free counter with statistics Zack Snyder Signs Deal With EA | Pajiba - Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People

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Zack Snyder Continues to Ride One-Trick Pony

Skull-Crushing Irony / Daniel Carlson

Trade News | October 1, 2008 | Comments (14)

Sometimes I wonder where these feelings for Zack Snyder come from: Why do I feel such a particular mixture of boredom, weariness, and mild disgust? Then I watch 300 again on HBO, and I remember. Snyder’s a visual guy, pure and simple. He doesn’t so much tell a story as show it happening, which is why his adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel was tonally perfect, since the source material wasn’t too deep in the first place. (And which is also why there’s no small amount of concern over how Snyder will handle Watchmen, a stunningly nuanced graphic novel, but that’s a whole other thing.)

Anyway, in another deal that’s right in line with the filmmaker’s proven inclination for pretty flashing lights, he’s signed a deal to develop three original video games for Electronic Arts. What’s more, EA will retain full ownership of the properties developed, though they’ll also apparently work with Snyder and his production company on possibly turning some of the video games into movies. (Because everyone knows those are always great.) But the real problem no one seems to want to address is: Will anyone care? It’s not like having a major filmmaker’s name attached to a game means it’s going to be good or popular. John Woo’s Stranglehold isn’t exactly doing Grand Theft Auto IV numbers, you know. And why would anyone who likes Snyder’s movies think he’s going to be good at coming up with original ideas — something he hasn’t really done yet — for video games, which by necessity are aimed at much smaller markets? The guy does nothing but visuals, but how will he make out coming up with a story that has to be good enough to make you want to play it through to the end?

Whatever. Zack, good luck. You’re having yourself a fun few years. Here’s hoping you get the most out of them.


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Comments

Kevin Smith saw Watchmen and I trust him on this one. If he says a comic book movie is good I'll believe it. Silent Bob knows his comics.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at October 1, 2008 9:23 AM

I'm really wondering how long it's going to take before the gaming industry stops going to movie studios and just start bank rolling their own piles of crap. On the other hand, how long will it take before Uwe motherfucking Boll starts making his own video games? Scary questions are imposing on my brain this early in the morning.

Posted by: SR at October 1, 2008 9:25 AM

I'm afraid I have a little soft spot for Zach Snyder because of his remake of "Dawn of the Dead", which was enormous fun, and has a rockin' director's commentary track, which I am always into (I

Posted by: elsworthy at October 1, 2008 9:45 AM

Optimus: I love Kevin Smith, but he also raved about Revenge of the Sith and that movie is a complete mess that gets worse on each viewing. I like Snyder's movies and am hopeful he gets the dramatic heft of Watchmen in addition to the visuals. Based on the teaser I'm optimistic he'll pull it off but I'm not lining up yet.

Posted by: TylerDFC at October 1, 2008 9:52 AM

I have had the same concerns about Snyder for a while. I loved his "Dawn of the Dead" remake. I really, really did. Best zombie movie I've seen and I've seen most. That said, he really did rip out any ounce of symbolism or social commentary that was in the original. Sure, Romero is quite hamfisted with that kind of thing (especially of late), but a little something would have been nice.

"300" was the perfect graphic novel for him. There is no plot. There are no subtleties. It's a story about 300 bad ass dudes kicking major ass. All you need to do is make it look good and you're golden. Mission accomplished.

"Watchmen" is deep, complex and very intricate. So far, everything I have seen has looked amazing, which, again, is Snyder's strong suit.

I am not sure if even the greatest director in the world would have been able to properly capture everything in the graphic novel in a two and a half or even three hour movie. The material is very dense and there's a lot of it.

Still, I try to remain hopeful. Maybe, at some level, Snyder is the guy to pull this off. The Watchmen script is already there and the comics themselves act like a story board. Maybe all the project needed was a guy like Snyder who excels at brining the images on the page to life and doesn't really try to do all that much more. For example, as much as I love Terry Gilliam's films, he has a very unique visual style and vision that probably wouldn't have meshed all that well with the comic.

One last thing, I also don't think it's quite fair (yet) to lable Snyder as smiply a "visual guy, pure and simple." He's only directed two feature films (both of which were excellent in their own way and both of which suprassed their source material). Maybe there's more to him and he just hasn't had the opportunity to show it yet.

As for this bit of news... Eh. If he's interested in making video games and someone is willing to pay him, go to it.

Posted by: ajax19 at October 1, 2008 9:58 AM

I don't know The Watchmen, but I do know that there are no new ideas in Hollywood OR the gaming industry, and so it was inevitable that the twain should meet someday, and then pillage the graphic novel/comic industry together. I'm just so sad about it all.

Posted by: Mella at October 1, 2008 10:26 AM

As a big fan of video games, at least the excellently produced ones, this is interesting news. EA tends to shit out lots of garbage, marketed as new material (Madden, for example), but Snyder could bring something interesting to the medium.

Posted by: danny at October 1, 2008 10:54 AM

But it sure is a sexy, pretty pony. And maybe it knows other tricks we just haven't seen yet. Like auto-fellatio.

Posted by: firedmyass at October 1, 2008 11:18 AM

Ty, I understand that he gave Revenge of the Sith a good review but he's a huge comics fan. You have to admit the man knows his comics. Not only that but Scott Mosier said it was good. And he hates movies!

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at October 1, 2008 11:56 AM

firedmyass, I'd pay to see that.

Posted by: Drake at October 1, 2008 1:49 PM

Drake, Really? So how much are we talk...

oh... you mean the pony, right?

Posted by: firedmyass at October 1, 2008 5:37 PM

I feel the need to post after that contemptuously dismissive review of John Woo's Stranglehold. Sure, it's not GTA IV. Thank God! I love movies, and I love video games. I respectfully disagree with Roger Ebert that they are not a legitimate art form, and merely entertainment.

