Every Zack Snyder Movie RANKED

In this 2011 film, a young woman tries to find a way to escape a mental institution in the 1960s. Unable to handle the horrors of her situation, her life plays out a series of elaborate fantasies. It’s a cool concept, but in application it falls short of its potential. In the years after its release, “Sucker Punch” admittedly has been the subject of a critical revision. But it’s half-hearted at best. The film can be interpreted as a movie about female empowerment and overcoming the male gaze. But the camera objectifies the strong female leads nonetheless, and unfortunately it does NOT do enough in terms of character development to balance the scales. It’s worth watching for the action and special effects, but it otherwise misses the mark.

In order to give the director the benefit of the doubt, we’re choosing to include Snyder’s Ultimate Cut. Because, as we’ve learned from his filmography, the story Snyder really wants to tell is often longer than the studio is willing to send to theaters. “Batman v Superman” pits the two titular DC icons against one another for an epic brawl. Along the way, it attempts to engage with questions about the nature of heroism—while also introducing Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, for all its grand ambitions, even the Ultimate Cut gets tripped up by the same problems: a silly reason for the heroes to fight and an even sillier one to stop. Still, that Batman warehouse scene is worth the price of admission alone.

This 2010 movie is an interesting outlier in Zack Snyder’s filmography. The director is known for his unabashed love of epic, painterly CGI, so perhaps it’s not so surprising that he would want to do a 3D animated film. But he’s an odd fit for a kids’ movie, and it shows. “Ga'Hoole” is a beautifully-made film, but the themes are quite dark considering the intended audience. Furthermore, the complicated mythology and worldbuilding surrounding these owls makes the movie more than a little hard to follow. At the end of the day, despite a solid voice cast, the whole thing just feels… forgettable. Still, if you revisit the film with your expectations in check, there’s a fair amount to like about this strange adventure movie—especially the CGI.

Zack Snyder makes films that divide critics and audiences alike. And so for everyone who dismissed this film as a DC misfire, there’s a fan who adores what the director did with Superman. The big blue boyscout feels out of place in the modern superhero landscape. And so, in this origin story, Snyder has Clark Kent visibly struggling with the burdens of responsibility in a complicated world where few things are simple or easy. Yes, the film can feel grim at times, and there are some fans who will never forgive this movie for the blood that wound up on Superman’s hands. But it’s beautifully shot and, in classic Snyder fashion, is made up of some unforgettable moments. Plus, it’s arguably among the director’s best work in terms of character development.

The director’s first non-DC film in roughly a decade, “Army of the Dead” is gory zombie fun. Zack Snyder is playing in his own little sandbox, free from concerns about an existing franchise to protect, and it shows. The zombie genre is where the director first connected with audiences and he still clearly has a deep love for the undead. As this film proves, however, Snyder’s learned a lot about filmmaking since 2004—and he’s not content with telling the same old zombie story. The ensemble film sees a crew of misfits being led into zombie-infested Las Vegas to pull off an epic heist. The character development is pretty lean, but Dave Bautista does some solid work in the quieter moments between the buckets of blood. The film proves that there’s mileage left in the zombie genre.

This is the movie that really established the Zack Snyder brand. And honestly, though it has inspired scores of both imitators and parodies since 2006, it was groundbreaking at the time of release. Inspired by the Frank Miller comic by the same name, “300” is set in Ancient Greece and centers on the epic last stand of 300 Spartan warriors against the hordes of Xerxes. Shot using the superimposition chroma key technique, the film plays like a comic book brought to life as a live-action film. The backgrounds feel like moving paintings, the dialogue is utterly unselfconscious and endlessly quotable, and the blood spatter is a work of art in its own right. While some critics dismissed it as mindless action and violence, “300” is hugely influential and a whole lot of fun.

This is the movie that put Zack Snyder on the map. Remaking George A. Romero’s excellent 1978 zombie film was a bold undertaking for the director’s feature film debut, but he pulled it off with style. Snyder might not have Romero’s knack for big messages and scathing social commentary, but he makes up the difference with his confident direction. Even in his first film—though more tame than what would follow—Snyder’s aesthetic is already taking shape. It’s hard to remember at times, but back in 2004, zombies were relatively niche. Thanks to a number of shocking and unforgettable moments in the film, 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead” played a crucial role in reinvigorating the zombie genre. The film’s opening ten minutes, in particular, are downright brilliant.

They said it was unfilmable. Such is the nature of Alan Moore’s hugely influential graphic novel. Hot off the heels of “Dawn of the Dead” and “300”, however, Snyder set himself to the task and produced something groundbreaking. True to the comics, “Watchmen” was a deconstruction of the superhero genre—and did so on the big screen long before this became commonplace in popular media. Critics and audiences alike were divided on the end result. This was not the superhero movies that Fox and Sony had been giving them in the early 2000s. For those unfamiliar with the source material, it could feel downright inaccessible. Regardless, this is a beautiful and meticulously crafted, gritty film. The Director’s Cut, in particular, feels like Snyder at his most confident.

Director’s Cuts are relatively common. And they typically involve extended scenes and a few notable changes. With Zack Snyder’s Justice League, however, we got what can only rightfully be called a completely different film from the one released in 2017. The end result of one hell of a fan campaign, this movie is an epic worthy of its long road to release. At a whopping 4 hours and 2 minutes, it gives the director time to really indulge in all of his most distinct trademarks—from epic action to gratuitous slo-mo. While detractors of his style might not be won over, this is the filmmaker at his most Snyder-esque. And it works! Most importantly, his version of the story actually does these heroes justice—especially Cyborg, who serves as the film’s beating heart.