Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 American superhero film featuring the DC Comics characters Batman and Superman, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is a follow-up to 2013's Man of Steel and the second installment in the DC Extended Universe. The film is directed by Zack Snyder, with a screenplay written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Gal Gadot. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the first live-action film to feature both Batman and Superman, as well as the first theatrical film to feature live-action portrayals of Wonder Woman, Aquaman,Cyborg and the Flash.
Cast:
Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Henry Cavill as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman
Amy Adams as Lois Lane
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor
Diane Lane as Martha Kent
Laurence Fishburne as Perry White
Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth
Holly Hunter as June Finch
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
Tao Okamoto portrays Mercy Graves
Scoot McNairy portrays Wallace Keefe
Callan Mulvey portrays Anatoli Knyazev
Robin Atkin Downes voices Doomsday
Reprising their roles from Man of Steel are Harry Lennix as Secretary Calvin Swanwick, Christina Wren as Major Carrie Farris,Michael Shannon as General Zod, Carla Gugino as the Kryptonian A.I. Kelor, and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent.
Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller appear as Victor Stone / Cyborg, Arthur Curry / Aquaman and Barry Allen / The Flash respectively in cameo appearances, which will lead into their inclusion in the Justice League film.
Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller appear as Victor Stone / Cyborg, Arthur Curry / Aquaman and Barry Allen / The Flash respectively in cameo appearances, which will lead into their inclusion in the Justice League film.
Patrick Wilson voices the President of the United States, while Michael Cassidy plays Jimmy Olsen, and Joe Morton plays Dr. Silas Stone. Brooke Baldwin, Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nancy Grace, Soledad O'Brien, Charlie Rose, and Senator Patrick Leahy make cameo appearances as themselves. Jena Malone was cast as Barbara Gordon, but her scenes were cut from the theatrical release. They will appear in the Ultimate Edition home media release.
Wayne infiltrates a fundraiser promoted by Luthor to retrieve data from LexCorp's mainframe, but his drive is stolen by mysterious antiques dealer Diana Prince, although he later retrieves it, uncovering not only Luthor's experiments with Kryptonite but also his ongoing investigation about meta-humans including Barry Allen, Arthur Curry, Victor Stone and Prince herself, whom he learns is an immortal warrior. Driven by nightmarish visions of a future where Superman has reduced Earth to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Batman attempts to retrieve the Kryptonite, but is intercepted by Superman, who orders him to cease his activities, furthering their rivalry. Meanwhile, Finch summons Superman to a Congress hearing to debate the validity of his actions, where Luthor masterminds a bombing that both eliminates Finch and further damages Superman's reputation, sending him on a self-imposed exile.
Batman retrieves the kryptonite and prepares to launch a preemptive strike against Superman, while Luthor activates the Genesis Chamber aboard the scout ship and splices his own DNA and Zod's before endangering Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane to lure him to LexCorp Tower, where he blackmails Superman into confronting Batman by holding Superman's mother, Martha Kent, hostage at an undisclosed location. Superman is unable to reason with Batman, leading to a vicious fight in which Batman nearly kills Superman with a Kryptonite spear before a mention of the name "Martha" causes him to regain his senses. Upon learning of Luthor's plan, Batman leaves to rescue Martha, who is held at an abandoned warehouse nearby, while Superman confronts Luthor, who unleashes his weapon, a monstrous creature known as Doomsday. Superman and Batman join forces to fight him, aided by an arriving Prince, but are outmatched due to Doomsday's ability to absorb and redirect energy. Realizing that, due to his Kryptonian DNA, they'd share the same vulnerabilities, Superman retrieves the kryptonite spear and sacrifices himself to impale Doomsday with it, while Doomsday fatally stabs Superman with his bone protusions.
Luthor is then arrested after Lane exposes his numerous crimes, and visited by Batman in prison, where he rambles about Superman's death leaving Earth vulnerable to new threats. A memorial is held for Superman in Metropolis, while Wayne, Lane, Martha and Prince attend a private ceremony in his hometown of Smallville, Kansas. After the funeral, Wayne voices his plans to assemble a team of superheroes to protect the world in Superman's absence. Later, a faint heartbeat begins echoing from Superman's grave, and the dirt around it begins to levitate.
Batman vs. Superman (or rather BvS for the sake of this review) serves as the formal induction for DC Comics and Warner Bros.' DC Extended Universe in the same vein of Marvel Studios' Marvel Cinematic Universe. We have a LOT to talk about here and I don't want to wait any longer before putting my opinions out there for you guys can enjoy my personal feedback.
Eighteen months pass and Bruce Wayne is more determined that ever to make Gotham City safe. The news details him brutalizing criminals and even branding them for the police and everyone else to know that he was the one who brought them to justice. This Batman accomplishes his goals by ANY means necessary.
