If you'd like to join my Discord server where we chat about our writing projects, workshop ideas, and the movies/shows we love, here's a link you can use to join. My Discord: discord.com/invite/aJpYPQX Keep writing! - Henry

I can't wait for Zack's 14 hour director cut to reveal that the water girl that almost got wrapped by the soldiers was secretly Martian Manhunter all along, tying this poetic story together somehow

They really told ChatGPT to put Star Wars and Seven Samurai together

17:01 After that scene with the giant bird creature was over, I remember saying out loud "That was just the scene from How To Train Your Dragon but bad."

This movie is just "and then and then and then." It felt like random clips just firing off.

rebel moon is like trying to build a brick wall without cement you’re stacking all of the bricks on top of each other but not reinforcing them, or binding them together with cement so eventually no matter what it will all collapse

The plot felt like an RPG where you pick up side characters along the way, but with just the cutscenes and none of the gameplay

the beauty of SW is that it lifts so many references and remixes them altogether, it becomes something entirely new and entirely familiar.

There’s a piece of advice that applies here that goes “Don’t follow in their foot steps, Seek what they sought” from Marty O’Donnell. Instead of stitching together disparate elements because you like them, it asks you to figure out what the point, what the goal of the story you like is, then ask yourself how you yourself would solve that problem. It’s an almost effortless way of creating something with your own spin because now you have a compass to decide whether or not something should be in your story

"Good artists copy, great artists steal." As a student of classical music, I was taught that Stravinsky said this! 😅

Paul Schrader said that inspiration should be like shoplifting. You always wanna shoplift from a different store so you never get caught.

Snyder's visual style was fun and interesting one time in 300, just like M Night's twist writing worked once in sixth sense. You need more than one trick.

My spite for this movie was elevated by the fact I watched Seven Samurai a literal week prior. It literally felt like they were trying to make Star Wars if the plot was based off that instead of The Hidden Fortress.

10:15 best way I’ve seen those two covers described. Reznor’s version is a suicide note. Cash’s is a eulogy.

I'll always remember this quote from George Lucas. When ILM was making the Hoth Battle scene for The Empire Strikes Back, Joe Johnston (the storyboarder for the scene) was having a discussion with Lucas on what the scene should be (this was before the script was even finished). Lucas suggested that Johnston and company take influence from ice battle scene in the Sergie Eisenstein film Alexander Nevsky (1938). But Lucas speciffically instructed Johnston saying "I don't want it to look like this, I want it FEEL like this".

Zack Snyder makes badass visuals and action scenes, but dear god if he's freaking awful at writing. Bro seriously needs actual competent writers to help him write good stories.

I laughed so hard when you talked about a Bug’s Life, because every time I sit down to watch a Bug’s Life I think, “Hey, why don’t I watch Galaxy Quest instead, it’s basically the same movie and it’s funnier.” So then I sit down to watch Galaxy Quest and immediately think, “Wait, let’s watch the Three Amigos instead, it’s basically the same movie and it’s funnier.” And then I’m happy I did because the “My Little Buttercup” scene makes me laugh every. single. time.

Related: it's easier to get away with lifting ideas in the 1970s with an audience that only has books and three channels of network TV than it is in 2023 when just about any piece of media made in the last fifty years is instantly available online. But as you say, some do it far better than others. :)

Maybe Synder heard about Checkovs Gun, and made a movie determined to disprove that concept.

22:39 - I’m far from the first one to point this out, but that moment in FOTR is a beautiful demonstration of how to use slow motion correctly. Up to that point, Boromir’s fighting has been shown at normal speed to show off his strength and courage as he fights the Uruk-Hai. It gets our hopes up, as a flawed man strives to redeem himself after being tempted by the Ring (to the point of almost killing Frodo). Then the arrows start to pierce him, the scene goes into slow motion, and we realize that Boromir is doomed. The lingering reaction shots of him wincing in pain as each arrow hits home use slow motion to emphasize the tragedy and sorrow of a brave man paying with his life while trying to atone for his mistakes. The visual technique wasn’t used just because Peter Jackson thought it looked cool. It was used for specific, story-based reasons, which was why it had so much emotional impact. Another great example: the Matrix Trilogy. In the first movie, the shot of Morpheus staggering and falling after being punched into a bathroom wall by Agent Smith is in slow motion not just because the Wachowskis thought it looked cool, but because it emphasizes the peril our heroes face. In the sparring scene, we saw Morpheus mop the floor with Neo. So it’s jarring, and deeply frightening, to then see Morpheus get smacked around like a piñata - and the slow motion in that specific moment after Smith punches him and he flies backwards into the wall, collapsing to the floor in visible pain, helps emphasize that. Later, in the subway duel, the shots of Agent Smith punching holes in the concrete pillar are shown in slow motion - once again, to graphically display how overmatched Neo is and to heighten the tension. In the highway scene in Reloaded, there’s a slow motion shot in which Morpheus uses a katana to slice through the tires of the Albino Twins’ car, then spins around holding the sword in one hand while using the other to hold a Glock 18 while mag-dumping into the car’s gas tank as it flips over. The moment works so well not just because it looks cool, but because it’s the satisfying conclusion to an entire sequence in which the Twins have been relentlessly chasing Morpheus, Trinity, and the Keymaker; and almost killing them too many times to count. It’s a thrilling “yeah, how do ya like me now?!?” payoff after several minutes of unrelenting tension at the hands of two seemingly invincible enemies. In other words: take notes, Zack!

