Regardless of how you feel about his filmography, it can’t be denied that few directors of the 21st Century possess a fandom anywhere as dedicated and committed as that of Zack Snyder, with his DC-loving diehards continuing their quest to see his section of the superhero mythology restored by any means necessary.
Based on the fact DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has said repeatedly that it isn’t going to happen, you’ve got to wonder when the desire to have the SnyderVerse sold off to Netflix will be greeted with the crushing realization that it’s a completely fruitless endeavor. There are good comic book adaptations, bad comic book adaptation, and then there are Zack Snyder comic book adaptations, which all seem to take on a life of their own.
Curiously, the filmmaker is responsible for the three longest spandex-clad blockbusters of all-time through HBO Max’s extended version of Justice League, Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, and Batman v Superman‘s Ultimate Edition, giving him the unique distinction of being the genre’s premiere butt-number.
And yet, the faithful – and lengthiest – translation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal graphic novel had never been screened for a theatrical audience until last night, reason enough for Snyder himself to pop up and thank his denizens for supporting both the film, and the good cause the showing was driven by.
About as opinion-splitting as all of its creator’s output, Watchmen was praised and pilloried in equal measure for its slavishness to the source material, but it’s hard to disagree with the sentiment that the Ultimate Cut is the superior of the three available edits.
