DC Extended Universe, the long-awaited response to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, which had been churning out movies since 2008.
Would DC be able to create a universe that matched Marvel’s in scope, finances, and respect? Sadly, as of right now, that’s a vision that’s no meant to be. While I can say that Man of Steel was a divisive movie, I don’t think I could say the same of Batman v Superman. The response to the latter film was universally negative.
Fans and critics cited many problems with the movie: it was too convoluted; it made no sense; it was unnecessarily dark and dour; the visual effects were horrible; the characters had no motivations.
Some hated the film so much that there were numerous petitions on Change.org to remove Zack Snyder off of Justice League, and most recently DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns has gone on to state that many of Snyder’s “flourishes†would not be in his next movie. All in all, it seems as though the very name, respect, and brand of Zack Snyder was at stake with Batman v Superman, and things did not turn out in his favor.
Most of the actors have remained civil and relatively quiet regarding the backlash, and perhaps the biggest response came from Jeremy Irons, who apparently thought the script for the movie was terrible.
Now, this week, while at the Telluride Film Festival, Variety had a chance to ask actress Amy Adams what she thought of the response to the movie.
“I just felt for Zack. Zack’s like the nicest person ever, and to see him kind of talked about like that was really hard for me, because he’s really such a respectful director.â€
It’s a director’s job to work and set the mood for the set, and give the actors the tools they need to deliver a stellar performance, and Snyder has been given props in the past by actors for doing just that. But at the end of the day, the end product is what’s most important, and recently, Snyder simply hasn’t been delivering films that fans are happy with.
Is it that Snyder’s been given too much freedom? Will Justice League benefit from an extra dose of studio meddling? We’ll have to wait and see.
Justice League hits theaters on November 17, 2017.
Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.
SOURCE: Variety