Snyder doesn’t get why Star Wars can get away with killing billions, but Superman can’t get away with a few murders here and there.
Batman v Superman finally hit theatres this weekend, and the response has been mixed to say the least (the film currently has a lower rating on Rotten Tomatoes than Paul Blart: Mall Cop.) We’re saying nothing here though, you can wait for our team review – a.k.a. Batman v Superman v Geek Outpost – to read our thoughts.
Amid the critics’ scathing reviews and the general disappointment from fans of the DC comics, it’s safe to say Zack Snyder’s popularity as a filmmaker is waning. So is an effort to gain some support, Snyder has gone and had a go at Star Wars. Because of all the people that don’t like Star Wars. No, wait…
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal before the release of Batman v Superman, Snyder came under pressure for the all the murdering Superman did in Man of Steel. To be fair to Snyder, this particular issue is addressed in BvS, but rather than lead with that, he launched an attack on The Force Awakens:
‘Really? Well, what about Star Wars? They destroy five planets with billions of people on them. That’s got to be one of the highest death tolls in movie history, if you do the math.’
We did the math and you can’t fault it. Numbers don’t lie. The Starkiller Base destroys a good handful of planets, and assumedly billions of people, in The Force Awakens. The issue we have is not with the math, though.
The flaw in Snyder’s logic is that the folks at Starkiller Base are not good people. We’re not meant to like them.
We’re meant to like Superman (at least, I think we are), so watching him, the most iconic and admired superhero of them all, throw a dude at some Metropolis skyscrapers in the middle of the working day is where we have a problem. He might as well have personally visited the buildings and killed each and every person in them one-by-one with his laser eyes.
If Han Solo had blown up those planets, we could talk.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is in theatres now.
