Zack Snyder Movies
One of the easiest ways to elicit groans out of a cinephile is to bring up director Zack Snyder’s name in a non-pejorative way. The guy is synonymous with mindless action movies in a way that would make Michael Bay jealous.
Zack Snyder movies are big, loud, and unapologetic. They’re poorly written masterpieces of visual and aural filmmaking that won’t leave you with much to think about, but more often than not, I’m leaving a Zack Snyder movie with a smile on my face. That has to count for something.
Zack Snyder Movies
Dawn of the Dead
Survivors of a global zombie apocalypse take refuge at a shopping mall and try to fend off the inevitable.
(2004, 0 viewings)
Zombies just aren’t my thing, and if I ever wanted to change that, I’d start with the Romero “of the Dead” films. Still, plenty seem to think highly of this one. The great Sarah Polley stars.
300
The outnumbered Spartan army of King Leonidas makes its stand against against invading Persian forces at Thermopylae.
RATING: 
(2007, 3 viewings)
I’m not ashamed to admit I geeked out pretty hard for this one as a college freshman who was still learning about the world of movies. Even then, however, I could recognize a real clunker of a screenplay when I heard its awful dialogue. 300 is an unparalleled visual experience, but my goodness, it is hollow.
Watchmen
In a world where superheroes exist but they’re forbidden by law from acting heroically, one former hero goes rogue following the death of a colleague.
RATING:
(2009, 2 viewings)
It carried with it some high expectations, but even someone like me wasn’t prepared to see Snyder’s 300 follow-up land with such a thud. That said, I think Watchmen contains enough good (basically everything Rorshach and The Comedian do) to outweigh the bad (like the sex scene that left my sold-out audience back in 2009 laughing hysterically).
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Two young owls are abducted and brought to a place where an army of evil owls brainwashes children to fight for them. Their only hope are the Guardians, owls whose existence is the stuff of legend and whose supposed home is a near impossible flight. (Click here for my full Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole review.)
RATING:
(2010, 1 viewing)
Awkwardly titled and with a plot description that does it no favors, Legend of the Guardians is a surprisingly engaging film with animation that’s as unique and spectacular as you’d expect coming from the mind of Snyder.
Sucker Punch
A young girl is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the mental facility.
(2011, 0 viewings)
It’s hard to find the time for a movie that was savaged by critics up its release as badly as Sucker Punch. Ironically, he was given the Superman gig not long before Sucker Punch came out, which made a whole bunch of Superfans shake in their boots.
Man of Steel
It’s back to basics for Kal-El of Krypton. Shortly before his world is destroyed, an alien baby is sent away, bound for Earth, where he grows up afraid of his past. But after the few of his kind who remain invade, Superman springs into action. (Click here for my full Man of Steel review.)
RATING:
(2013, 1 viewing)
It definitely isn’t the movie it could have been. The conclusion is kind of a mess with endless incoherent action replacing what was, for a while, a stone-cold character piece. Still, I love the alt-take on Supes’ story. What a refreshing change of pace it was to see a superhero origin movie that didn’t follow a formula to a T.
“Batman vs. Superman”
The Caped Crusader joins the fun in this untitled Man of Steel follow-up.
(2015, 0 viewings)
Of all the potential 2015 blockbuster movies, this one has the most boom-or-bust potential. Like Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Snyder could shed the origin material and turn out one of the genre’s all-time greats. The presence of Ben Affleck as Batman will only help it in that respect, I think. Then again, if he falls back on the stuff that nearly sunk Man of Steel in its final hour—the same pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo that killed The Avengers for me—we’ll be left sorely disappointed.
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