It's here where I started to have issues with this depiction of Batman in this film. I don't have a thing against Ben Affleck's portrayal of the character. He did fine with what he was given. In almost every action sequence that Batman is showcased in there's a pattern. I thought it was only going to be limited to the dream sequence in the nightmarish, apocalyptic (near) future, but I noticed it continued throughout the course of the film. Batman was actually KILLING people. Not crippling them, not maiming, nor handicapping his adversaries. This is a Batman who was actually killing people.
Before people try to prove me wrong, I'm going to cite three instances from the film. First, during the dream sequence where he was CLEARLY using firearms against the soldiers serving Superman and managing to kill several of those troops before being captured. I'm guessing that sequence was a clever nod towards Injustice: Gods Among Us. This sequence could be omitted since it's a dream, but I can ask this question as well. Why is this Batman dreaming himself taking down soldiers with GUNS, when the thought of using firearms traditionally is against Batman's nature in most mediums' continuity? That fact alone should have been able to snap Bruce out of his dream, but instead it seems like the norm for him and doesn't snap out of his dream until Superman seems to kill him. Second, we have the Batmobile chase sequence with Batman trying to thwart the mercenaries' delivery of kryptonite to Lex Luthor. You could pitch that the Batmobile was possibly using rubber bullets (as suggested in the Batman: Arkham Knight video game) but those explosives were killing those men without remorse. Batman dragged that one car for at least a block or two before cutting it loose to smash onto the others' in pursuit. Then don't forget about the gasoline truck that he carelessly allowed to take out a block, along with those criminals in that car upon impact. I would love to see the dead toll from that stunt. Superman did those guys a favor stopping the Batmobile mid-slaughter to spare any more blood to be spilled. Last but not least, we have the rescue of Martha Kent. Throughout this sequence, Batman allows a grenade to kill a pair of guards, he stabs other guard with his own knife, and manages to disarm most of the criminals in one fell swoop upon arrival. Throughout this sequence, I'm going, "Cool, so he's NOT killing these guys here..." then boom, my expectations get shot down again. Batman arms himself with one of the guards' shotguns and shoots the canister to detonate the flamethrower on the back of Martha Kent's kidnapper, killing him right here and there. What the hell, man? Am I supposed to think that twenty years of being Batman just turned Bruce Wayne into an old, cranky dude who just doesn't give a fuck anymore or what?
People are going to read this and argue with me all day in the comments about maybe Batman didn't intend to kill but the film implies otherwise. Batman faced off against Superman with the intent to kill without any hesitation. The Batman I know, from roughly three decades of reading comic books and watching films and cartoons on that said character, would have put on his own personal investigation upon the explosion in the courthouse and proved that something foul at play there. Nope, this Batman fell for Lex Luthor's plot, hook, line, and sinker without a batting an eye - no pun intended. So much for being the World's Greatest Detective... It baffles me that he fell for all of this to say that he hacked LexCorp's servers and knew what they were up to, so why did he even fall for the plan in the first place? It's not like he was coerced into it like Superman was.
Batman faces Superman solely on the idea that he is a false god that should be removed from existence for a single crime - that happens to look shady in the first place. I understand that this Batman is 20 years in the game, but I didn't expect him to be this stupid when deducing that evil was afoot. I'm not going to lie; I busted out laughing in the movie theater at Alfred's sarcastic remarks, along with Bruce's one day training montage prior to fighting Superman. It's going to take more than one evening of that Brock Lesnar workout tape if you're going to beat Superman, homie.
Before people get it confused, the flaws of this Batman is NOT on Ben Affleck's behalf. He is merely the actor doing what he was told and playing the part that he was getting paid for. That being said, I don't have a problem with him continuing to play the character. He proved me, along with a lot of the critics wrong in terms of his portrayal of the character. Much like Ryan Reynolds with Deadpool, 2016 is the year of redemption for Ben Affleck playing another comic book character. The flaws in this Batman's character is entirely on Zack Snyder and whoever else among DC Comics and Warner Bros.' payroll that let this shit fly. It wouldn't have hurt them to cut out the numerous dreams and hallucinations to shed some light on why this Batman is the way he is. Showing viewers the same shit that we've seen for roughly 30+ years of cinema with Batman in films isn't doing him any favors, nor adding any new layers of depth that were shed upon the character in the past, especially in Nolan's trilogy. It's odd, especially to say that Christopher Nolan is listed on the credits and seems like he didn't offer any input on Batman's depiction here.
People are going to ask me why am I so hard on this continuity's Batman in this film and it's because everyone assured me that after the initial trailers that this Batman isn't going to be aimlessly killing criminals. Here we are, opening night, and it's exactly what I feared the most about his introduction to this universe.
