Batman vs. Superman Movie Review
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Review
It's better than the cereal.
[Note: Major Spoilers!! If you care about the movie, please stop reading now.]
I've been thinking long and hard on how to approach this review. Every since I was a kid, I anticipated this movie. So in order to hype me up for the release, I decided to go in without watching the trailers or reading any reviews. The movie was definitely not amazing as my twelve year old would have liked it to be but it definitely was enjoyable.
I came away genuinely excited for the future of DC films and the setup for a Justice League movie. But then I read the reviews, I talked to friends, and read Reddit posts. It was almost unanimous. The movie was not only terrible but a desecration to the DC name. Words that other described it were "boring," "nonsensical," "poorly edited," and the most famous one, "mess."
It's sad because I genuinely liked the movie. And when I like something, I usually try to defend it from those who are against it. However, I ultimately end up failing to hold my own opinion. I crumble, get depressed, and then get over it. Let's say I'm still not over this movie.
But this is a review, not a sob story! So it's time to review this movie. This might be a long drawn out review that will probably take two and a half hours to read. It will be jumpy and cut from theme to theme and ultimately will fall short. But I suggest you read it anyways. It could setup the plot points of other reviews!!!
What I Liked:
Batman (Bruce) and Alfred
I'm leading with this one because despite how brief they spent onscreen on this movie, this version of Bruce (Ben Affleck) and Alfred (Jeremy Irons) is my favorite. Alfred is setup to be almost a co-worker of sorts and a friend of Bruce rather than just a butler and father figure. This Alfred isn't wearing a full on tux and bow-tie but is seen doing real work in the cave. He is the mechanic and the co-pilot. He basically takes the place of Robin in this movie. Alfred also is the gatekeeper to Batman. There's a point in the movie there Bruce asks Alfred for the suit, almost as if the mantle of Batman is of limited use, like a drug of some sort. Rather than being a soft spoken butler, Alfred is almost jaded. He and Bruce have been through so much and yet the battle never ended.
It's alluded to in the movie that Bruce has been Batman for almost 20 years. While still being the gadget wielding, sleuthing, billionaire superhero he's always been, he also has become...well more psychotic. It's sounds bad, but it's actually sooo good. Through the years of his war, Batman is not only okay with criminals seriously being injured, he enjoys it. Heck, he even brands people and has no remorse for causing death. He even straight sets a guy on fire!
Before you go: "Whoa, Batman never kills, what's the deal!" The movie tries to show that Batman is suffering from a lot of emotional crap. Like I mean a lot. I felt like it was natural to have a superhero so close to the edge that he actually crosses it from time to time. He lost Robin, he's plagued by the death of his parents (still), and some crazy alien dude killed his good friend and co-worker in Metropolis. Add that to a war on crime waged every night for two decades, and you got some guy who just doesn't care if a criminal dies.
Speaking of Batman, Ben must've memorized The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel inside and out because he oozes that version of Bruce Wayne in every line. There was a point in the movie where Batman is chasing a van, he smashes one of the guard cars and then proceeds to link his grappling hook to it and drag it around the city streets. He then launches the grappled car on top of another guard car and drives away with a huge explosion behind him. Somewhere in the scene Batman gives a devilish smirk. Such a small thing never made me feel so fanboy-ish in my life.
The Fights
Yes, the fights are few and far between but each fight was epic. The Batman/Superman fight is the main attraction but the scene where Batman saves Martha Kent steals the show for me. Batman's choreography is just as brutal and well executed as the recent Batman Arkham video games. The way he starts of the fight by grabbing the enemies from below and confusing them by grappling up high, had me giggling the whole time (that's also when he sets that dude on fire).
And then there is the main attraction like I mentioned previously: The Man of Steel versus the Dark Knight. The battle began well enough, with a lot of great punches. The kryptonite gas came straight from The Dark Knight Returns and the fact that it only lasted a few minutes made the entire fight scene suspenseful. Batman's armor suit looked pretty cool but it looked a bit too much like the Lego Batman figurine. There was a particular scene that got me during the fight: The gas was just wearing off and Superman grabs Batman's fist just before he's about to land another hit on the Son of Krypton. Superman stands up and moves forward, rising up over Batman who can only watch in horror as Superman proceed to punch him through a wall.
The other part of the main fight I liked was that Batman was going to win. He could have won with the Krypton spear. But obviously something rang inside that fragile, emotional mind of Bruce and he ended up rethinking his ways.
What It was Trying To Do
The whole point of the movie is to setup the rest of the DC universe. Sadly, that came at the cost of more cohesive plot. It's meant to be a stepping stone to get people riled up for the rest of the following movies. Warner Brothers (WB) obviously had to play years of catch up to Marvel because of Nolan Batman trilogy. I'm not dogging on Nolan or anything, I'm just saying that it did set WB back in competing fairly with Marvel. So I believe the jumping around was necessary to get everything rolling
The inclusion of Wonder Woman was great but the whole movie was basically teasing so much more in this universe. To some, it felt like a drawn out trailer, but for me, it was a huge hype train. I mean the main villain is (or most likely will be) Darkseid. I mean, he's like the Thanos of the DCU! We had the introduction to Mother Boxes and Boom Tubes; there were things that I remember watching in the cartoons when I was a kid. The "Knightmare" scene was also a nice touch that incorporated Darkseid's Parademons but what I liked is sort of the homage to Damian from Son of Batman.