there's probably a crossover fanfic out there that does what rebel moon wants to do, better than snyder ever could

I think the issue here is that Snyder took (and I do emphasize on the word, *took* ) from Seven Samurai and Star Wars is that both have different levels of stakes and scale. One takes place on the fate of a single village and the other on the fate of a galaxy. One intimate, the other on a *literally* universal scale. In isolation, either works. But when you push both into one story, It’s protecting a village *and* fighting an empire. Things don’t mesh. Like for instance, why does this village matter? Why does the empire want to take the surplus food from this one village when it supposedly has many other villages and vassals it could take resources from? Why does the empire wait for 10 weeks to attack the village and not just attack right now? Why should Kora even have any concern for this village, when her beef is more so with the empire than the safety of her village? But most importantly, why should I care about this tiny village in this wide-spanning galaxy? This movie seems way more interested in making a universe that *sounds* cool on paper, than a coherent one. But instead what is made is a world that is too vast to be intimate, but too shallow to explore anything. Or in other words: *wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle.*

Also worth considering that Luke looking at the planets was probably also inspired (intentionally or not) by Christina's World, a painting of a farm girl. With maybe a bit of Wizard of Oz thrown in in the acting. As far as I know, the girl in Rebel Moon CHOSE to be there, so that's not her emotion set.

I'm always excited when "The Closer Look" uploads, I just find his takes so intriguing!

Your explanation of "Inspiration vs Plagarism" is why I don't agree with people that Star Wars is a ripoff of Dune.

What I found interesting was that this isn’t just a Star Wars copy but a warhammer copy as well

A while ago I decided to read the Barsoom series, the adventures of John Carter on Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. When reading it I constantly thought: 'oh, so that is where George Lucas got that from...'.

using the screenwipe transition at 5:57 after mentioning it earlier was so good and made me chuckle

Wake up babe, funny movie man just posted!

I didn't know those movie existed at all somehow, and just seeing the title here now i thought "did i somehow miss a whole star wars movie coming out?"

I remember Trent Reznor said “Hurt use to be my favorite NIN song, now it’s my favorite Johnny Cash.”. Cash really did right by that song.

16:18... wait a damn minute... that's the Three Amigos! 😮

I, so badly, wanted this movie to be good. Visuals were really awesome but other than that… wow.

12:52 Steve Jobs says "good artists copy, great artists steal." But the original quote at 13:05 says "great poets imitate (synonym for "copy"), whereas small ones steal". I think Jobs misunderstood the quote or mixed it up.

One of my favourite creators is hideo kojima, and he himself admitted being inspired by "escape from New york, " "terminator," and "full metal jacket," which he used to create metal gear. If you play the metal gear games having seen these movies, it's very clear where he took inspiration... ...that being said, he didnt JUST do "escape from new york" but kojimas version, which is why metal gear is a beloved franchise

Thanks for reminding the audience that all plot points are a variation on a theme. "Creativity is not having ideas pop out of nowhere.... Creativity is making connections between already existing ideas that nobody has made before..." I absolutely love it? Thanks a million!

This video was the most helpful to me yet! I've been so afraid of copying others in my project that I usually avoid seeing other media altogether, for fear that they'll taint any "original" ideas I have. The more I tie ideas into my project, the more I realize it's been done before, and the more discouraged I get! But you've given me a new perspective on it now. I'll try to accept inspiration from now on, while conveying my ideas in my own way! Thanks for the advice

12:47 Adding something to your story because it's cool is like throwing a pit of paint at a wall because you like the color red. Okay, cool, you've got red on your wall, but you need to finish painting the rest of the wall so it fits together. Otherwise all you've got is a splatter. There's nothing necessarily wrong with adding something just because it's cool, but you need to fill in the story around it to fit with that.