Sure, Man of Steel did that enough if you ask most people, but time should have been spent showing what Superman has been doing for Metropolis following the attack of General Zod's forces in the previous film if everyone was willing to overlook all of the widespread destruction and chaos and see him as their savior.
Superman is literally the same character that he was from Man of Steel. He is relatively unchanged and retreads the same waters. He is still new to his role of what it means to be a hero. Like his mother said, he doesn't owe this world anything but he wants to do something to continue to protect those that he love. I found it touching that he found Lois to be "his world" as that was the thing that humanized him in the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe. When Lois died in that continuity, Superman lost everything that tied him to relate and empathize with humanity. Here, Lois is his other anchor to humanity, outside of his own mother.
The only character growth he showed this time around was taking the Kryptonian bad guy AWAY from the civilians instead of laying another city to waste, but still had to end up saving Lois when it was all said and done. Sadly, that wasn't even foolproof because Doomsday still sent him flying through one of the building in Metropolis during the course of their battle.
And in all seriousness, Superman didn't have to die if he just handed the kryptonite spear to the immortal amazon with centuries of combat experience... I guess his macho dignity couldn't allow seeing a woman take the glory for being another villain from his own alien race....
I read that Eisenberg was supposed to be Alexander Luthor, aka Lex Luthor's son, but that still doesn't give me any reason to cut Snyder any slack. Eisenberg was literally ripping off Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight move for move at a point, so they both lose points in the originality department.
I thought it was a nice touch that Mercy Graves was included in this continuity but she wasn't provided anything to go with in terms with her character, outside of being Lex's easily forgettable personal assistant. I wasn't expecting much with this character when it took a few seasons before even the cartoon she was introduced in decided to give her some character depth. I guess we won't be getting anything with her in future films since she died right out of the bat here. Then again, she could be made into a cyborg like in Young Justice, so who knows...
I don't know who comes out as this film's biggest moron. Batman for falling for Luthor's plot to begin with or Lex Luthor for not even having the thought cross his mind to have a krypton weapon of his own crafted for his inevitable confrontation with Superman in case Doomsday wasn't ready in due time. I don't know, maybe a fucking kryptonite BULLET?
At the end of the day, remember that Lex Luthor's greatest highlight as a villain in this film involves pee in a jar. Just let that thought sink in for a moment...
Doomsday ended up being exactly what most people figured out after he was teased in the early trailers for this film. Too bad he looks like the offspring of Doomsday if he had sex with one of those trolls from Lord of the Rings. There were a few subtle nods from the comics during this fight, such as Superman taking the foe into space to try to deal with him there away from the masses and the fact that Superman actually dies during the conclusion of this battle between the two.
Simply put, if she wasn't always in danger, she would have no importance in this film at all. At least in Man of Steel, she had some character development. Here she's just a plot device.
I'm not going to dwell onto how absurd it is that Batman, of all people, has precognitive/foreshadowing powers here, but just these dreams in general.
In one of these "dreams", Batman envisions a apocalyptic future where soldiers are loyal to Superman who rules as a tyrant. As mentioned previously, this screams shadows of the Evil Superman portrayed in the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe. I have seen people referring to the demons attacking Batman and the soldiers in the background as Darkseid's own parademons, but after seeing them close up, they look more like the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz if you ask me. If they are going to attempt to do a mock Injustice storyline with Justice League Part One and Two by somehow "killing" Lois Lane to drive Superman over the edge to become evil, then whatever. DC/WB already blew their load by killing Superman in this movie so pretty much anything that happens to him from here on out is going to have a dramatically less of an impact.
The other dream, Batman is visited by a man appearing to him from the future with a warning to resolve his differences with Superman. This is clearly a future iteration of The Flash who has mastered time travel. A lot of people are theorizing that this could lead to Flashpoint in this continuity and I wouldn't go that far - yet. It just seems to be very odd to me that they would tease and jump the gun on so many things in ONE film.
DC and Warner Bros. need to understand that they've had a 30+ years in terms of a head-start on Marvel Studios in terms of films. There is NO reason to rush through this stuff to compete with their established universe.
You knew Snyder was going to get a couple of 300-style shots into Wonder Woman's fighting style. That being said, you know he was wetting himself at the thought of doing 300-style fight sequences with DC's resident amazon. I'm anxious to see what he would do with her action sequences in a solo movie based on her.
