I understand the complaints. Snyder certainly has his vision though it is effects laden, maybe too much for his own good. Historians no doubt shit themselves upon watching his rendition of the doomed stand at Thermopalaye. The fast-cut-to-slow shooting, the nightmare creatures, the scottish actors...ok, so not exactly the encyclopedia version of the Spartan's greatest showdown.
then there's 'Watchmen'. Heralded as the greatest graphic novel of all time it's obvious that there were expectations. No other graphic publication has so successfully married the macabre world of the vigilante and pressing, cold war politics. Snyder stayed as faithful as he could, but, as movies go, liberties were taken and taking the same visual formula as '300', he rendered a CG centric barrage that was more a nod to 'The Matrix' than it was a pioneering leap in bringing Graphic Novels to life and while there were some positives (Rorschach was as badass as they get) there were even more negatives (suspension of disbelief aside, Malin Akerman isn't snapping anyone's arm in half, I'm sorry).
Now, Snyder holds the city key to Metropolis. Scary thought, isn't? But consider that the man behind the production curtain this go-around is none other than the man of the hour himself, Christopher Nolan. Yes, the same man responsible for both the neo-noir hit 'Memento' and that little indie flick 'The Dark Knight'. No one has questioned Nolan's vision since Guy Pearce went on a tattoo heavy detective spree and certainly no one would dare question him after he sent Leo spinning four+ levels deep in 'Inception'. So how do these two seemingly polar opposite directors compliment eachother? How can it work?
I like to think of Nolan as the telescope and Snyder as the beam of light. Snyder has all the passion, the fan-boy fervor to tackle this thing head on. But what Snyder needs and has needed, all along, is just a little direction from someone who knows what character driving is all about. Nolan shocked the world by resurrecting Batman and making him more human and more gritty than ever imagined. Snyder has the action sensibility and the knack of kinetic, balls-to-the-wall actioneering. Bryan Singer failed a few years ago because he relied too much on Christopher Reeve nostalgia and stumbled on a muddled third act when the Man of Steel should have been chomping off Kryptonian sized bites.
What Superman now has, and hasn't had since Richard Donner manned the megaphone, is a chance at true greatness. With Nolan manning the gears behind the scenes, Snyder may have finally arrived at his gem vehicle. That is, not the kryptonite kind, but the blinding, golden kind. Snyder doubters should hold their breath a bit, this concoction of unlike minds could blend beautifully. Think all the black-blue splendor of Nolan's beleaguered Dark Knight and Snyder's Nitros Oxide powered lead men. Expect effects, expect shrapnel, protein powered ferocity and- God forbid- a Superman story that stirs viewers and doesn't drain. If there's a double rotor machine that can deliver such a novelty it will be the joint effort of the Nolan/Snyder camps.
I'm seeing it now: Dawn stretches over Metropolis, a city is just waking from a terror filled night of crashing metal and spitting fire. Superman stands (err, soars) above the wreckage. He is confounded. He is bewildered. Maybe the boy scout even sheds a steely tear and then descends into the heavens; unsure and enraged. Snyder and Nolan will sit back and laugh almost inaudibly, reveling in their great delight that they defied the odds and yet again brought an icon back to life.