20:17 that small but subtle Windows XP log off sound effect killed me hahaha

Gladiator is a perfect example of this because it took a lot of inspiration from Kubrick's Spartacus. There's a lot of shared concepts and character arcs. But it didn't just copy scenes and story beats. It innovated upon the original concept and did something different. And few people even noticed the similarities. That's the point. Take inspiration, then innovate. Do not imitate.

Holy cow! How did I never see the Bug's Live and 7 Samurai connection 😂

23:32 that's a good point. Synder fundamentally does not respect other movies or artists. There were all those BvS and Watchmen interviews where he talks about how he didn't care about comic books unless they has sex or rape scenes in them. Or how "Batman could get raped in prison on my movie" He really has then juvenile belief that art isn't important unless it's 'mature' and his definition of mature is just violence, or as it was eleuently put "cool scenes" He thinks that is the highest form of cinema and they just KEEP GIVING HIM MONEY

This video brings to mind how Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now, and then Spec Ops: the Line each pulled so directly from the one before it. Maybe it had more to do with taking advantage of their medium, or just adapting the same story to the contemporary. But it's interesting to see the juxtaposition between them.

I have another six minutes in the video, but I wanted to write this while I was thinking about it. I think this movie is the one that finally showed me exactly why Zack Snyder does have Talent as a Director, but why he is utterly at sea in a rowboat as a writer. He does have the ability to identify moments and sequences from things that he likes, and can replicate much of the pacing and aesthetic and style of those things he likes, but this only works well from a directorial perspective if you actually have a narrative which functions in a beautifully impactful, cohesive way before you ever have to commit it to the screen. For example, if he were given a script of rebel moon that was an excellent story, I think his ability to reference and hijack elements from other things would serve to elevate the subject matter as it is translated into a visual medium. But when he is coming up with the story as if** it is already just a storyboard for a visual translation**, it completely disintegrates because there is nothing underneath it. It’s like he’s an architect who tried to build a building without ever hiring a single engineer. Not the best approach for building a building which has any utility outside of inevitably killing everyone inside of it.

As someone who is writing my own book, I find George Lucas so inspiring. When he made Star Wars, he just made a version of all the things he liked. You could feel the love and passion for his interests in Star Wars. I love that part of Lucas. No matter how insane bad his writing was, you could feel the love and creativity for his art on screen.

13:11 fun fact: the background music for the MTV "don't pirate stuff" ad was itself pirated to use in the ad

I love the way you put the person reading a quote at the bottom as well as their channels icon. Ive always hated having to cross reference who was reading it. Especially if its someone whose voice i recognized. A lot of people are getting better about this but i like yours the best so far since it highlights the person reading it. Feels less like a neat little cameo and more like a way to help cross-promote if only just a smidge.

8:09 is an absolutely brilliant but of insight. I enjoy how the creative side works when writing, but connecting ideas, and making them matter to the characters and also remain narratively relevant, is honestly pretty hard. It's easy to get caught up in cool moments (short stories / films are a great medium for this IMO) but when done right, they are super satisfying. I appreciate that video essayists break this down, it helps with the learning aspect and also identifying it in other creative media. Great video as always!

This is like divine intervention. I had this on my mind.

I watched Rebel Moon stoned with my dad and I got the vibe that every scene was written, directed, and edited by a different group of film students as a $166 million end of term project.

Hildegard von Blingen’s Bardcore rendition of ‘Hurt’ was very good and unique also. The accompanying artwork links the song to a kingly character (possibly The King of the Dead from LotR) who has passed into death and un-death, lamenting his betrayal of his allies and the ruination of his kingdom. The lyrics “my empire of dirt” hit a bit different in that version.

