Zack Snyder says critics don’t affect his work

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Everybody's a critic and no one knows that more than director Zack Snyder. The filmmaker has seen some of his films see critical highs (Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen), land somewhere in the middle (Man of Steel), and fall to the ground with a thud (Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League). So how does a director like Snyder deal with the criticism? During a recent interview, the director revealed that he never lets it affect his work too much.

"I honestly, I don't look at it that much. I mean, look, I've looked at the, and sort of analyzed the — as sort of anyone would do — the sort of negative criticism of the films, in the past. I just don't… I haven't found anything within the criticism that would make me believe and/or change anything I do. So in that way, it doesn't really affect me. If I felt like there was an issue, or some sort of, something lacking within the work and I needed to look at the criticism to then reevaluate the way I approach things, that would be a different scenario. But, I wouldn't change a frame of anything I've done, so… the criticism is just the criticism."

There is a bit of a divided camp when it comes to Zack Snyder's movies. The director does have a substantial fanbase and they're so substantial that their vocal cries have led to Zack Snyder's Justice League actually happening next month on HBO Max. I would say they are fiercely loyal and a lot of that has to do with Snyder's reputation. He seems to have a lot of respect amongst the people he has worked with and that certainly goes a long way.

On the flip side of that coin, a lot of his films aren't critical darlings and the other side of the fandom can be pretty harsh with their criticisms of his work. On Rotten Tomatoes, things start off swimingly for Snyder. Dawn of the Dead is 75% fresh, 300 is 61% fresh and Watchmen is 65% fresh. Their audience scores also clock in at 77%, 89%, and 71%, respectivly. After these three films, things begin to take a bit of a turn. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is 52% rotten, Sucker Punch is 22% rotten, Man of Steel is 56% rotten, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is 28% rotten while Justice League is 40% rotten. The audience scores for these films go as high as 75% and as low as 47% so you can even begin to see a divide from casual moviegoers as well.

Snyder clearly has no problem with the movies he has made and he's geting a second chance with Justice League to release the cut that was his original vision. Maybe it should be respected that he doesn't pay attention to criticism and just does his own thing because it could negatively shape his future work by his own standards. I happen to think that Snyder is pretty capable depending on the material. I'm a big fan of Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen and I even think Man of Steel gets better with subsequent viewings. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Sucker Punch, and Justice League weren't my cup of tea but that's just my opinion. At the end of the day, criticism is merely an opinion of the work and Snyder has every right to block that from his view.

Do YOU think it's good that Zack Snyder ignores critics?