Grab a snack and drink kids, this is gonna be a long one...
Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, The Shaman of Animation back again with more Superhero talk! Last night, I saw Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and well...I have words for it. Let's not waste anymore time and get into this movie!
So Batman v Superman takes place two years after the events of Man of Steel and the battle between Superman and Zod that caused massive damage to the city of Metropolis. Bruce Wayne, angered by and afraid of the damage Superman is partially responsible for and what this alien can do, dons the cape and cowl to battle the Man of Steel. All the while, Lex Luthor has his own plans for The Last Son of Krypton himself.Let's talk about some of the things I enjoyed in the movie:
First off you've got Ben Affleck as Batman. Affleck was one of the the many casting decisions that people rose an eyebrow at, but in the movie, he brings his A+ game to brings what I think is the definitive movie Batman. Everything Affleck does in this movie from his speech and inflection to his movements just screams out Bruce Wayne and Batman. Although, I'd love for once to have a Live Action movie with Batman in it where he DOESN'T kill.
The movie in itself is a visual spectacle. Zack Snyder's always had an eye for looks and action; and in that aspect of the movie, he's at his best. The action in this movie is just straight up amazing; and in a couple of sections I can even pinpoint some moments that are ripped right from the comics. This movie was meant to be a very big one and as far as looks go, it definitely succeeds in that area.
When she was first cast, I was one of many unsure of just how she'd do as far as how she looked or how her performance would be like, but I'm happy to say I was wrong when it came to Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. I really liked what she did in the film. Granted, she didn't do much outside of the fight at the end and I still think the strap that holds her shield is the only thing that's keeping her suit from falling off of her, but that's just a very minor nerd complaint I'm never gonna let go of. Overall, I liked the voice she had in the movie, I liked a lot of her dialogue, and yeah. She was pretty cool in the last fight. When I was in the theater and Wonder Woman shows up in costume, everyone was very excited to see her. Gal Gadot in this movie not only shut me up as a doubter but she also made me interested in seeing her in her own solo movie next year, which is the best compliment I can give this movie.
While the overall tone from Man of Steel carries over into Batman v Superman, there are more jokes in this movie than there were in MOS; and while some may find the jokes flat, I was just happy to have some humor integrated in the movie. As I said last year when I talked about this film on this blog: it's a movie about a guy in a skintight blue costume and a red cape fighting a guy dressed up as a bat. You can afford to tell a joke or two. The real MVP goes to Jeremy Irons as Alfred (Which is as perfect casting as you can get). I have to say, I did get a chuckle out of all of Alfred's snark in the movie, and he snarks a good bit.
And um...that's all the positive things I have to say about the movie...and I'm just through the first half of the first page of my four pages of notes. Strap in folks, we're in for the long haul...
I guess it's a good thing I mentioned jokes as the last thing in the positives section, because now I'm gonna talk about the biggest joke in the movie: Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.
BOOM! Segues for the win!
Now, I'll be perfectly honest, by the end of BVS, I get what the film was trying to go for. BVS served as a means to develop Lex from what he is in the movie to the Lex Luthor that we all expect him to be. Problem is, what Lex was in the movie is still horrible. Lex Luthor even before he became Lex Luthor was never this super eccentric, speaks fifty words a second, over the top, Steve Urkel kind of guy. He still had this suave yet imposing aura to him. He was still so charismatic and he was a guy you just didn't want to cross. Lex in this movie had the aura of a guy who you beat up in high school and take his lunch money, so pretty much like 97% of all Jesse Eisenberg roles. The worst part in it all is that I felt there were some inklings of the Lex Luthor I wanted in this movie: there are those moments where he's manipulative and he's cunning, and there are some well-written monologues for him in the movie. But none of it matters because, once again, it's Jesse Eisenberg playing Lex Luthor. If it were any other actor, then I think the Lex in this film could've worked, but unfortunately, Eisenberg's performance was what I feared it'd be: just him playing himself and it just doesn't work for me.
If you see the title of this post, then you might not be surprised when I say that one of the worst aspects of the movie is that Superman is really...REALLY thrown under the bus in this movie; and what I mean by that is that it seems Supes plays second fiddle to practically everything else that goes on in the film. For every one scene you see Clark in whether in or out of his suit, there's seemingly three to five scenes dedicated to other things going on in the movie, be it scenes with Batman, scenes with Lex, or literally anything else and because of that, it feels as though Superman is just a background character in the film when his name is in the movie; and it's not just him, a lot of the Superman side (Including Superman and his supporting cast) of this film is just lackluster or downright USELESS in the grand scheme of the movie. I feel so bad for Henry Cavil in this movie, because despite my mixed feelings about Man of Steel, I WAS eager to see what else would be done in this world and with this character, because I think Cavil in the role is ripping Superman straight from the comics and slapping him onto the big screen; and in this movie, Zack Snyder takes a huge steaming dump on Superman and what he did in Man of Steel.
Another problem of mine in regards of this movie is one that I think it shares with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and in some sections, Avengers: Age of Ultron, where the story of the movie literally stops just so we can set up other future movies in The DC Extended Universe, and you will definitely know what I'm taking about when you see them in the movie. I feel like you could've taken those scenes out of the film and just put them for after credits scenes.