Zack Snyder is the filmmaker version of a little kid playing with action figures. This approach worked well in a movie like 300, where the entire thing was centered around badass Spartans fighting a specific battle against the odds. He had a loose idea to work with and nothing concrete to base things on, so going for cool moments was, well, cool. However, the DC superheroes have very specific, lengthy, varied, and nuanced backstories that have been in the hands of countless creatives who have all contributed their ideas on who Superman and Batman are at their core. But Zack Snyder is still smashing his action figures together, so he needs to have them fight for some reason and look very cool. He ignored all the complexities and facets of these characters and just went for aesthetic. This is also what happened in Justice League, even though his cut was better than Whedon’s, it was still an incomplete movie that shoved a bunch of characters together that almost nobody knew yet so that there could be cool moments and a reason to introduce more films. Each of these other characters needed their own films and their own space to breathe. Even Superman and Batman hadn’t gotten a chance to breathe and be people yet, and now here’s a bunch of other people you don’t know, let’s watch them fight Steppenwolf and the Parademons! There’s so much depth to be had, and Zack Snyder fundamentally misunderstands that at every turn. 300 didn’t need that. But superheroes need at least a little bit.

This writing philosophy of "see a bunch of cool things you like and copy them into your story with no cohesion" has been annoying me for years now, ESPECIALLY when the work in question professes to be "heavily inspired by" or "a spiritual sequel to" something, yet borrows its most superficial, visual elements. Roadside Picnic is my favourite sci-fi novel and a genuine literary masterpiece, but the pop-culture discourse around it has turned it into little more than a moody aesthetic. Today, whenever someone says they're "inspired by Roadside Picnic", it basically means "my story will have a spooky field where supernatural stuff happens" - themes, philosophy and compelling character arcs be damned.

There's an episode of Clone Wars where Anakin and Obiwan end up in a farming planet where the people are being tormented by space pirates, the people on the planet hired some mercenaries to fight off the pirates but eventually they realize they can't depend on mercenaries to keep the pirates away forever and so it's decided that Anakin and Obiwan are going to teach the farmers how to fight so they can defend themselves from the pirates and any other threat that comes to the planet. There's a lot of interesting questions that this episode raises like, is it really a good idea to introduce warfare to a society that was so peaceful before? They'll use it to defend themselves now but will they use it to attack others in the future? Rebel Moon seems to me like a more dilluted and hurried version of that one episode of Clone Wars.

Creativity is the art of hiding your information.

I've always liked the dialog between the fighter pilots in A New Hope (and Rogue 1), it just seemed more realistic than what you see in other star wars movies where its more like a bunch of teenagers making sarcastic quips at each other. The tone is serious and professional, they're communicating useful information. The fact that its lifted from a WW2 movie word for word doesn't surprise me.

Henry, I had to come back to comment. After I watched your video I looked up an interview with Paul Simon (from Simon and Garfunkle ) about songwriting. He talks about writing Bridge over Troubled Water and He was like "Well this part I took from Bach, This part I took from this gospel group, this part I took from this Skat singer..." But your analysis gives it more context. In all of the parts he took, he innovated creatively. Another Steve jobs quote is: "The only true creation is connecting things together" which I feel is what you were saying Much love!

God, that scene from Mos Esley. I think the fake CGI dinosaur mounts are actually different fake CGI dinosaur mounts than the last time I saw this. He changed it TWICE?

10:44 - look at Top Gun: Maverick. The final act of that film is very similar to the Death Star trench run from A New Hope. But it’s still awesome, because TG:M made the effort to justify its own existence with its own unique characters, intense emotional impact, memorable dialogue, and resonant themes, ideas, and lessons. It has many similarities to Star Wars (and, of course, to the original Top Gun) but it’s still a different story.

your breakdown of creativity, connections, and even "Hurt" by Cash, is so good

Honestly, the Star Wars-Gladiator blend could be a genius story. Maybe instead of defending her village, Cora’s goal could be revenge on the empire. She recruits all of the cool side characters because all of them have two things in common: nothing left to live for, and a grudge against the empire. But instead of bringing them all together in a Justice League style team-up, she has them work separately so that the empire has the impression of multiple rebellions, not just one. So we have a gladiator story, a samurai story, a How To Train Your Dragon story, and a Star Wars story all rolled into one cohesive, glorious “fuck you, evil empire”. It could be great. Also, there is a shortage of female strategic masterminds in mainstream entertainment, and I think changing Cora’s character to be more of a strategist would make her stand out against a backdrop of skilled fighters. Great video, as always!

Very good video BUT I can't believe you got all the way through it without talking about Battle Beyond The Stars from Roger Corman, who was the first person to say "What if we crossed Star Wars with Seven Samurai?" OR talk about The Three Amigos, which is where A Bug's Life got its bumbling actors turned heroes slant.

