Among movie fans, Zack Snyder has a reputation for making hard-driving action spectacles that rock the faces off anyone who watches them. Think about the non-stop adrenaline rush of a movie like 300 or the grim sprawl of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He likes slow motion, lens flares, and framing his characters like they’re powerful, unstoppable gods come to Earth.
So why not make something about actual gods? Twilight of the Gods is (as yet) the only TV show Snyder has made, a one-season Netflix original that remixes elements of Norse mythology. And if you’re a fan of Snyder, action, or animation, it’s well worth a watch.
Thor like you’ve never seen him before
Norse myth meets rock and roll in Twilight of the Gods
Twilight of the Gods starts with a typically violent setup: the human king Leif (Stuart Martin) and the warrior Sigrid (Sylvia Hoeks) fall in love in the heat of battle. They get married, but the Norse god Thor (Pilou Asbæk) crashes the party looking for the escaped god Loki (Paterson Joseph), who’s just as meddlesome here as he is over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But it gets a lot bloodier in Zack Snyder’s world. Not believing that the party doesn’t know where Loki is, Thor slaughters the lot of them, missing only Leif and Sigrid. After that, Sigrid swears revenge on Thor, a quest that the duplicitous Loki is all too eager to help her with.
The best part of Twilight of the Gods is the action, but the show also has a deep bench of characters, both those who help Sigrid and those who oppose her. The central relationship between Sigrid and Leif is the biggest draw. They’re in immeasurable grief after the murder of their families, and while no one could blame them for wanting vengeance, they might have to give up their souls to get it.
You’ll also meet familiar members of the Norse pantheon like Freya (Tracy Ifeachor), Baldr (Hakeem Kae-Kazim), and Hel (Jamie Chung). Some have criticized Twilight of the Gods for playing fast and loose with Norse mythology, but it should be clear from the outset that the show is more interested in telling a good story than being 100% historically accurate. These myths have been iterated on many times over the last thousand-plus years. What’s one more spin?
Twilight of the Gods is a feast for the eyes
The ears eat pretty well, too
And really, the story is only part of the reason to watch Twilight of the Gods. For a lot of people, it will be the smaller part. Zack Snyder’s real specialty has always been in the look, feel, and vibe of his projects, and this show is dripping with his signature style.
The animation itself is fluid, expressive, and pleasing to the eye. Zack Snyder sometimes gets dinged for making movies with color palettes that consist mostly of grey, brown, and dark brown, but working in animation seems to have forced him to broaden his horizons. There are still lots of dark colors here — it wouldn’t be a Zack Snyder project if there weren’t — but nothing looks muddy. The visuals are full of life and electricity, sometimes literally.
The animation truly comes to life in moments of action, which are always just around the corner. Zack Snyder lives to bring us those moments where sword meets flesh and fist meets face. He wants to turn violence into a beautiful, bloody spectacle, and animation is the perfect medium to do that. A lot of Snyder’s movies already feel like animated films that happen to be in live-action, so Twilight of the Gods is a natural step for him.
The show doesn’t skimp on the soundtrack, either. The tunes are composed by Hans Zimmer, the guy behind Gladiator, Dune, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. You’ll be pumping your fist to the epic score, which ranks up there with the most overlooked sci-fi soundtracks despite being from a different genre.
Twilight of the Gods may not be for everyone
It also comes to an end too soon
By now, you probably know if Twilight of the Gods sounds like something you’d enjoy. Indeed, it’s not to everyone’s taste. If you’re looking for a more chill, relaxing watch, you might be better off searching elsewhere, although you wouldn’t necessarily have to leave Netflix. There are plenty of Netflix mysteries with surprising endings that can entertain you without being quite so edgy and in-your-face about it.
Twilight of the Gods has also come under fire for meandering a bit in the middle of the season, between when Sigrid swears revenge on Thor and when she actually gets her chance. I think Snyder and company have created enough compelling characters to make that part of the journey worth it, but mileage may vary.
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Twilight of Zack Snyder’s time at Netflix
That said, by far the worst aspect about Twilight of the Gods is that it ends after just one season…even though it’s not meant to. We get a full story here, but it’s clear that Snyder had more in mind for the future. Unfortuntately, Netflix canceled the series before he could reveal the details.
That’s not unusual for Netflix — the streaming service is known to cancel shows often and enthusiastically — but it’s still a shame. And I doubt they’ll ever return to this one, since it looks like Snyder’s deal with the streamer has come to an end. Twilight of the Gods was only one of his Netflix projects that apparently didn’t get the kind of viewership metrics they were looking for, along with his Rebel Moon movies.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy what we got. Twilight of the Gods is a great little show that won’t take you long to complete. And if you still want more fantasy action after you’re done, the best Netflix fantasy series isn’t one people talk about.
