5 Directors Who SHOULD Direct the Justice League (Instead of Zack Snyder)
What could be easier than making a universally entertaining movie about Batman and Superman fighting? "But if you read the comics you'd like it!" You mean The Dark Knight Returns, or The Death of Superman? Read them. The movie still doesn't make sense. Also, movies shouldn't have homework. Lord of the Rings is good if you didn't read the 1,000 pages of tantamount to religious text, Batman v. Superman should work too.
When something is considered a sure thing, people often call it a "home run". Selling bottled water in a desert? Home run. But a home run is statistically unlikely. Most hits aren't home runs, it's why I don't watch baseball. Really, the surest thing is a walk. You can't get thrown out if you get a walk. Literally, you just walk. I bring this up because Batman v. Superman was a walk, and somehow, Zack Snyder got thrown out.
Counting Man of Steel as an out (which I do), the DCEU is off to a rocky start. One more out and (if the metaphor stands) it's game over. Thankfully, Gal Gadot was a shining light in a cloudy movie and Suicide Squad has the solid David Ayer with a stellar cast. That means going into Justice League, we should hypothetically have two runners on base, ready to score on a solid base hit. But given Snyder's unreliable track record, the powers that be might want to consider bringing in a clutch hitter. Dugouts. Innings. There, I've officially used all my baseball knowledge. Anyway, here are 5 directors who should direct the Justice League.
1. Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Technically, this would be clutch hitters* but we're not big on technicality. Lord and Miller directed the phenomenal The Lego Movie, and have experience in adult franchises with the 21 Jump Street movies. Their movies have lots of characters, a lot of moving parts, and a lot of action. Pretty much everything the Justice League will need.
Beyond that, Phil and Chris have already seen the largest ensemble Justice League in film history in the Lego Movie, and they were stellar. Batman (Will Arnett), Superman (Channing Tatum), Wonder Woman (Colbie Smulders) and Green Lantern (Jonah Hill) all on screen together, and all are more developed and interesting than the characters in Batman v. Superman. This, when they weren't even major characters (except Batman). Seriously, it's messed up that I'm more excited for Lego Batman than I am for the Justice League.
Most importantly though, Lord and Miller manage to tell complex, adult stories while managing to make the movie wickedly funny and tremendously entertaining. Let's be clear, Justice League is going to be a movie with a lot of moving parts. In addition to making audiences care about the established members (which they don't), it also has to (officially) introduce Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman.
In both Jump Street and The Lego Movie, each character has clear motivations and traits. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are looking for drugs in a High School. In the Zack Snyder Jump Street, that would mean slow-mo shots of people doing drugs, set to a dub-step version of "Pusher Man". Instead, Lord and Miller developed the characters, realizing that undercover in a high school, meant reliving the high school experience, and the movie became about that more than "don't do drugs".
Snyder is so frequently praised for making movies for "grown-ups", but none of his films have anything happening beneath the surface. Characters will literally state the message of the movie, in lines of dialogue so obvious I'm surprised they're not accompanied with flashing neon text. The Lego Movie is about surveillance states, corporate takeover, and man's relationship to God. But most importantly, it told the story of Emmett, the protagonist. Miller and Lord just have a better understanding of story, characters, and pacing, which would make for an infinitely better Justice League Movie.
2. David Yates
Already a golden boy at Warner Bros, David Yates directed the last four Harry Potter movies, in addition to the forthcoming Legend of Tarzan and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, both due out later this year. If anyone can handle the pressure of a franchise, and manage to satisfy fans of the source material, it's David Yates. Here's a directed accustomed to blockbuster spectacle and large ensemble casts. Snyder has the spectacle down, but doesn't have the chops to handle multiple (or any) characters.
Yates's Harry Potter training also forced him to learn a "slow burn" technique. To be fair, the Potter films are direct adaptations, meaning there's less room to interpret source material. That being said, there was no "Easter egg" in Order of the Pheonix where Dumbledore says, "Oh, Draco you're so silly. You'll be the death of me." Nope. Just a narrative build with appropriate amounts of setup. Just because you know something is coming, doesn't mean you need to telegraph it by, oh I don't know, having a character who hasn't been introduced yet randomly show up and say something that doesn't serve the narrative in anyway? That would be really dumb.
Of course, I'm not saying he can't have fun. Actually, the tone from the last few Potter films would be a nice transition from the broody Justice League we've been introduced to, into something that slightly resembles fun. Those last few sections in the Hogwarts saga had the potentially to be very depressing affairs. Instead, Yates found the perfect balance of magic and mood, and never betrayed the story to do it.
