2. Exaggerated Fight Scenes
I've referenced this at least a hundred times so far, but the point still stands: Snyder puts far too much focus on the fight scenes and not enough on the plot. We've discussed the components of the fight scenes (slow-motion, music) and how they detract from the more important elements, but now let's talk about what's actually wrong with the scenes themselves. First of all, they are always far too overwhelming in terms of style. Snyder's need for green screen gives us a huge distracting background to watch, while the required slow motion removes the urgency from the action (the opposite of enchanting it). The opening of Watchmen would have been great in regular time. Instead we had to wait a minute for a punch to land and for a guy to fall through the table for what felt like a minute. No thanks, Zack. Secondly, he likes to bury us in the music. Quite frankly, I can remember the soundtrack of 300 better than I any of the supposedly snappy dialogue. Watching a fight scene shouldn't be just about seeing what's going on. We want to hear it, too. I don't know about you, but I want to hear the booming punches of Superman and the technological attacks of Batman as these two icons go at it on the silver screen. I want to feel the urgency of Batman as Superman's powers overwhelm him, and I want to feel close to the fight. Now imagine every fight scene in 300, which lacks any of that entirely. Uh-huh.