And when I heard they were making a John Woo video game that was a sequel to Hard Boiled that was going to star Chow Yun Fat I squealed like Sarah Palin at a book burning. I went out and bought it the day it came out. Here's my two cents:

First, the bad: It has multiplayer, and it sucks. It's obviously tacked on, and is completely useless. Even though you can play as John Woo himself(Who makes a cameo in the single player campaign), it still sucks. It's chaotic, unsatisfying and luckily not one person played it online three days after the game's release. So you can sit and watch the "Searching For Players" loading screen for hours on end and just think to yourself how back in the day you copped a laserdisk of Woo's reinvisioning of "Apocalypse Now" called "Bullet In The Head" and you were watching the scene where the heroes are captured
by the VC and are forced to shoot American POWs and you wondered why do they keep shooting the same white guy over and over? Couldn't they afford
more white guys? And then you realized that it was a chinese movie, and to the chinese, all white guys look the same. Wow. It blew my little mind...

Now to the good stuff: Above all else, you play as Chow Yun Fat AKA Inspector Tequila. If you were any kind of film buff in the late '80's-early '90's, I don't need to say any more. If you didn't, then let me re-iterate; You play as Chow Yun Fat.

And yes, he looks just like him in the game. he even has that weird facial expression he does where he's trying to show anger and instead it looks like he's not been sitting on any porcelain for quite a while, but he is now since last night he ate a heaping helping of General Tsoh's chicken and it's getting ready to come out and oh God, where's that sports page, I'm going to be here a while. Awesome.

Second, and I can't emphasize this enough, you get to shoot people in the nuts. In slow motion. Did you hear me? I am Peter O'toole and I said YOU GET TO SHOOT PEOPLE IN THE NUTS. IN SLOW MOTION. And the bad guys(Who all look the same, natch!) grab their ventilated junk and scream like Sarah Palin presented with an intelligent question that involves science.

Doves fly, spent ejected ammunition rounds fly, bullet-ridden chips of masonry fly as Chow Yun Fat leaps off a wall, slides onto a service cart and, while a mournful bamboo flute plays in the background, pumps hundreds of copper-jacketed goodness INTO PEOPLE'S NUTS..

There's no John Travolta chasing that whiny little bitch Christian Slater accompanied by Howie Long because he's a failing football star that some idiot executive is trying to turn into the next Brian Bosworth. Jean-Claude Van Belgian does not make an appearance. Nicholas Cage is mercifully absent. And Ben Affleck does not show up to ask about his paycheck.

Just 15-20 hours of bullet blazing cheese.

Was it worth my $60? Eeehhh... OK. Is it worth th $10 used on Amazon? Oh hell yeah! I give this game two thumbs up and FIVE SHOTS TO THE NUTS.

Oh, and as far as GTA IV goes? Meh. It's OK, but overrated. Get "Mercenaries 2" instead. It's buggy and unfinished and desperately in need of a patch, but you know what else it is? Fun. It's so fun. A smile spreads across your face while playing it, giggles erupt from your belly as you level entire city blocks with air strike after airstrike and you remember deep somewhere from the back of your subconcious; this is what video games are supposed to be all about: Fun.

GTA IV is a Martin Scorcese movie That Looks Good And Has Something Important To Say. Mercenaries 2 is a shitty late-'80's action movie with cheesy one liners and an incredibly high body count and huge explosions while a wailing guitar solo squeals on the soundtrack. GTA IV is "Alien", Mercenaries 2 is "Tremors". You won't regret your purchase. I give it two thumbs up and EIGHT SHOTS TO THE NUTS..

I am The Upsetter and I approve this message.

Posted by: TheUpsetter at October 1, 2008 7:41 PM

Ajax 19: I'm with you on every point except Terry Gilliam. He's one of the worst directors in Hollywood (how he didn't end up on this site's list of the worst working directors is beyond me). I mean have you seen The Brothers Grimm? Time Bandits?! Sure he made 12 Monkeys and Brazil. But he also made Tideland. And I have no faith whatsoever that The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnasus will do justice to the memory of Heath Ledger. He just can't do it. His animations were the worst part of Monty Python, and he used their influence in the industry to springboard himself into a complete fuckery of film that, by and large, should never, ever be financed or encouraged again.

Still, the Watchmen trailer is fucking incredible. And, having finally purchased the book for myself, I am as worried as anyone else. At the same time, however, I am an optimist, and prefer to give directors the benefit of the doubt. Except, of course, for Terry fucking Gilliam.

Posted by: Audiosuede at October 2, 2008 12:01 AM

If Watchmen is going to fail, it's because it was written to a very specific audience. Brainy comic geeks of the 1980s. You need understand several important things (The realities and fears of everyday life in the Cold War, a working knowledge of the psychology of Golden Age Superheroes, and a much higher level of literary understanding than I possess) for the book to be as effective as it should be. I think that Watchmen isn't a good introduction to superheroes, and would be completely lost on most viewers,(and readers) but luckily, we're right smack in the middle of the highest level of exposure comic books have ever had. The story is excellent, and every bit as good as the hype. I really think it could work, and if it doesn't, Zack Synder will make it a spectacularly pretty failure.

Truth be told, I'd rather see him do something more action oriented, like an X-Men Reboot, or the long awaited Captain America flick. Watchmen works best as a comic book.

Of course, I'll still be in line the night before to see this.


Truth be told, I'd rather see him do something more action oriented, like an X-Men Reboot, or the inevitable Captain America flick. Watchmen works best as a comic book.

Of course, I'll still be in line the night before to see this.

Posted by: AmbroseKalifornia at October 2, 2008 12:28 PM