Zack Snyder is Creative, but Has Trouble Creating

Contradictory misogynistic female empowerment
Retro WWI video game action
Anime schoolgirl samurai steampunk
Period fantasy.

Or CRAP for short.

It is one thing to show young starlets scantily-clad in Japanese schoolgirl uniforms wielding swords and guns fighting dragons, steampunk robots, and soldiers while exploring the human imagination and coping mechanisms while held in captivity. But Zack Snyder lacked a coherent story to coordinate the visuals. Zack might have written the "Suckerpunch" script by throwing a torn copy of "Alice in Wonderland" a few video game manuals, some anime DVDs, and miscellaneous comics into a blender before pouring the results onto a sheet of paper. Without a story or tension in the scenes, the visuals were all senseless noise easily enjoyed by the geeks who eat all that stuff for breakfast. I mean, I'm a geek who loves schoolgirls, anime, and steampunk but even I felt that "Suckerpunch" was more about pandering to the fandom than actual movie making. Trying to pass "Suckerpunch" off as original shows how unoriginal Zack Snyder really is.

Perhaps "unoriginal" is a little harsh. I admit he does have a knack for filming visuals. I was amazed how he turned an 80-odd page comic book like "300" into a cinematic treat in terms of style and storytelling. Listening to him in person as he promoted "Watchmen," I could hear and see the passion he has as a fan of the source material on which his films are based. "Watchmen" was a hard story to tell, but he did a good job sticking to the comic style and telling the story in a way non-readers could follow-even if he had to redevelop a climatic element into something more plausible to audiences and less true to the original story. Then I heard of his "Dawn of the Dead" remake and that ambitious owl animated film. Neither were my cup of tea since I loved the original "Dawn of the Dead" and I could care . Now Zack is currently on deck to do the new "Superman" reboot once the cast is finalized.

So Zack Snyder can adapt the heck out of almost whatever he receives as long as he can maintain his live action comic book vision. But just because he is creative does not mean he can create something original. The limitations that original source materials give him are what gives him the scope needed to create a film that maximizes his potential.