I still don't see what was the point of even cramming her into the finale. She's barely in the movie for the most part, but by this film's logic, Batman should have sent an email to all of those meta-humans to help them out in the final battle. (Facepalms) Out of all the things they could have cooked up to explain why she's here, she's looking for a picture of all things? Couldn't she have hacked Luthor's
This image pretty much sums up this movie in a nutshell though. Wonder Woman is just there to demand attention away from Batman and Superman, despite being completely irrelevant to their conflict. Batman is holding a fucking gun - hitting the point home that this Batman is a stranger to everything that we have come to know about this character. Then Superman is just there, because his name happens to be in the title for this movie and somehow he's not really important compared to everyone else who is guest-starring and riding off his coat tails of the success of his previous film.
Speaking of this moment where the Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) were all on screen at the same time in costume, I want to slap Zack Snyder for that moment. Remember when we finally got that highly anticipated moment in the first Marvel's Avengers where we got that iconic shot of all of the Avengers standing together before the final climatic battle? Marvel Studios gave viewers a moment to let it sink in that this was a big deal with all of these heroes united and standing together. Do we get that here? Nope, you get this shot (which isn't even a still shot to allow fans to soak it in) for maybe 5-10 seconds tops and it's off into the final battle that's really hard to follow unless you're watching it in 3D or in an IMAX theater.
Is it too much to ask to get like a solid minute of the Trinity standing together in costume to give viewers the opportunity to let that monumental moment where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman stand together in the SAME damn movie for the first time?
When Batman decrypted Luthor's files and I saw the symbols on the Batcomputer, I instantly knew that they were referencing Wonder Woman, Cyborg, The Flash, and Aquaman. It seemed like overkill to even include footage of their origins and/or first appearances in this film (despite how awesome some of these looked, especially Aquaman and Cyborg) that should primarily be focused on Batman and Superman. It brings up the issue with the number one problem with this film - it's a lack of focus.
From start to finish, the film has had a divided attention span without entirely focusing upon nor bringing a resolution to anything outside of the conflict between Batman and Superman. I could go on for hours about the plot holes here. For example, the general public never found out that Superman was innocent of the bombing at the court hearing, but sang a completely different tune when he gave his life forLois' safety to defeat Doomsday and becomes a martyr to inspire other powered people to unite for the common good. Why didn't Batman just don that armor that he was fighting Superman in again (the helmet was the only thing damaged) for the final battle against Doomsday? He seemed pretty useless just standing around watching Wonder Woman and Superman get their asses kicked from the sidelines.
After roughly three hours of this film, I have come to the conclusion that this really isn't a DC Comics movie, if at all. BvS is merely using these characters in name only, allowing Warner Bros. to interpret them as they see fit. We might like what they do with these characters from here on out or we may not. The ball is in their court in terms of whether or not to keep these characters true to what we have come to expect from them or open the door to new understandings.
I defended Zack Snyder's vision when it came to Watchmen and Sucker Punch when everyone buried those films with negativity. This time around, I just can't. He did some good here, but the bad FAR outweighs whatever good intentions that he, DC Comics, and Warner Bros. may have in mind for the future.
I really want to like this movie and writing this review was hard for one thing. It feels like there's more negatives than positives, but it's one of those things that is going to be deconstructed by hardcore fans and critics for a long time.
I personally feel like that this is going to be the comic book fans' version of the excitement of Star Wars Episode VII. Everyone will rave and sing praises about it the first month, but after the hype dies down, we will all sink our teeth into this film with appropriate criticism without favoritism blinding our judgment. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this film for what it was worth, but much like Man of Steel, there's a lot left to be desired. I'm willing to overlook the flaws of this film (there's a lot of them along with a few plotholes big enough to let Doomsday do a cartwheel in...) if what follows in it's wake to set the stage for Justice League ends up paying off in the long haul.
People are going to love things about it, such as Ben Affleck's newer take on the Dark Knight, Henry Cavill continuing where he left off with Superman from Man of Steel, or Gal Gadot kicking ass in Wonder Woman's theatrical debut. There's going to be people who flat out hate it. One thing is certain though is that the DC Extended Universe can only get better from here. You can bet your sweet ass that this film is going to be topic of conversations of many until Captain America: Civil War and Suicide Squad hit theaters later this year.
