Zack Snyder’s new movie has had an extremely rough reception after its premiere showing, with critics calling it ‘an embarrassment to have been screened’.
The famously divisive filmmaker, who helmed 300 and Man of Steel but found less critical praise for his Netflix original sci-fi franchise Rebel Moon more recently, debuted his latest flick The Last Photograph at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Sunday.
However, the first reactions have been brutal, dubbing it everything from ‘unabashedly s**t on every level’ to ‘a real nasty piece of business’ and ‘utterly indefensible’.
A passion project 20 years in the making for Snyder, this action thriller follows an ex-DEA operative searching the mountains of an unidentified South American country for his missing niece and nephew after their parents are murdered, with the help of a war photographer witness.
It stars Rebel Moon alumni Stuart Martin and Fra Free, and Snyder served as both cameraman and cinematographer on the indie project too.
‘Borderline embarrassing TIFF let in The Last Photograph. Absolutely abysmal,’ tweeted critic Nate Adams, while Elizabeth Mulloy insisted he should be ‘put in directors’ jail permanently’.
‘The Last Photograph is dogs**t. It’s aimless, contrived, misogynistic, convoluted, messy, overtly long, abysmal, repetitive, slow, shallow, and downright awful. Only positive – it looked pretty,’ she wrote.
And there was still far more – and in even stronger terms – to come, as writer and film programmer Jason Gorber, clearly incensed, called it ‘an abortion of a film’ and ‘one of the worst to ever play this festival’.
‘Just unabashedly s**t on every level, an exercise in incompetence and hubris, and an embarrassment to have been screened,’ he added.
Awards Editor Joey Magidson posted: ‘The Last Photograph is a real nasty piece of business. Zack Snyder clearly got to make the film he wanted to make, and good for him, but man oh man is it one I wish I hadn’t seen. Boring, bloated, brutally violent, it’s excessive in all the wrong ways.’
‘I’m sure Zack Snyder believes he’s made something far more profound and artful than his previous work with The Last Photograph, and in some ways, he has. Unfortunately, it’s still a tedious, frustrating, and gruelling experience. Easily the worst film I’ve seen at TIFF so far,’ argued Next Best Picture’s Matt Neglia on X, also criticising the film’s ‘misguided scripting choices, gratuitous violence and nudity, wooden dialogue and hollow performances’.
‘By the end, I genuinely wanted this to be the last film I ever have to see from him. Snyder desperately needs to stop shooting his own movies and return to adapting material strong enough to better withstand his worst overindulgences,’ he added.
Meanwhile Entertainment TikToker @DawsBear described it as ‘grotesque, shameless and an utter disgrace from start to finish’.
He continued: ‘This is a passion project I’m glad he got to make for his own catharsis but this should have stayed on the ideas board. It brings me no pleasure to say it’s not only the worst of Snyder’s career but quite frankly one of the worst films I have ever seen.’
‘As someone who has regularly gone up to bat for Snyder’s work, The Last Photograph is utterly indefensible,’ admitted video editor Ethan Hunter.
However, there were some defending elements of The Last Photograph, with film and TV writer @dmoviereviews describing it as ‘a daring departure for Zack Snyder from his typical filmmaking’ and praising its ‘striking cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s musical score’.
Borderline embarrassing TIFF let in THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH. Absolutely abysmal.
— Nate Adams @ TIFF (@TheOnlyCritic) September 14, 2026
Put Zack Snyder in directors jail permanently. THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH is dogshit. Its aimless, contrived, misogynistic, convoluted, messy, overtly long, abysmal, repetative, slow, shallow, and downright awful.
Only positive- it looked pretty.#tiff pic.twitter.com/JpWKy5PKVC— Elizabeth Mulloy @TIFF (@MulloyElizabeth) September 14, 2026
The Last Photograph is a real nasty piece of business. Zack Snyder clearly got to make the film he wanted to make, and good for him, but man oh man is it one I wish I hadn’t seen. Boring, bloated, brutally violent, it’s excessive in all the wrong ways.#TheLastPhotograph #TIFf pic.twitter.com/D1Ymx306aE
— Joey Magidson (@JoeyMagidson) September 14, 2026
ZACK SNYDER’S “THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH” is grotesque, shameless and an utter disgrace from start to finish. It is Snyder at his most unfiltered, with no studio intervention and is the films largest problem. It’s desperate to be Snyder’s ‘Civil War’, but feels like Daily Wire slop… pic.twitter.com/WPYH8tvuIi
— DawsOn… TIFF 2026 🇨🇦 (@DawsBear) September 14, 2026
THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH has all the hallmarks of a typical Zack Snyder film: vicious violence, questionable ethics, a long drawn out running time, slow motion, and cool looking shots just for the sake of it. I admire his audacity, but have no idea why this exists. #TIFF26 pic.twitter.com/3D6OP9Bhsb
— Dave Baldwin @ #TIFF26 (@davemabaldwin) September 14, 2026
While calling the dialogue ‘rough to say the least’ and saying some scenes served no purpose, they added: ‘But there’s a haunting story about evil, destruction and redemption that makes for an intriguing film.’
Film critic Dave Baldwin also said he could ‘admire [Snyder’s] audacity, but [I] have no idea why this exists’.
Some of the early reviews have been a bit more generous too, with Deadline’s Damon Wise observing that ‘there’s certainly a lot of excitement [and] a fair bit of tension’ and calling it ‘a surprisingly human action thriller’.
‘It’s good to see Snyder trying something so far out of his wheelhouse (well, at least a bit far out of it), sharpening his sometimes rusty storytelling skills without the safety net of superhero pyrotechnics,’ Wise added.
But The Hollywood Reporter pronounced it ‘a leaden misfire’, ‘ultraviolent’ and ‘overstuffed with pretentious symbolism and flatly delivered, vapid dialogue that constantly overstates the obvious’.
Critic Michael Rechtshaffen also predicted the film is ‘certain to be regarded as a major disappointment by Snyder’s rabid fan base’ – but only time will tell.
The Last Photograph is yet to receive a confirmed release date.
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