Okay, we need to talk about something: the imagery and some of the dialogue in this movie. A lot of the times you hear references to Copernicus and Jehovah, and other religious and/or figures and you'll see a picture of a god or demon taking on an army of men (I admit I'm unfamiliar with the image). I have to ask Zack Sndyer a question: do you think all these images and all these references to these figures makes your movie look and sound smarter? I've got something to tell you, it doesn't! All it does is make you some over pretentious tool who thinks he's clever. If I read a thesaurus right now and used the many different ways to say the word speak in a conversation, it doesn't just me make sound smarter. it makes me full of myself for my unnecessary use of all these words...if that comparison makes any sense...
When I saw the trailers building up to BVS, I thought the movie was going to address the problems of Man of Steel, and would make this film about Superman dealing with people that don't necessarily trust him after his fight with Zod and how he has to work his way to earn the people's trust. As I sat down and thought about the movie, none of that happened. The only two people that seem to hold any sort of grudge against Clark in this movie are Bruce and some guy introduced in the movie who lost his legs in the fight at the end of MOS; and the latter guy is pointless by the half way point in the movie. The thing that causes the people to question whether or not Superman can be trusted is an action he causes at the beginning of the movie, which that action, is just so against what Superman would do, it's disgusting...
You know, I told myself that if the story side of Batman v Superman was lackluster, I knew I was going to get some goods fights, and while the movie delivers on that end, the fight between Batman and Superman, the fight the movie is named after...is only five minutes. Don't get me wrong, it is a kick ass five minutes. But at the same time, this is the two biggest superheroes of all time fighting each other on the big screen for the very first time. I thought it would've warranted at least 10 or 15 minutes, especially considering the movie is called BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN! And it gets even worse when the reason they stop fighting and decide to team up to fight Lex Luthor is so.freaking.dumb! After that, you're better off just watching the fight from The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 animated movie!
Here, I just saved you all up to twenty bucks and 2 & a half hours
Finally, let's talk about Doomsday. When he was first revealed in the trailer, I was not a fan of the decision; and seeing it done in the movies, it was not worth shoehorning him in this movie. Watching this movie, you just know he was shoehorned in the film just so Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have a reason to team up and fight together. Some people could argue that Doomsday wasn't much of a character in the first place, and that he's just a giant plot device. But why would you waste Doomsday, who mind you in his debut appearance took out the Justice League on his own, in only the second movie in this universe? I mean, if you were smart, you could've had Doomsday be the villain of the Justice League movie. But instead, he's used here and all sorts of stories you could've told with him are rushed into this one movie, making all of the events with him stuff that just happened that leave little to no impact. Doomsday's appearance in this movie really feels like the director smushed multiple movies into one.
Believe it or not, despite all he bad I things I said in regards to this movie, I didn't hate it. Granted, I didn't love it either but when it was all said and done, I left the movie theater sorely disappointed. Batman v Superman feels like a guy wanted to make a Dark Knight Returns fanfilm and was forced to be saddled with writing stuff for Superman and for the larger DC Universe as a whole. Outside of Batman, a lot of the characters don't feel like characters. Just plot devices that move around and do things because that's what the story needs them to do.
It's really funny, because Zack Snyder in an interview boasted about how Batman and Superman were transcendent of superheroes and not some flavor of the month. Well congrats, Mr. Snyder, you took characters "transcendent of superhero movies" and you put them in a generic action blockbuster. And a subpar one at that.\
To the fans of this movie, first off, I'm glad you all found more enjoyment in this film than I did. But there's an idea from a lot of fans of the movie that the critics of the film HATE DC and just want this movie and WB/DC to fail. That's far from the truth.
One thing that Zack Snyder got right in the interview I just mentioned is that Batman and Superman ARE transcendent of Superheroes and Comic book characters. But it's not for this mythological BS he's spewing, no. But because Batman and Superman, as crazy as it may sound, are Pop Culture Icons.
For decades--at least for three generations--people have had the opportunity to experience Batman and Superman in forms of media outside of comics, whether it's the 1940's series, the Adam West series, the Christopher Reeves Superman movies, the Tim Burton Batman movies, Smallville, The Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, or the plethora of animated movies, people have seen these characters written and directed at their best and worst. These characters have been around in the minds of the people for so long, they have an idea of what these characters are and what they stand for.
Whether Zack Snyder or Warner Brothers realized this or not, Batman v. Superman was the culmination of everything in the media that has come before it. It's the childhood dream of many come to life: the opportunity to see two heroes that many people looked up to and maybe even were inspired by, together on the big screen for the first time ever. This was a movie that should've been something special, something that from years to come we can look back on and speak of fondly, much like the Avengers in years to come; and the people that saw this movie I believe knew this too.
What we got instead was a greedy company's attempt at playing catch up with Marvel and to make Avengers money, something that shows in the movie, and something I know critics are aware of. And the saddest part in all of this. Because I know that Batman and Superman deserve better than this.
But that's all I have to say on this movie folks, and after this, it's going to be a while before I speak of this film again. Thank you for sitting down and reading through all of this...
Til next time, I'm the Shaman of Animation.
Take Care...
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