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| Great to see the "trinity" finally share the silver screen... |
Plot:
Eighteen months after the destructive battle of Metropolis, Superman has become a controversial figure, incurring the wrath of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, who secretly protects Gotham City as Batman, and blames Superman for the mass casualties and widespread collateral damage resulted from his fight with General Zod. Superman, in his public identity as Daily Planet journalist Clark Kent, views Batman as a dangerous vigilante and seeks to expose him. Tech mogul Lex Luthor also views Superman as a threat to the human race and convinces Senator June Finch, one of Superman's fiercest critics, to help him bring Kryponite recovered from the failed Kryptonian terraforming attempt in the Indian Ocean into the United States, although Finch later stonewalls his efforts to use Zod's DNA and the Kryptonian scout ship recovered from the battle to create a biological weapon.Wayne infiltrates a fundraiser promoted by Luthor to retrieve data from LexCorp's mainframe, but his drive is stolen by mysterious antiques dealer Diana Prince, although he later retrieves it, uncovering not only Luthor's experiments with Kryptonite but also his ongoing investigation about meta-humans including Barry Allen, Arthur Curry, Victor Stone and Prince herself, whom he learns is an immortal warrior. Driven by nightmarish visions of a future where Superman has reduced Earth to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Batman attempts to retrieve the Kryptonite, but is intercepted by Superman, who orders him to cease his activities, furthering their rivalry. Meanwhile, Finch summons Superman to a Congress hearing to debate the validity of his actions, where Luthor masterminds a bombing that both eliminates Finch and further damages Superman's reputation, sending him on a self-imposed exile.
Batman retrieves the kryptonite and prepares to launch a preemptive strike against Superman, while Luthor activates the Genesis Chamber aboard the scout ship and splices his own DNA and Zod's before endangering Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane to lure him to LexCorp Tower, where he blackmails Superman into confronting Batman by holding Superman's mother, Martha Kent, hostage at an undisclosed location. Superman is unable to reason with Batman, leading to a vicious fight in which Batman nearly kills Superman with a Kryptonite spear before a mention of the name "Martha" causes him to regain his senses. Upon learning of Luthor's plan, Batman leaves to rescue Martha, who is held at an abandoned warehouse nearby, while Superman confronts Luthor, who unleashes his weapon, a monstrous creature known as Doomsday. Superman and Batman join forces to fight him, aided by an arriving Prince, but are outmatched due to Doomsday's ability to absorb and redirect energy. Realizing that, due to his Kryptonian DNA, they'd share the same vulnerabilities, Superman retrieves the kryptonite spear and sacrifices himself to impale Doomsday with it, while Doomsday fatally stabs Superman with his bone protusions.
Luthor is then arrested after Lane exposes his numerous crimes, and visited by Batman in prison, where he rambles about Superman's death leaving Earth vulnerable to new threats. A memorial is held for Superman in Metropolis, while Wayne, Lane, Martha and Prince attend a private ceremony in his hometown of Smallville, Kansas. After the funeral, Wayne voices his plans to assemble a team of superheroes to protect the world in Superman's absence. Later, a faint heartbeat begins echoing from Superman's grave, and the dirt around it begins to levitate.
The Verdict:
(Whistles) It's been a while hasn't it? I'm currently backed up on playing catch up on reviews for stuff lately, but I felt that this review had to take priority over everything else right now since my friends on Facebook demanded this one ASAP.Batman vs. Superman (or rather BvS for the sake of this review) serves as the formal induction for DC Comics and Warner Bros.' DC Extended Universe in the same vein of Marvel Studios' Marvel Cinematic Universe. We have a LOT to talk about here and I don't want to wait any longer before putting my opinions out there for you guys can enjoy my personal feedback.
Batman
The film opens with this universe's recreation of the incident where Thomas and Martha Wayne were gunned down in that fateful alley by a burglar in front of Bruce Wayne as a child. Fast forward to roughly 20 years later, Bruce is racing throughout Metropolis as Superman fights General Zod during the finale of Man of Steel, trying to save his employees working at Wayne Financial. He witnesses the horror of the building coming down all around them throughout the chaos of Superman and Zod's titanic encounter, only to be able to save one of his employees and comfort the child whose mother was killed among the wreckage.Eighteen months pass and Bruce Wayne is more determined that ever to make Gotham City safe. The news details him brutalizing criminals and even branding them for the police and everyone else to know that he was the one who brought them to justice. This Batman accomplishes his goals by ANY means necessary.
It's here where I started to have issues with this depiction of Batman in this film. I don't have a thing against Ben Affleck's portrayal of the character. He did fine with what he was given. In almost every action sequence that Batman is showcased in there's a pattern. I thought it was only going to be limited to the dream sequence in the nightmarish, apocalyptic (near) future, but I noticed it continued throughout the course of the film. Batman was actually KILLING people. Not crippling them, not maiming, nor handicapping his adversaries. This is a Batman who was actually killing people.