My dad has been saying the thing about Star Wars being basically just The Hidden Fortress in a different font for YEARS now and for some reason I never looked into it. Thank you for finally making me understand exactly what he was talking about! Great video as always! 👏👏👏

12:05 That's what Snyder loves to do. In BVS, it was more than obvious he saw Mad Max: Fury on Road and wanted to incorporate the desert theme but didn't know how to incorporate it well, so the result was a badly put dream sequence with Batman on broad daylight looking ridiculous.

12:03 I try to only steal 1 to 1 from things that failed miserably. Example: In the movie Ultra Violet with Mila Jovavich, they had disposable cell phones you can print from a vending machine. That is neat. Movie sucked but that is neat. And no one has popularized it since. I want to use that and see where it goes Another: the cyclops in the movie Krull (from what I remember) gave up his eye to see every day of his future until the day he dies. That is neat. No one seems to have used it. You get the idea.

Great video, was shocked you didn't mention Magnificent Seven when talking about Seven Samurai.

5:00 - 633 Squadron also has some very close Trench Run parallels and is often cited by folk. I love De Havilland Mosquitoes and so should everyone else.

One of my cats did a massive spew on the carpet tonight. Like it ate an entire serving of tinned food in one go and just vomited it all up again in the middle of the hall. Having to clean that up was more enjoyable than sitting through this movie.

I was part of an international program in HS where we do research and write essays and so on. These essays would get marked by foreign professors and certificated educators. One rule we had was if your essay exceeds 12% similarity of one source, it’s plagiarism.

Rebel moon feels like, no, is definitely a rushed one shot ttrpg campaign where the dm has spent weeks planning each character introduction scene > waste too much time on one character > remember that they are promising a one shot > rushes through every thing else.

For me, Snyder peaked with "Dawn of the Dead" and I'm sure that is in large part due to him not being the writer. Glad I didn't waste my time with this one, though I can't help but wonder if he borrowed anything from the low-budget king of Star Wars/Seven Samurai rip offs, "Battle Beyond the Stars" (1980). I half expected to see that movie show up in your video. ;)

Wouldn’t be a surprise if Disney sues them for copying their homework.

Great essay! Rebel Moon was so bad that I was literally predicting scenes before they started. A movie with Kora, the robot, and maybe a farmer would be a much better film! You're right there. (Though, I would argue that A Bug's Life is actually The Three Amigos.)

Crazy to think that if Lucas had made Flash Gordon, there may never have been a Star Wars.

The funny thing is that there is so much star wars mythos that isn't Canon anymore and so is being forgotten AND never having been made it to film. He could have taken from any of that and few would have noticed and perhaps fewer would have cared. Oh, thanks for the book recommendation. 😊

16:09 - you’re totally right!! Bug’s Life was one of my favorite childhood movies, and I hadn’t even considered this until you brought it up. Thanks so much! 😄 PS: Hopper is still one of the best Pixar villains of all time. Yes, I will die on this hill.

Meanwhile, 17 sequels, prequels, & tv films later & yet Episode 4 A New Hope is still the best Star Wars film.

12:45 nailhead, meet hammer. "but only if it managed to break free from the shadow of the movie that inspired it"

Man I can't wait on your Shogun video. I'm absolutely sure we'll see that!

Something worth noting is that Halo Reach also took the idea of 7 Samurai (they were going to do 7 Spartan's and Noble 8)... but they DID remove some extra characters because they couldn't squeeze them all in.

Hey, can we get an analysis on Person Of Interest? I know it's a TV Show, but it was ahead of its time.

My co-writer asked me to watch rebel moon cause I hadn't heard of it, and it was just so hollow. Couldn't get into it. Love your channel and loved the cameo by Hello Future Me!!

We also already had a good retelling of seven samurai in a sci-fi eske anime in the early 2000s called Samurai 7.

Somehow feel more connected to this video review when you show the exact same keyboard I daily drive....

You know, it's worth noting that A New Hope was the only Star Wars film to feature realistic flight combat chatter and it just so happens to be the one ripping off all its dialogue from another movie. I always thought it was interesting how nuanced the world of Star Wars was, but the longer it exists the less realistic it gets

Sucks you probably won't see this, but, even Einstein said, "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

I really liked the editing in this video! Good job!

Glad I found your channel. Love the interesting insights to movies and writing!

creativity is about creating. mashing ideas together is just that.

"[Rebel Moon's characters] are all equally valuable to the story", as in not at all. Just a bunch of cardboard standees.

