This movie has been pretty polarizing to many people. I have friends that saw the trailer and geeked out, were unmoved, and were satisfied with the fact that they now knew the whole story. I'll begin by saying besides Batman, I am not a DC fan, in the slightest. I've tried to get on board with a few titles now and then, but they just don't capture the same feeling Marvel characters give me. Maybe it's because Marvel uses real cities and DC uses made up ones. I don't know, but I just can't buy into these characters usually. Superman especially. Superman is best described in another movie all together, Kill Bill Vol. 2. In this movie's climax, Bill goes on a rant on why Supes is his favorite comic book hero. You see, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, and many others put on a costume to become those heroes. Superman IS that hero, his mask is Clark Kent. This is fascinating, and it's really to bad nobody plays this up more. Anyhow, now you know how I feel about DC, moving on.
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| Comparison of film and comic. |
Zack Snyder is known for making flashy movies, most of which have zero plot but look damned amazing. Here is a link to his IMDB page listing his directing chops. Mostly comic book movies. DC leans on him because he has NAILED the look of a comic book movie. He respects the source material for visuals more than most any other director out there. I think the only person(s) to do a better frame by frame comparison of screen to page is Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez on Sin City. DC would do well to just let Mr. Snyder be in charge of a films overall 'look' and leave him out of the writing room. All style and no substance, and BvS is no different.
The movie begins with yet ANOTHER telling of Bruce Wayne's parents' death. Why do we need to see this again? This is about as bad as Marvel showing us how Peter Parker became Spiderman and watching Uncle Ben die again and again. This is so well known in our society I would be willing to bet that more people can tell you why Bruce became Batman than who their State Senator is. This is the first of many times DC blows a PERFECT opportunity to tie together all of their universe. Why not cast young Bruce from the Gotham TV show? Nope, we get some other young kid. We get to see an aging Bruce and an Alfred that doesn't look that much older. Bruce's age is actually a problem I have with this movie, but I'll touch on that later.
Superman is introduced rescuing Lois Lane, yet again, this time in the middle east. If anyone (World's Greatest Detective among them) was paying attention to how many times Supes rescues Lois, I'm pretty sure they could put 2 & 2 together and figure out his 'secret' identity. This takes place some time after 'Man of Steel' and Lois and Clark are together and she obviously knows his secret, and in my opinion, purposefully puts herself in ever increasingly dangerous situations because she knows Superman will save her.
It was very compelling and interesting to see the Zod/Superman battle from Bruce Wayne's POV. He just happened to be in Metropolis that day, but still it was interesting to see how that battle affected others in the universe. It's also the catalyst for Batman's grudge against Superman. One of my biggest problems with the whole movie is how quick Bruce is to react to this with violence and intent to kill. And then again, how quick he is to become friends and help Superman, just because he said "Martha". There were flashes of brilliance showing how Batman (or rather "The Gotham Bat", I don't think they said Batman once in the entire film, seriously) has a dossier on all the Justice League team members and a plan to take them down if they ever go rogue. I don't like how he just GOT this information from Lex Luthor. Bruce Wayne/Batman is supposed to be the World's Greatest Detective, yet he just stumbles on this information from Lex Luthor's hard drive. Speaking of that, if he's such a great detective, how does he get SO blinded by his hatred for Superman that he completely misses Lex's plot to get them to fight? This is kind of where my problem of Bruce's age come in. It's shown in the film that Batman has been around a while. Alfred comments on it, it shows Robin's costume showing Batman's failures, etc., yet being older he is none the wiser. In the Dark Knight Returns comic book, (arguably the basis for this movie) Old Bruce is fed up with crime ridden Gotham and decides to don the suit again. He is ever increasingly violent and Superman is asked by the President to step in and do something about it. Batman knows his foes well and sets up trap after trap and beats Superman, similar as to how it's done in the film, (though DC missed ANOTHER chance to connect their universe with having Oliver Queen show up, but I digress) but just leaves him knowing that Batman beat him in a fair fight. There is a bit with some Kryptonite cleats, that I thought for a second they were going to show in the film, but alas, my fanboy dreams were dashed.
DC and Snyder did a good job peppering cameos into the film though one in particular threw me off because of casting and again, another missed opportunity. Bruce has a 'vision', dream, whatever that has the Flash in it telling him to find all the Meta-Humans. I had an inkling that it was supposed to be Flash, but it wasn't until later that it was confirmed. Why not cast your TV Flash? Casting was done very well. Ben Afleck is actually a pretty good and convincing Bruce/Batman. Snyder, true to form, nailed the look of the character and Ben's brooding is a good as any Batman alum. They also do a great job explaining the "Bat voice", I was at least pleased with it being a microphone voice modulator type thing. It works especially well later when we actually get to the clash of titans and Bruce's suit is damaged and the voice is mixed. Gal Gadot makes a convincing Diana/Wonder Woman, and actually looks the part. I was concerned when she was cast that she was to skinny to play the role, but it works on screen. I'm actually somewhat excited to see Aquaman after the extremely short video of Jason Mamoa in one sequence. They reveal the Justice League lineup to be Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg, and possibly Superman. I completely expect Green Lantern to show up as well, and I think it will be of the John Stewart variety though it will probably be Hal Jordan. I felt like Cyborg was an odd inclusion but I imagine it's because of the connection to the set up Lex gives for the JL movie. I'll get to that. Keep your eye out for a Chris Pine cameo from the upcoming Wonder Woman movie, and Fast and Furious fans will see Gal Gadot's Tokyo Drifter, Han in a few scene's near the end (I'm pretty sure at least, he's not credited on IMDB).
For this movie being called Batman v Superman, you'd think there would be a whole lot more Batman on Superman fighting action, but you'd be wrong. Lex sets up Superman by exploiting his pure predictability. By placing Lois in danger, he knows Superman will show up, then by threatening his mother, he knows he can bend Superman's will into fighting Batman. There is very little BvS glory and the climax of the film is actually almost fully revealed in the trailer. DC messed up HUGE with this. Showing Doomsday in the trailers was a terrible idea and should have been left to be revealed on opening day. So to those friends of mine who said that they have 'seen the movie through the trailer', you're really not that far off. The Doomsday thing felt pushed to me. The big crescendo that they didn't show in the trailer, but you could probably guess if you are a comic fan, is the death of Superman. It's corny and you could see it a mile away, but it is what it is. I like how, now Bruce, with the help of Diana will have to chase down these other Meta Humans instead of the Boy Scout. They will have to be convinced by Batman to join the cause. At the end of the movie, Lex is shown with a shaved head finally, and babbling about what is to come. Coincidentally I saw a 'deleted scene' right before writing this that kind of helps explain what he was babbling about and also confirms Cyborgs involvement. In it, while Lex is in the downed Kryptonian ship from 'Man of Steel', resurrecting Zod into Doomsday, he has a vision about what's to come. It shows an alien figure, whom I assume is Darksied. He holds three cubes which link us to Cyborg. The same cubes are what make him the 'cyborg' he is.
Overall I'd give this movie a 6 out of 10 and that's solely based on the look and how it was nailed. I saw the costumes last year at San Diego Comic Con and they were amazing. Well done. Story wise, this movie is a turd and only should be about a 3.5 or 4. If you're a big fan of comics, or any of the characters, it's worth seeing in the theater, but if you're a casual fan of the franchise, it's probably best viewed from your couch where you can boo at the absurdity of it all.
PS. The Batmobile was awesome.
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