3. Alfonso Cuaron
Speaking of Harry Potter directors, why not grab the director of the best Harry Potter movie? Alfonso Cuaron is maybe the best director in the Warner family, and currently has no upcoming projects. The director of Gravity, Children of Men, and The Prisoner of Azkaban is currently twiddling his thumbs waiting for a project. Meanwhile, the director of Sucker Punch is booked solid through 2019 mastering a cinematic universe. This is why I drink. Actually, I don't drink. But this makes me want to start.
The DCEU wants to be the dark shadow of the MCU? Great. Let's get dark. Cuaron's films are all within the same color palette of the current DCEU, shifting from black to very dark grey (man, I'm really excited for Lego Batman). But they also have characters! And moments of joy! Setting up Michael Caine's love of the song "Ruby Tuesday" is a fun moment in Children of Men. Then, when he get's killed listening to Ruby Tuesday, it's dark, and it hits you with the feels. Alfonso understands that a film is a roller coaster, it needs to rise and fall. A Snyder roller coaster would start on the ground, continue on the ground, and end underground. I can't be excited, worried, or even empathetic to characters I've never seen experience a moment of joy.
A lot of people like Snyder for his visual style, which I'll admit is his strongest attribute as a director. However, he's nowhere close to being the best in the business. Two of Cuaron's films have been nominated for Best Cinematography; Children of Men and Gravity. If you honestly believe Snyder has a movie in his filmography as well shot as either of those films, I pity you.
4. Ben Affleck
This one just seems painfully obvious. One of the best directors of our time is going to be on set everyday, and instead we're stuck with Zack Snyder's vision? Are we in Wonderland? All of Ben Affleck's directing credits are stellar. His lowest reviewed movie is The Town, with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, so why is he taking orders from a director whose never cracked 80%, and averages somewhere in the low 50s?
There's no argument here: Ben Affleck is a better director than Zack Snyder. The idea that Snyder's movies are too "artistic" for critics (already a ridiculous argument) gets crushed when he's compared to Affleck. Every one of Affleck's movies could've been a Best Picture contender at the very least. They're well-written, well-shot, and each one is heart-stoppingly tense. Each scene raises the stakes and feels tremendously real, instead of delivering exposition/character motivation with THREE dream sequences.
Affleck is already set to direct his own Batman movie (which I'm very excited for), so none of this "Affleck wouldn't 'debase' himself with a comic book movie" talk. Ben loves comics. When one of your best friends and most frequent collaborators is Kevin Smith, you've probably got a decent level of nerd-cred.
5. George Miller
Fun Fact: George Miller was going to be Warner Bros. leader on the DCEU before they went with Snyder. Before Man of Steel, the director of Mad Max: Fury Road was going to jump straight into a Justice League movie. Apparently they thought people knew Superman came from Krypton, Batman's parents got shot in an alley, and didn't feel like wasting somewhere around 45 minutes on either of those things. *Cough ZACK SNYDER Cough*.
How INSANELY good would that movie have been? His career is pushing 40 years, and he has yet to direct a bad movie (he only produced Happy Feet Two). Oh, you didn't know the Mad Max director also was the head of the Happy Feet franchise? He was. Because George Miller has such insane range that his dancing penguin movie is just as good as his post-apocalyptic slaughter fest. Could he make a good movie with some of the most popular heroes of all time? I think he could handle it.
I'm not at all worried about the lack of an established universe, because Miller excels at world building. Everything in the Fury Road universe felt like it belonged, from Furiosa to the Doof Warrior (or Guitar Hero as I like to call him). Instead we get "what if Superman was really grumpy?", and "what if Batman was really grumpy?", and "what if this all took place in a universe where nobody has ever laughed?". Brilliant filmmaking.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Finally, I'd like to dispel the notion that "the studio" ruined Batman v. Superman. Warner Bros. is famously hands off when it comes to their movies, especially with directors they've worked with in the past. It's why the Wachowski Sister's movies have gotten more and more non-sensible as their careers progress. It's why Sucker Punch was allowed to happen. And trust me, it's why there was so much set up for Justice League in BvS. That wasn't for the studio, that was for Zack so he wouldn't have to work as hard on the next one.
But it's also why all the directors above have been able to make the movies we loved so much. The Lego Movie's script was so weird and unconventional it would've been burned up at any other studio. The Town is a movie where the murderous bank robber is our hero and the FBI agent is the villain, not something most studios would allow. Gravity is a hundred million dollar investment, based on an original script. They green lit all of these movies, and trusted the directors to make something great.
Warner Bros. has so many fantastic people in their "family" (they refer to it as a family, they're weird and I love it), they don't need to rely on their creepy cousin Zack to save the farm. If they want to duplicate Marvel's success (which, if we're all honest, is EXACTLY what they want to do), they need to learn that the most important thing in a cinematic universe is a cinematic experience with universal praise.
