Director Zack Snyder has now made his short film Snow Steam Iron available online via social media. The movie is just over four minutes long and was reportedly shot as an experiment in determining "what could be accomplished over the course of a few days, with a small group of friends and family, shooting simply on an iPhone."
The short movie is the first original work from Zack Snyder in some time. First finding fame adapting the classic graphic novels 300 and Watchmen into films, Snyder was chosen by Warner Bros. to be the architect of a DC Comics Cinematic Universe. The resulting films directed by Snyder - Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League - were met with mixed results critically and commercially, with rumors persisting that Snyder was fired from his position well before Justice League was completed.
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Snyder premiered the short film on his Vemo account. The film can be viewed at the preceding link, but we urge caution as the unrated film would likely merit an R-rating due to intense imagery, violence, and nudity. Snyder also offered up the following synopsis of Snow Steam Iron:
"Snow gently falls on the blood-stained streets of a seedy out-of-time New York City. Steam envelopes the nightmare unfolding within its narrow alleys. Iron is the will of the one who would dare to resist… fight… survive."
This synopsis does little to describe the specific plot of Snow Steam Iron, which is told entirely without dialogue. The action focuses on a model, who fights back after her latest assignment sends her to a photographer who enjoys hurting women. When a gang of corrupt cops are brought in to keep her quiet, the model turns the tables once again, despite the odds being against her.
While Snyder is to be commended for seemingly crafting a short film about a creative woman resisting exploitation at a time when harassment in Hollywood is a hot-topic, Snyder's film seems problematic in certain key respects. The short film includes shots of a topless model for no apparent reason relevant to the story. There are also clips showing close-ups of the uncovered breast of a dead woman in an alley - presumably an earlier victim.
Comparisons could be made to Snyder's film Sucker Punch, which he claimed was meant to mock over-the-top fanboy fantasies while telling a tale of women's empowerment. Many felt that Sucker Punch went too far in trying to emulate the sexualization of strong women in films and video games, becoming what it was meant to condemn. Snow Steam Iron suffers similarly in that whatever message Snyder is trying to deliver with this film gets lost in the spectacle, the unpleasant imagery, and the unnecessary nudity. Regardless of the message, this short film seems unlikely to win Snyder any new fans or silence his detractors.
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Source: Zack Snyder