Before people try to prove me wrong, I'm going to cite three instances from the film. First, during the dream sequence where he was CLEARLY using firearms against the soldiers serving Superman and managing to kill several of those troops before being captured. I'm guessing that sequence was a clever nod towards Injustice: Gods Among Us. This sequence could be omitted since it's a dream, but I can ask this question as well. Why is this Batman dreaming himself taking down soldiers with GUNS, when the thought of using firearms traditionally is against Batman's nature in most mediums' continuity? That fact alone should have been able to snap Bruce out of his dream, but instead it seems like the norm for him and doesn't snap out of his dream until Superman seems to kill him. Second, we have the Batmobile chase sequence with Batman trying to thwart the mercenaries' delivery of kryptonite to Lex Luthor. You could pitch that the Batmobile was possibly using rubber bullets (as suggested in the Batman: Arkham Knight video game) but those explosives were killing those men without remorse. Batman dragged that one car for at least a block or two before cutting it loose to smash onto the others' in pursuit. Then don't forget about the gasoline truck that he carelessly allowed to take out a block, along with those criminals in that car upon impact. I would love to see the dead toll from that stunt. Superman did those guys a favor stopping the Batmobile mid-slaughter to spare any more blood to be spilled. Last but not least, we have the rescue of Martha Kent. Throughout this sequence, Batman allows a grenade to kill a pair of guards, he stabs other guard with his own knife, and manages to disarm most of the criminals in one fell swoop upon arrival. Throughout this sequence, I'm going, "Cool, so he's NOT killing these guys here..." then boom, my expectations get shot down again. Batman arms himself with one of the guards' shotguns and shoots the canister to detonate the flamethrower on the back of Martha Kent's kidnapper, killing him right here and there. What the hell, man? Am I supposed to think that twenty years of being Batman just turned Bruce Wayne into an old, cranky dude who just doesn't give a fuck anymore or what?
People are going to read this and argue with me all day in the comments about maybe Batman didn't intend to kill but the film implies otherwise. Batman faced off against Superman with the intent to kill without any hesitation. The Batman I know, from roughly three decades of reading comic books and watching films and cartoons on that said character, would have put on his own personal investigation upon the explosion in the courthouse and proved that something foul at play there. Nope, this Batman fell for Lex Luthor's plot, hook, line, and sinker without a batting an eye - no pun intended. So much for being the World's Greatest Detective... It baffles me that he fell for all of this to say that he hacked LexCorp's servers and knew what they were up to, so why did he even fall for the plan in the first place? It's not like he was coerced into it like Superman was.
Batman faces Superman solely on the idea that he is a false god that should be removed from existence for a single crime - that happens to look shady in the first place. I understand that this Batman is 20 years in the game, but I didn't expect him to be this stupid when deducing that evil was afoot. I'm not going to lie; I busted out laughing in the movie theater at Alfred's sarcastic remarks, along with Bruce's one day training montage prior to fighting Superman. It's going to take more than one evening of that Brock Lesnar workout tape if you're going to beat Superman, homie.
Before people get it confused, the flaws of this Batman is NOT on Ben Affleck's behalf. He is merely the actor doing what he was told and playing the part that he was getting paid for. That being said, I don't have a problem with him continuing to play the character. He proved me, along with a lot of the critics wrong in terms of his portrayal of the character. Much like Ryan Reynolds with Deadpool, 2016 is the year of redemption for Ben Affleck playing another comic book character. The flaws in this Batman's character is entirely on Zack Snyder and whoever else among DC Comics and Warner Bros.' payroll that let this shit fly. It wouldn't have hurt them to cut out the numerous dreams and hallucinations to shed some light on why this Batman is the way he is. Showing viewers the same shit that we've seen for roughly 30+ years of cinema with Batman in films isn't doing him any favors, nor adding any new layers of depth that were shed upon the character in the past, especially in Nolan's trilogy. It's odd, especially to say that Christopher Nolan is listed on the credits and seems like he didn't offer any input on Batman's depiction here.
People are going to ask me why am I so hard on this continuity's Batman in this film and it's because everyone assured me that after the initial trailers that this Batman isn't going to be aimlessly killing criminals. Here we are, opening night, and it's exactly what I feared the most about his introduction to this universe.
Superman
Superman's journey in this film was more about dealing with mankind's interpretation of his arrival to their planet more than him as a superhero. Superman's path in this film was ironically what was ideal for Batman in Christopher Nolan's last Batman-related film, The Dark Knight Rises. The bulk of the first half of the film pitches the idea, or rather shoves it down viewers' throats, that Superman is more than a hero, he is a gift of God, sent down from the heavens to be our savior from all of the evils of the world. Some people take this as far as taking it to a religious perspective, but I felt that the film didn't take enough time to hit this point home outside of a short montage of his heroic deeds. In the end, Superman becomes a martyr and it has far less impact than what it would have been in Rises if Batman died because we know there's more to come in this universe. |
| Gotta love Snyder with his use of symbolism... Superman is surrounded and worshiped by death. |
Sure, Man of Steel did that enough if you ask most people, but time should have been spent showing what Superman has been doing for Metropolis following the attack of General Zod's forces in the previous film if everyone was willing to overlook all of the widespread destruction and chaos and see him as their savior.
