Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Rated PG-13
Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot,
Directed by Zack Snyder
The Story:
Taking place at the climactic battle in Metropolis, Bruce Wayne (Affleck) watches as Superman (Cavill) pretty much destroys the place in an epic showdown with General Zod. Fast forward 18 months, the world isn't sure whether or not to trust Superman, and reports of the return of the vigilante Batman, more ruthless than ever are circulating out of Gotham. These two are on a collision course, and it's not going to be pretty.
Okay, so let me repeat something I've said before:
The first cinematic team-up of Batman and Superman, ever, should have been a license for DC to print money. It should have been so amazing when it was released, that it would still be playing in theaters today.
It should be the highest grossing movie of all time, even after adjusting for inflation!
Why?
EVERYONE knows who Superman and Batman are.
Even if you've never read a comic book, you've seen them, somewhere. Shirt. Lunchbox. Underwear. Hat. Action Figure. Previous movies. Cartoons.
But yet, that didn't happen.
Why not?
Take your pick, this movie offers up 2 and a half hours (!!!!!) of reasons about what went wrong.
Here's my observations:
1) We don't want to be like Marvel!
Good call, so put out dour movies with no humor or really likable characters.
Really, that seems to be DC/Warner Brothers rallying cry.
We want to be the "adult" superhero movie.
They want the critical acclaim and adulation that came with the Nolan Bat-trilogy, but the box office success of Marvel.
I hate to say that you can't have it both ways, because clearly you can.
Except your rallying cry says "we don't want to be Marvel!" and they've consistently put out movies that have been critical and commercial hits.
I can sit here and compare Marvel to DC all day long.
No seriously, I'm at work, and it's kind of fun taking a break you know. :)
But at the end of the day, I try and judge a movie simply by what it brings to the table...
But yes, comparisons are hard to avoid.
Here's some other areas I feel the movie went wrong:
A) Hey, let's make a cohesive DC Universe!
Great idea. Wrong tactic.
Again, Marvel introduced us, slow burn, to each character who would eventually make up the Avengers.
DC has started with The Avengers, more or less, and said, see, one big universe.
Except they are starting with a sequel to a movie (Man of Steel) that...sucked...is that the good critical term?
I have little problem with Cavill in the suit, of course, they rarely let him say or do much except punch and be angry while wearing it.
I have a bigger problem with the suit.
That's not Superman.
He should be bright and shiny (not literally...ugh...) but those reds and blues should pop out, and not be subdued and shadowy, nearly black on viewing.
That's Batman's job.
B) Nobody cared that Superman died (whoops, Spoiler!) .
Let's be honest, when Doomsday killed Superman in the comics (whoops, spoiler again!) it was a BIG deal! Sure, nobody thought he would stay dead dead, but for a bit, he was dead. And the world mourned.
Why?
He'd been doing it for-ev-er. He was the gold standard that all the heroes looked up to, and when he gave his life in battle, the entire world mourned. All the heroes gathered to bury their comrade, and the entire world was saddened.
Hello... not 5 minute earlier, the world was trying to decide if they should worship Superman or deport him because he was too dangerous and an unknown entity.
So when Superman dies at the end of the movie...meh.
Aside from Martha (Lane) and Lois (Adams) who
really cared? Batman, a bit, because he realized he had misjudged Clark. But the show by America was just that, a show. "Whoops, our bad, thanks Supes!"
C) The Dark Knight Returned Too Soon
Speaking of scrambling storylines, how about the proverbial DC omelette where they took the battle from The Dark Knight Returns and mixed it into this film. Except again, they take the older, wiser (eh...) Batman against a rookie Superman. Too soon, too unnecessary.
D) Someone thought Jesse Eisenberg would be a great Lex Luthor.
He didn't. Shame on you, and I hope you're now looking for work somewhere. Not sure what movie he thought he was in, but he seemed to be channeling more of the Joker than Luthor when he was onscreen.
E) The "Ultimate Edition" DVD has another 30 minutes of footage that makes the story better
Bzzzt.
Wrong answer.
While it may be true, no DVD release containing footage should make a movie "make more sense and be easier to follow" than what was released in theaters. If that's the case, your editors are failing at their job.
An enhanced version should enhance the story, not tell it better.
Okay, I need to stop kicking this dead horse while it's down, so what, if anything did they get right:
I) Ben Affleck makes a great Bruce Wayne & Batman
II) Gal Gadot is great as Wonder Woman
III) Jeremy Irons was terrific as Alfred
The fact that this movie was so savaged by critics and rejected by audiences caused DC/Warner to stop, reshoot Suicide Squad to inject "more humor" and move some studio bosses around to get a better handle on their universe.
So basically they decided:
1) We
don't want to be like Marvel!
Good call.
However, I need to grade on a curve with superhero films, and much like The Fantastic Four suffered because of what they "Should Have" done compared to what they did, so to will this film.
There was just too much unrealized and wasted potential, and too much grim atmosphere.
Not my particular flavor of superheroics.
If I'm going to spend 2 1/2 hours of my life watching superheroes...
well...
Make Mine Marvel.
Final Grade: D+
