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Zack Snyder is fast becoming a big name in Hollywood. Not only will he direct Xerxes, a sequel to his 2006 blockbuster 300, but he has also been chosen, by Christopher Nolan no less, to direct the upcoming Superman reboot. It seems that despite a relatively short career, Snyder has impressed many with his directorial prowess.
Snyder’s first major feature was a remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 zombie classic Dawn of the Dead. Whilst it may lack some of the depth of Romero’s original, Snyder’s attempt is an enjoyable, action-filled ride nonetheless. The bloody opening sequence is particularly successful, as the audience is thrust straight into the action, leaving the viewer as disarmed and disorientated as Ana, the film’s protagonist, who wakes up to a zombie-infested waste land. In fact, Ana is at the centre of the shot for much of the first 15 minutes of the film, as we watch her try to escape the chaos that is unfolding around her.
300, Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, has been his most successful film to date (at the box office at least). The film is incredibly stylised, as Snyder attempted to stick as rigidly as possible to the source material. Consequently, the film is edited to make it appear almost as if it has been illustrated. Further to this, the contrast of the film has been heavily manipulated to heighten the difference between light and dark. Snyder also uses a limited palette of golds and dark, moody blues in combination with the greyness that pervades the film. This not only makes for an incredible visual spectacle but also gives the film a brooding and ominous tone. It also provides a contrast for the endless spurts of blood that take place as the Spartans slash their way through the Persian army. Slow-motion is also a very important feature of 300, as it furthers the sense of hyperrealism in the film as well as allowing the action to slow to the extent it resembles a frame in a graphic novel.
After the success of 300, Snyder was chosen to direct a second adaptation of one of Frank Miller’s comics: Watchmen. However, whilst Watchmen was by no means a flop, it didn’t quite make the impact at the box office that was hoped and received mixed reviews. Although the film certainly has some flaws, it still has some amazing sequences. The opening fight featuring The Comedian is very well choreographed and again makes very good use of slow-motion shots, continuing Snyder’s run of explosive openings. The opening credits themselves are some of the best I have ever seen in a film, with a series of tableaus spanning the decades set to Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin.’ Indeed, the film’s soundtrack is one of its key components, with the haunting ‘Pruit Igoe and Prophecies’ adding to the beautiful strangeness and odd tranquillity of the scene with Silk Spectre and Mr. Manhattan on Mars. Undoubtedly Snyder’s best work in the film comes in the scenes featuring the film’s anti-hero, Rorschach. Rorschach’s scenes develop upon the limited colour palette that Snyder experimented with in 300, as Rorschach’s world is made up almost entirely of deep blues and blacks and is striking in its gloominess. It is Rorschach’s scenes which are the most consistent in the film, as their dark tone extends right through its duration, and Snyder catches the feeling of a ‘50s-style crime thriller perfectly - a consistency which is sadly lacking from some of the film’s other moments (the less said about Snyder’s abominable use of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ the better).
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