Here's what I think as a DCEU "fan". Snyder's strengths are his ability to make things feel epic through proper use of the environment
1 and shots, his ability to put in multiple layers of symbolism, and a good understanding of how to combine soundtracks with the scene
2. His weaknesses are love of imagery over plot. He cares more about getting good symbolism and making every frame a painting than about making a fun plot that makes sense. Ultimately, this is why I preferred the Man of Steel and BvS. I'd rather have a beautiful mess over an ugly
3 but fun story. Because the first one will make me return to the theater, and the second one will make me wonder why I didn't read a book instead
4.
1During his fights, the characters have tons of shockwaves and environmental damage. During a Marvel fight, even Hulk-tier strength does nothing to the surroundings, except for the last hit in a sequence.
2 See the
Marvel Symphonic Universe for comparison.
3 Marvel action scenes love to cut just before major hits. It's why all their impacts have no impact. Also, they aren't willing to use darkness and weather to properly foreshadow what is to come. When the Dark Brotherhood comes to Earth, it should look like a storm is coming. Instead, it looks like a windy Seattle day.
4 If you are just doing dialogue jokes, a TV-tier budget can do that just fine. If you are going to use a blockbuster-tier budget, you should be doing the kind of comedy that can only be done with a blockbuster-tier budget.
Visual cinematic comedy.
A big example of my complaints with the MCU are demonstrated in this
epic clip from Avengers 1. Cpt. America and Iron Man have spent the entire movie squabbling with each other. But when the big threat finally arrives, they must finally come together as the Avengers. Their ability to work together in a fight should be a highlight of the movie, a culmination of their transformation from superheroes to Avengers. On paper, Iron Man's and Cpt. America being able to finally do combo attacks should be epic. But it doesn't get the weight that moment deserves. No rising music. No slowmo pause. No emphasis at all, in fact. It's just panned over, as if it was a minor case of beating up mooks, instead of the very first time Iron Man's and Cpt. America managed to cooperate as the leaders of the Avengers.
To give you one more example of how crazy I am, Iron Man 2 had
better fight scenes than any of the Avengers movies. The rest of the movie was terrible, but the fights were pre-visualized by the creator of Samurai Jack. It shows in the action, using common Samurai Jack cues like having oil splatter for blood splatter. But it also shows in how menacing Whiplash appears. Thanos is the most menacing villain overall in the MCU, but Whiplash is definitely the most menacing from just the fight scenes.
