The Difference between Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder

(photo courtesy of batman.wikia.com)

Well I recently watched Batman Begins (2005)and it still holds up despite the release of Batman vs. Superman. Batman Begins is a superior film to Batman vs. Superman because it’s just a good, well made film. It’s not even an issue of comparing the two as superhero films.  They should be compared as films. Are they good or not? Batman vs. Superman benefitted from having a comic book extravaganza because it featured, if only briefly at times, many characters in the DC comic book pantheon.  Batman Begins was done well in order to correct the comic book extravaganza that wrecked the Batman franchise in the 90s. One of the reasons Batman Begins was able to win converts is that it was a good film. By superhero standards it’s a great film. In terms of storytelling technique Batman Begins set a high standard in terms of incorporating the superhero in the real world or the world as we know it. By discussing the difference between  Batman Begins and Batman vs. Superman I will discuss the difference between Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder. The primary difference is that Nolan is a very good filmmaker particularly when it comes to building his own vision for a particular story and Snyder is not. I won’t use Man of Steel here because Nolan played a significant role in crafting the story.

One of the primary differences between  Begins and BvS is the tone as well as the delivery. Firstly, Snyder botched Batman’s origin story in BvS because it was more stylistic and superficial instead of offering any real glimpses into the character of Bruce Wayne. One of the most embarrassing scenes in Snyder’s take on Batman’s origin story is when he falls through a hole in the surface into the bat cave. After he falls the bats predictably swirl around him but what comes next was more stylistic than concrete. As the bats swirl around the young Bruce Wayne he begins to rise to the surface in a most holy fashion. It is a foolish scene and so is the one where his parents get shot in such dramatic fashion. In Begins Nolan’s approach is a grim affair but it is also portrayed in a realistic way. We understand from the outset that Bruce fears bats because after his fall he was swarmed by bats in the cave. He is also tormented by the murder of his parents. Ra’s Al Ghul teaches him to embrace his fear and become one with it and so how he becomes batman makes sense in the long run.  Snyder tries to simplify all the work Nolan has done by letting us watch a young Bruce rising towards the light and so accept that he must become batman. It therefore shows that Nolan knows how to build his story and explain the fundamentals of an issue that eventually lead to the stylistic or superficial elements that come later. Snyder on the other hand seems to struggle with the fundamentals and more readily embraces the superficial elements. This would explain the numerous dream sequences in BvS which are very superficial in Snyder’s case whereas the flashbacks in Begins convincingly reflect psychological trauma.

Now it has been recently revealed that Snyder deleted a scene from BvS because it was considered too dark. He seemed to be pushing for a very grim affair in this film. Something akin to the dark world in  Sin City. Snyder fails here as well.  There is nothing wrong with a grim film once it can be balanced out by more hopeful elements. Snyder killed off superman in order to drive home his point. He exaggerated in order to convey an issue where he would have been better served to elaborate on the fundamentals. Superman’s, supposed, death did not need to lead to the creation of a justice league because that could have been done with the doomsday fight alone. The holy trinity (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) would have already recognized the need to stand together following the doomsday fight.  In that sense it could have been much more hopeful if Doomsday was defeated and the three heroes got together and showed some level of camaraderie even though they were battered and bruised. This is what Nolan did so well in Begins. He did not need to drive home is point by having a main character die. In The Dark Knight it does seem as if Nolan was prepared to take it to a whole new level by having James Gordon killed but he brought him back to the relief of the audience. Nolan toyed with the grim elements but he balanced it. In The Dark Knight Rachel Dawes does die and Harvey Dent becomes Two Face but Rachel Dawes is not a major character like James Gordon. Her death was designed to push Dent over the edge. In Begins Nolan is trying to explain the fundamentals that lead to the creation of Batman’s partnership with other real world individuals in the fight against crime. His major ally is James Gordon but there is also Lucious Fox and Alfred. It’s still a team and we see how all of them come together to make things happen and this partnership leads to the defeat and death of Ra’s Al Ghul. This is not the case in BvS and we don’t necessarily get a sense of how the holy trinity function as a partnership. This would have been better illustrated if Superman didn’t die. If Snyder explained the fundamentals in terms of the  three coming together for a common cause then this film would have been better and it could have simply be called The Justice League: The Dawn of Justice. There would have been no need for Superman’s, supposed, death to create a rallying cry. Nolan by seeking to build the fundamentals of the story succeeds in Begins where Snyder fails because he (Snyder) cannot explain the fundamentals. This is why Snyder has been called out for the ‘Martha’ incident because it reeks of gross superficiality.

