Zack Snyder certainly gets around a lot these days. Not only did he chat with Yahoo about Steven Spielberg and many of the rumors circulating the internet about Batman V Superman (absent was a particularly crazy one by some idiot on this site), but now he’s chatting with The Daily Beast and taking off the gloves when it comes to his competition over at Marvel.
Following up on his comments to Yahoo about Steven Spielberg’s thoughts on the comic-book movie genre, Snyder hints at the cultural stature of DC Comics’ trademark characters in comparison to some of Marvel’s entries at the box office:
“It goes to the mythological nature of the movies that we’re making,” he said. “I feel like he’s right. But I feel like Batman and Superman are transcendent of superhero movies in a way, because they’re Batman and Superman. They’re not just, like, the flavor of the week Ant-Man—not to be mean, but whatever it is. What is the next Blank-Man?..
“Didn’t he say it was kind of like the Westerns? But there are still great Westerns. I think it’s whenever anything becomes a ‘genre,’ you have to sort of look at it and try to understand it.”
Comparing Ant-Man to Blank-Man? That’s pretty damn harsh. I don’t think there’s a person out there that hasn’t seen Blank-Man during the early days of Comedy Central, but it isn’t exactly Ant-Man. Also that kinda discounts the whole other assortment of Marvel films that have elevated above this (who knew Iron Man or Guardians of the Galaxy would ever be a success).
Snyder is right about Batman and Superman’s place with societies’ cultural framework. For every person that’s seen Blank-Man, there’s at least a dozen more who know who Batman is and can tell you his origin story. Same goes for Superman, even though that has been tweaked a bit over the years. However, that very point makes his next very suspect. That’s because it seems that Batman is going to get a bulk of the screen time in this film and we’re getting another form of a Batman origin tale:
“Only in that because it’s a different Batman than the Batman that was in the Chris Nolan movies, so we have a little bit more explaining to do—and you just had a whole Superman movie,” he smiled. “But I think only in that way, because you need to understand where Batman is with everything. And that’s more toward the beginning, but it evens back out as it goes on.”
So what we’re getting is a Batman movie with Superman in it. That’s how I read it at least. Alongside Spider-Man, there isn’t a superhero out there that needs another origin tale less than Batman. Spoiler alert for the 10 folks who are unaware, but the death of Batman’s parents and all that junk is pretty cut and dry. I know we’re getting a new Batman with a new Alfred and an established history, but is there really a need to go back again? He’s Batman.
If the movie is going to be close to three hours, only 20 minutes of that should be spent on “hey, this is why Batman is the way he is.” Anything more than that is going to be a hindrance to the already packed film this seems to be. Not to mention there’s already some sort of desert, dystopian dream sequence tossed in (I’m assuming that’s what trench-coat Batman is all about there).
Note that all of this is being said by someone who is a big Batman fan, like plenty of people out there. It’s clear why this is the case, but it still feels more and more like it’s trying to be Batman and everybody else.
(Via The Daily Beast)
