As much as I like to complain about Marvel movies, at least a handful of them are worth a watch. Can the same be said about the DCEU? Not really.
“Joker” doesn’t count, and that’s really been the only above-average one. I guess parts of “Wonder Woman,” “Man of Steel,” and “Shazam” worked, but I wouldn’t ever consider them to be good movies. Otherwise, I hated “Aquaman,” “Wonder Woman 1984”, “Birds of Prey”, “Justice League”, “Batman v Superman”, and “Suicide Squad.”
With that in mind, James Gunn castrating the DCEU is not all that surprising. I know there are fans out there who grew attached to these characters, and the actors playing them, but the cold hard truth is that fans have been fed mediocre movie after mediocre movie these last 10 years.
I get it, Henry Cavill was a good Superman, he sure as hell looked the part, but the movies were NOT GOOD. I don't think Cavill was ever the issue, but that the cards he was dealt with from the start we’re rotten.
Zack Snyder is to blame for a big part of those problems; he started off by making a middling Superman movie, and with every ensuing chapter, kept doubling down on this stylized and brooding Superman he had created. These were movies that took themselves way too seriously and it was only recently, without Snyder, that the DCEU started to lighten up, but it was too little too late.
Snyder’s ‘Batman vs Superman’ movie killed the DC universe — it came to the point where everything released after that movie felt more like damage control. The biggest mistake Warner Bros. ever did was to hire Snyder, especially over someone like Darren Arofonsky. Let us not forget George Miller was also supposed to direct “Justice League” before his plans got scrapped. Ditto Ben Affleck, who might have given us a more interesting interpretation of Batman. They were all laid to waste in favor of Snyder.
Snyder’s ID is well known at this point: ultra slow-mo, the dark interiors and exteriors he so loves to use, and his penchant for the camera zooming in and out of action sequences. DCEU fans warmed up to it, Snyder has his fanbase, especially Armond White, but critics didn’t like it and it really did these movies a disservice.
Supposedly, 10% of the “Justice League” Snyder Cut was in slow-motion. Yeah, it’s time for a change.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.