Zack Snyder Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out various accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Zack Snyder-whose latest project "Army of the Dead' is in select theaters now and premieres on Netflix tomorrow.

Zack Snyder's Filmography Ranked:

(Note: Since it's now painfully obvious that Joss Whedon was responsible for it, the theatrical cut of Justice League has been excluded from inclusion here.)

8.Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (D)

7.Man of Steel (D)

6.Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (B-)

5.Watchmen (B)

4.Zack Snyder's Justice League (B)

3.Sucker Punch (B+)

2.Dawn of the Dead (A)

1.300 (A)

Top Dog: 300 (2007)

Seeing 300 in IMAX remains one of the greatest moviegoing experiences I've ever had. The visuals, stylized action and big, melodramatic pre-battle hype speeches from Gerard Butler's King Leonidas  packed such an insane punch in that maximalist setting that I'm getting chills just thinking about it. While each subsequent viewing at home hasn't been quite as special, it's still an incredible meathead action epic that has made a huge impact on the genre landscape since its release.  

Lowlight: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)

Snyder's unwavering ambition is one of his best qualities as a filmmaker, but his desire to push boundaries and try new things doesn't always yield favorable results. His biggest failure to date in this area came with his pretty much completely unwatchable animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. By trying to pack its absurdly convoluted mythology into 90 minutes and sticking to a relentlessly bleak tone that drops a string of misery bombs on its presumably young audience with barely any levity, the whole thing ends up coming across as a dreary and dull miscalculation from a director that is completely out of their comfort zone.

Most Underrated: Sucker Punch (2011)

Sucker Punch is often the top target for Snyder's detractors and to be completely honest, it's not hard to understand to why. A combination of some clunky writing and *surprise surprise* studio interference from Warner Brothers makes the messaging behind its dream-driven storyline damn near impossible to fully decipher and there's an even higher volume of his signature slow motion-driven action sequences than there was in 300. However, Sucker Punch also happens to be arguably the purest showcase of Snyder's strengths as well. His ability to build this breathtaking, wonderous fantasy world from scratch and stage consistently clever, massive fight scenes provides enough exhilarating visceral entertainment to make up for the narrative/thematic shortcomings. 

Most Overrated: Watchmen (2009)

If Watchmen was limited to scenes featuring Rorschach, The Comedian and Silk Spectre, it would be a near-perfect gritty superhero/vigilante film. Unfortunately, there's a slew of other characters that range from boring (Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl II) to distractingly annoying (Silk Spectre II, Ozymandes) that routinely overshadow the film's many genuinely stunning moments.   

Most Admirable Piece of Indulgence: Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

The reality of the almost mystical Snyder cut of Justice League is that it's an exhaustively detailed and comically indulgent superhero movie that is made exclusively for the most diehard DC comic fans on the planet. Underneath all of its wall-to-wall fan service, Zack Snyder's Justice League is a fascinating love note to this universe that has such a sweeping scope and strong desire to flesh out its characters that it miraculously manages to justify its physically and psychologically draining 4 hour runtime.

Worst Superhero Effort: Man of Steel (2013)

With the inept three headed snake of woeful pacing, headache-inducing action scenes and embarrassing acting (particularly from Michael Shannon and Henry Cavill) driving the bus, Man of Steel is a completely worthless superhero movies that is tortuous to sit through.