Damian is Batman's son and also the newest Robin in the comics. In the "Son of Batman" story arc, there is a whole issue where it shows Gotham in the future, even more rundown and corrupt than before. In this time, Batman is seen wearing a trenchoat instead of a cape. Pretty cool stuff. This Batman is also very brutal and partially insane.
Oh, and I must not forget the allusion the Flashpoint. In the scene right after the Knightmare, Bruce wakes up to The Flash talking to him from a portal of sorts. Flash seems to be warning Bruce of a "him" saying that Lois Lane is the key, but he prefaces it by saying that he's too soon [in time]. Batman thinks initially that this must mean that Superman is going to be a danger to the world in the future (especially after the dream), but at the end of the film realizes that it was a warning of something much more ominous. Once again, pretty cool stuff.
I guess the idea is that were so many cool hints and reference tucked away in the film that it made a joy to watch this film.
The Cinematography
Sure, there was a lot of slow motion in this movie, but there were also a lot of pretty shots in this movie. My main particular shot was the face-to-face shot right before the main fight went under way. It almost looked like the beginning of a fighting game (maybe like the Injustice video games).
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I also just liked that, unlike Nolan's directing, the action was able to be followed. I could tell what was happening despite all the explosions and punches.
I also liked the otherworldly aspect of all of Bruce Wayne's hallucinations. Everything you need to know about why Batman hates Superman is explained in these dream sequences. From his constant flashbacks to his childhood tragedy, to the Knightmare sequence, to the Flash sequence. made me feel like despite Batman being a total bad-ass, he wasn't all there. And that's okay. A younger Batman definitely wouldn't have been so fragile, but I think after waging a war on crime for twenty years, losing his sidekick to a psychotic serial killer, and seeing the entire Metropolis sector of his company fall to two very powerful aliens (while losing more friends), it would do a number to you, too.
Doomsday and Superman's Death(?)
Most people don't like the CGI monstrosity that is Doomsday. But I did. Despite straying away from the comic origin, I still like how Lex used his DNA and Zod's body to create DoomsDay. If you ever read the origin Superboy, he was actually half Superman DNA and half Lex Luthor. So Doomsday is sort of a half Zod, half Superboy amalgamation. It's a clever way to reincorporate the universe while still keeping close to the source material. Doomsday is just a being of hate and destruction which aptly portrayed in the movie. I also thought the CGI was similar to what is drawn in the comics except a bit more subdued with the rock spikes.
Superman's death also really excited me for the future movies in the DCU. Instead of everyone rallying around Superman like in the comics, we will have more a Nicky Fury-esque Bruce Wayne recruitment. I can picture the end of each of the solo DCU movies with Batman asking each individual JLA character to join the league.
This also gives Snyder or whomever directs the next Superman/Justice League to reboot Superman without really rebooting him. His revival could change his personality and his tone. This was a major complaint in the Man of Steel as well as BvS and it can be rectified with a bit a movie retcon.
What I Didn't Like:
Pacing
We could sit and talk about how there should have been individual movies for Batman and Wonder Woman before leading up to this film but by then (let's say two to three years down the road) WB would be too far behind the Marvel movie franchise to catch up.. Think about it: by then people would be so invested in the Avengers as well as the third incarnation of Spider-man in the past decade, I don't think DC would be able to match up to the Marvel juggernaut. To quote Rage Against the Machine, "It has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime. What better place than here, what better time than now?"
Execution
First off, Snyder decided to show off his cinematography instead of tell a cohesive story. This is the huge flaw in the movie and what brings it down from all other comic book movies. There are a lot of gaps in this movie. Somehow I was able to fill it in as the movie went on, but from talking to a lot of friends and co-workers there was just too much jumping around. All of this made the smaller plot holes jump out to viewers. The prime example is the scene with Lois Lane getting rid of the Kryptonite spear. She takes it throws it down a flooded stairwell after Batman throws it away. Later, she somehow hears Batman talking to Alfred about the spear and tries to go find it again. All so that Superman comes to rescue her (she drowns) and he can give Lois his final goodbye.
Lex Luthor's motivation wasn't fully fleshed out. Heck, his whole character arc tarnished the whole movie. He talked in weird quips and catch phrases ("Senator, do you know what the oldest lie in American is?") but never really said too much of substance. It was clear he was jealous of meta-humans and wanted to rival or eliminate them but he never actually said it in the movie. It was also clear that he had a hard upbringing and hated his father. But there was very little to explain why he personally has a vendetta against Superman. The other thing is that Lex is more of a modern day billionaire and is the anthi-thesis of the classic Lex Luthor from the comics. For how much Snyder wanted the movie to be a living comic book, he didn't put much effort into Lex Luthor's character. We don't always need a completely neurotic and unpredictable villain in every superhero movie.
Conclusion:
Well, there you have it. This is my review. No score. Don't feel like I should give it one. I can see why people didn't like the movie and I respect the opinions they offer, but I feel like the highs outweigh the lows. I think there is a great movie buried under some of the pacing elements. I guess I was able to withstand the jumpiness of the plot and I was able to semi-fill in the plot holes to make the movie make sense to me.
My main take-away is that I would want everyone to see this movie only because I love Batman and Batman was done right here. I have no qualms about anything Batman in this movie.
I'm sure most people reading this will have all sorts of arguments and while I welcome them, I've pretty much heard and read them all. This isn't the best movie ever or even the best comics book movie ever. But it was a good movie to me. It was just rough around the edges...and in a lot in the center.
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