Superman is literally the same character that he was from Man of Steel. He is relatively unchanged and retreads the same waters. He is still new to his role of what it means to be a hero. Like his mother said, he doesn't owe this world anything but he wants to do something to continue to protect those that he love. I found it touching that he found Lois to be "his world" as that was the thing that humanized him in the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe. When Lois died in that continuity, Superman lost everything that tied him to relate and empathize with humanity. Here, Lois is his other anchor to humanity, outside of his own mother.
The only character growth he showed this time around was taking the Kryptonian bad guy AWAY from the civilians instead of laying another city to waste, but still had to end up saving Lois when it was all said and done. Sadly, that wasn't even foolproof because Doomsday still sent him flying through one of the building in Metropolis during the course of their battle.
And in all seriousness, Superman didn't have to die if he just handed the kryptonite spear to the immortal amazon with centuries of combat experience... I guess his macho dignity couldn't allow seeing a woman take the glory for being another villain from his own alien race....
Lex Luthor and Doomsday
I'm 210% convinced that Jesse Eisenberg made his portrayal of Lex Luthor to be like Max Landis as some sort of a sick tribute or insider joke. I don't want my Lex Luthor to be crazy, I want him to be calm and collected, yet methodical evil genius. Call me crazy, but it seems like Lex was stealing The Joker's thunder in terms of crazy and we're supposed to be saving that for Suicide Squad later this year.I read that Eisenberg was supposed to be Alexander Luthor, aka Lex Luthor's son, but that still doesn't give me any reason to cut Snyder any slack. Eisenberg was literally ripping off Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight move for move at a point, so they both lose points in the originality department.
I thought it was a nice touch that Mercy Graves was included in this continuity but she wasn't provided anything to go with in terms with her character, outside of being Lex's easily forgettable personal assistant. I wasn't expecting much with this character when it took a few seasons before even the cartoon she was introduced in decided to give her some character depth. I guess we won't be getting anything with her in future films since she died right out of the bat here. Then again, she could be made into a cyborg like in Young Justice, so who knows...
I don't know who comes out as this film's biggest moron. Batman for falling for Luthor's plot to begin with or Lex Luthor for not even having the thought cross his mind to have a krypton weapon of his own crafted for his inevitable confrontation with Superman in case Doomsday wasn't ready in due time. I don't know, maybe a fucking kryptonite BULLET?
At the end of the day, remember that Lex Luthor's greatest highlight as a villain in this film involves pee in a jar. Just let that thought sink in for a moment...
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| Who was the genius who thought it was a good idea to do BOTH Death & Return of Superman and The Dark Knight Returns in the same movie? |
Doomsday ended up being exactly what most people figured out after he was teased in the early trailers for this film. Too bad he looks like the offspring of Doomsday if he had sex with one of those trolls from Lord of the Rings. There were a few subtle nods from the comics during this fight, such as Superman taking the foe into space to try to deal with him there away from the masses and the fact that Superman actually dies during the conclusion of this battle between the two.
Lois Lane
Let's be serious here. Amy Adams' Lois Lane had no importance in this film outside of being a damsel in distress. She offers nothing else to the narrative, even when she tries to contribute to Superman's growth as a character.Simply put, if she wasn't always in danger, she would have no importance in this film at all. At least in Man of Steel, she had some character development. Here she's just a plot device.
Batman's "Dreams"
There's at least three noteworthy dream sequences in this film, but I'm only going to discuss two of them - namely for the fact that's what people are going to be talking about for next few weeks.I'm not going to dwell onto how absurd it is that Batman, of all people, has precognitive/foreshadowing powers here, but just these dreams in general.
In one of these "dreams", Batman envisions a apocalyptic future where soldiers are loyal to Superman who rules as a tyrant. As mentioned previously, this screams shadows of the Evil Superman portrayed in the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe. I have seen people referring to the demons attacking Batman and the soldiers in the background as Darkseid's own parademons, but after seeing them close up, they look more like the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz if you ask me. If they are going to attempt to do a mock Injustice storyline with Justice League Part One and Two by somehow "killing" Lois Lane to drive Superman over the edge to become evil, then whatever. DC/WB already blew their load by killing Superman in this movie so pretty much anything that happens to him from here on out is going to have a dramatically less of an impact.
The other dream, Batman is visited by a man appearing to him from the future with a warning to resolve his differences with Superman. This is clearly a future iteration of The Flash who has mastered time travel. A lot of people are theorizing that this could lead to Flashpoint in this continuity and I wouldn't go that far - yet. It just seems to be very odd to me that they would tease and jump the gun on so many things in ONE film.