Nolan’s expert explanation of the fundamentals means that he is able to introduce several characters without making the area seem overcrowded. Snyder on the other hand, because of his stylistic and superficial approach, makes the area seem overcrowded because he can’t distinguish who or what is important to the story. Snyder’s superficiality becomes especially rank when it comes to the numerous dream sequences and Luthor’s reference to the coming of Darkseid. Snyder thinks he’s telling a story by doing this but instead he isolates the viewer from the story. It is because of the many interludes that the BvS story seems very hollow and trite in its conception.  Goyer and Chris Terrio must also be singled out. The superman issue was weak because the story should have been about Batman vs. Superman only. It would have simplified the issue because, as many people have commented, there is no dawn of justice. BvS would have worked if it focused on how these two characters have different approaches to addressing the world’s problems. It never had to be about the two of them actually fighting. Batman should be clearly more seasoned than Superman and there would be nothing wrong for the two of them to come together to fight Luthor. Simplifying the story is the only way this film could have worked effectively but it couldn’t be simplified because that would require building the fundamentals. Snyder is incapable of building fundamentals. The two heroes didn’t need to be connected through Bruce Wayne’s tower collapsing or their mothers having the same name. Those kinds of connections are more emotional than realistic. Batman would have begun doing some serious investigations once Zod announced his arrival. He wouldn’t have to wait for his building to come crashing down. In Begins Wayne  and Gordon have a connection because Gordon consoled him immediately following his father’s death however if Gordon was corrupt then the connection would not be realistic.  Batman must still have observed or done his investigations to determine if Gordon was one of the good cops ‘one of the few’.  There is a very important scene in Begins when Gordon refuses to take a taste of corrupt dollars. A very important scene because what would be the point of their emotional connection if Gordon was corrupt.

Nolan introduces other characters that are similarly submerged because of the rampant corruption and glorification of crime in Gotham. The idealists have been smothered or extinguished.  What Nolan does well is have them come together in a way that doesn’t seem superfluous or empty. In Begins the characters are either idealists or realists. The realists are very corrupt or unwilling to provoke change whereas the idealists are given to wishful thinking. It’s Batman that galvanizes and brings them together which is a point the joker made in The Dark Knight when he addressed the mobsters. The Joker understood clearly that batman was the epicenter of the positive movement. In Snyder’s case he would have required a more fundamental epicenter to explain the creation of the justice league. He tries to have this done with the death of superman. Nick Fury and his SHIELD operatives brought the Avengers together. Where Snyder missed the boat is that there is no epicenter in BvS so all the characters seem empty. In Begins Nolan makes it clear from the outset that crime is the number one issue to be dealt with and he introduces Ra’s Al Ghul to identify a difference in crime fighting styles. Ra’s is more in line with the ‘eye for an eye’ approach and batman takes the new testament, ‘be your brother’s keeper’, approach. Batman supports rehabilitation whereas Ra’s believes there is no other way but eradicating criminals. Other characters like the Scarecrow become involved but in more subordinate roles. A character like the scarecrow is not just a typical villain but one that represents how ingrained corruption is in Gotham. He represents something. In BvS we have Luthor who doesn’t really represent anything apart from being a harbinger for Darkseid. There is no elaboration on the reasons for his hatred of superman.  Gene Hackman’s Luthor  in Superman (1978)was more sophisticated because he had plans that were foiled by Superman. His plans had nothing to do with Superman; he had to take him out for good reason. Hackman’s Luthor was just a man willing to do dastardly things to get what he wants for his own aggrandizement. This is the Luthor we all know.  He represented the forces of destruction that lay beneath the surface as the great light of the world, Superman, flew around town. Luthor certainly represented something significant in such a scenario but not in BvS. So Snyder never found a way to make his characters relevant or truly representative of something. Nolan did find that in Begins and, again, this is because he stuck to the fundamentals. This would also explain why Nolan could introduce several characters without them seeming superfluous. They represented something.  BvS acts more like extended commentary on this or that instead of actual character building within the context of the dawn of justice.

I just highlighted several elements to showcase the difference between Nolan and Snyder. The primary difference is that Nolan is a very good film maker who knows how to build the fundamentals of his story while articulating his vision and Snyder focuses primarily on the superficial and stylistic elements that mean nothing without the proper fundamentals. Everything you include into the story must be representative of something apart from its stylistic element.  Snyder does not seem to realize this but Nolan does which is why his Batman trilogy will endure while Snyder’s BvS will eventually fade.