One of my creative writting mentors once said "All artist are thieves; the good ones will create something new, the best will make you forget they're thieves in the first place". Now i know where he picked that up.

I've been so curious to see your take on this! I hold your videos in high regards. Thanks, man

Didn't Lucas also rip off Dune and the Judarowsky Dune source book that Hollywood was passing around and stealing ideas from.

I was so confused that we just left part of the group in the village. it would have made so much sense that half the group was already assembled with Kora, the grain guy, the Jimmy bot, the kind soldier, and even the young sweet girl who bonded with the bot. but nope, only kora and grain guy go (i literally cant even remember his name or anyone else from the final group) I know the next movie will bring them back, but it felt so weird to develop these relationships to the point I thought for sure they were going to be the main crew only to drop them for the next movie and force the audience to care about a completely new set of people. Even Den! he's described as a great hunter and it seems like they were trying out a love triangle situation with him, kora, and grain guy, so including him could have been interesting as well. It can work in other stories, but the fact that the entire group are basically strangers just doesn't work in getting me to care about them. they have no connection to each other so why would I care about any of them. Its been said a good story can be ruined by bad characters, and good characters can make a bad story worth watching. this movie failed on both fronts

Two other things I will add: Reading and knowing history are equally important in storytelling! As a reader of sci-fi, I've started to notice so many similarities with Star Wars. it's not crazy to say a young George Lucas would have read these same classic sci-fi (and fantasy) novels. For example, I'm reading Ursula Le Guin's stuff. In one of her books (the left hand of darkness), there is a literal land that is called the Sith ! In her Earthsea fantasy series, there are wizards (duh), but the topic of light vs dark, good vs evil, is very prevalent. In another Le Guin novel, the Word for World is Forest, the Athsheans are literally described like the Ewoks from SW (mind you this book came out in 1972)! This is also the book that seems to have inspired James Cameron's Avatar (it's literaly the exact same story). There's also huge inspiration from the Dune books, and Asimov's Foundation (heavy emphasis on politics, mention of an Emperor, mention of a planet called Corellia, mention of Inquisitors, etc.). There's also the typical hero's journey from The Hobbit (hesistant hero gets pulled into an adventure and has an old wizard as a mentor). So George knows his classics (or at least his writing team did as well). This also includes the truest of the classics, the Odyssey and the Illiad. There are also sooooo many cool historical events, some that are super unknown to the wider public, and as a history student I have jotted down so many ideas from the stuff I learn in school or read in articles. Watching movies to get visual inspiration is one thing. Reading books to understand proper storytelling is another. Knowing history to base your stuff in reality pulls everything together! I only watched Rebel Moon for Charlie Hunnam

As an author with a half-finished novel, you inspire me to pick up pen again and keep refining and finishing my story with the wisdom you pass on to me.

Great video! I didn't realise quite just how much Lucas derived from for A New Hope, but I think that's part of why Rebel Moon is so criticised. Back when A New Hope came out, people didn't have such open access to every film ever (or analysis of every film ever) like we do today. Unless you'd just seen Dambusters before watching A New Hope, or happened to recognise something similar and have a copy at home that you could play to check, you wouldn't have known it was derivative. And even if you did realise, it's not like that had social media to tell everyone all about it. And let's face it, films like Dambusters never had, arguably couldn't have, the rabid fanbases like certain big franchises do today. Star Wars got away with it back then because it could. Today's filmmakers have to be far more subtle in pulling from their inspirations, just because audiences are far larger and far more connected to media than they ever used to be. It doesn't change the point you're making, but it's interesting how the context of the era something comes out can have such an impact on it's reception.

Snyder started his career as music video director. What do you expect? His talent is all about "cool moments" and that's it.

honestly james was the only character i was invested in he was so mysterious i loved him. And Tbh this movie made me want Djimon Honsou to play a live action Kratos

Great, GREAT video - I couldn't agree more with the overall thesis 2 thoughts: I'm not sure if you outright said this but even if you simply aim to sample 6,000 different story elements this will create a natural process of unifying by theme/overarching story even if you don't do it purposefully. 2nd thought is that when a story gets lifted put put in a really weird setting or different genre this process of making it fit also naturally puts a twist of theme. It's so interesting how Dam Busters was 'homaged' in A New Hope yet by making the story sci-fi, based on a Death Star etc. I (assume) Dam Busters doesn't have The Force so even though both films are about heroically overcoming an enemy Star Wars sneaks in a theme of (Jedi) faith into the mix.