DC and Warner Bros. need to understand that they've had a 30+ years in terms of a head-start on Marvel Studios in terms of films. There is NO reason to rush through this stuff to compete with their established universe.
Closing Thoughts
I still think it was a disservice to the character that she was portraying that Gal Gadot didn't bother to bulk up or look more athletic for the part of Wonder Woman. Everything awesome she did while in costume was "prettied up" with fancy computer graphics, just like the bulk of the last 20-30 minutes of the film, so I'm not really giving her any props for literally standing there in a cosplay costume and doing what she does in roughly every film she's in and just look pretty.You knew Snyder was going to get a couple of 300-style shots into Wonder Woman's fighting style. That being said, you know he was wetting himself at the thought of doing 300-style fight sequences with DC's resident amazon. I'm anxious to see what he would do with her action sequences in a solo movie based on her.
I still don't see what was the point of even cramming her into the finale. She's barely in the movie for the most part, but by this film's logic, Batman should have sent an email to all of those meta-humans to help them out in the final battle. (Facepalms) Out of all the things they could have cooked up to explain why she's here, she's looking for a picture of all things? Couldn't she have hacked Luthor's
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| I want to give Hans Zimmer a high-five for how awesome Wonder Woman's fight music sounds... |
Speaking of this moment where the Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) were all on screen at the same time in costume, I want to slap Zack Snyder for that moment. Remember when we finally got that highly anticipated moment in the first Marvel's Avengers where we got that iconic shot of all of the Avengers standing together before the final climatic battle? Marvel Studios gave viewers a moment to let it sink in that this was a big deal with all of these heroes united and standing together. Do we get that here? Nope, you get this shot (which isn't even a still shot to allow fans to soak it in) for maybe 5-10 seconds tops and it's off into the final battle that's really hard to follow unless you're watching it in 3D or in an IMAX theater.
Is it too much to ask to get like a solid minute of the Trinity standing together in costume to give viewers the opportunity to let that monumental moment where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman stand together in the SAME damn movie for the first time?
When Batman decrypted Luthor's files and I saw the symbols on the Batcomputer, I instantly knew that they were referencing Wonder Woman, Cyborg, The Flash, and Aquaman. It seemed like overkill to even include footage of their origins and/or first appearances in this film (despite how awesome some of these looked, especially Aquaman and Cyborg) that should primarily be focused on Batman and Superman. It brings up the issue with the number one problem with this film - it's a lack of focus.
From start to finish, the film has had a divided attention span without entirely focusing upon nor bringing a resolution to anything outside of the conflict between Batman and Superman. I could go on for hours about the plot holes here. For example, the general public never found out that Superman was innocent of the bombing at the court hearing, but sang a completely different tune when he gave his life for
After roughly three hours of this film, I have come to the conclusion that this really isn't a DC Comics movie, if at all. BvS is merely using these characters in name only, allowing Warner Bros. to interpret them as they see fit. We might like what they do with these characters from here on out or we may not. The ball is in their court in terms of whether or not to keep these characters true to what we have come to expect from them or open the door to new understandings.
I defended Zack Snyder's vision when it came to Watchmen and Sucker Punch when everyone buried those films with negativity. This time around, I just can't. He did some good here, but the bad FAR outweighs whatever good intentions that he, DC Comics, and Warner Bros. may have in mind for the future.
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| That moment where Batman was proud that his discount Ironman armor finally paid off... |
Watch it, Rent it, or Don't Bother?
(Sighs) It's hard to judge a movie like this. For the most part, I highly suggest watching it, mainly as a firm example of do's and don't's in terms of doing a proper superhero movie.I really want to like this movie and writing this review was hard for one thing. It feels like there's more negatives than positives, but it's one of those things that is going to be deconstructed by hardcore fans and critics for a long time.
I personally feel like that this is going to be the comic book fans' version of the excitement of Star Wars Episode VII. Everyone will rave and sing praises about it the first month, but after the hype dies down, we will all sink our teeth into this film with appropriate criticism without favoritism blinding our judgment. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this film for what it was worth, but much like Man of Steel, there's a lot left to be desired. I'm willing to overlook the flaws of this film (there's a lot of them along with a few plotholes big enough to let Doomsday do a cartwheel in...) if what follows in it's wake to set the stage for Justice League ends up paying off in the long haul.
People are going to love things about it, such as Ben Affleck's newer take on the Dark Knight, Henry Cavill continuing where he left off with Superman from Man of Steel, or Gal Gadot kicking ass in Wonder Woman's theatrical debut. There's going to be people who flat out hate it. One thing is certain though is that the DC Extended Universe can only get better from here. You can bet your sweet ass that this film is going to be topic of conversations of many until Captain America: Civil War and Suicide Squad hit theaters later this year.
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