In June of 1938, DC Comics launched its Action Comics series, which introduced the character of Superman,
the ‘alien’ being from the planet Krypton who was sent to Earth by his father
Jor-El when the planet was on the brink of destruction. Adopted by the Kents,
Superman spent much of his childhood living in Kansas under the name Clark Kent
before taking on the public persona of Superman as an adult. In doing so, he
not only became DC’s ‘first’ major superhero but also arguably the most famous
superhero of all-time. Just a little less than a year later, in May of 1939, DC
debuted the character of Batman in the 27th issue of their Detective Comics series. Batman, AKA
Bruce Wayne, the billionaire playboy who took on the persona of ‘The Dark
Knight’ after witnessing his parents’ murder at a young age, is arguably just
as iconic as Superman if not more given all of the numerous adaptations of the
character over the years from films to TV shows to video games. While DC Comics
has created numerous superheroes over the years from Wonder Woman to the Flash
to Green Lantern, Batman and Superman are easily the company’s most famous
protagonists. That is very much exemplified by their track records on film
because, to be perfectly frank, they are kind of the only major DC superheroes
to find success in live-action on the big-screen. Superman pretty much kicked
off the ‘superhero film genre’ with his 1978 titular film Superman, directed by Richard Donner, while Batman’s own titular
outing from 1989, directed by Tim Burton, was another noteworthy entry for the
genre. Both franchises experienced their own highs and lows over the years but
they have also saw revivals in recent years. In the case of Batman, it was
thanks to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight
trilogy while Superman got a Dark
Knight style reimagining in 2013 with Man
of Steel.
Three years after Man
of Steel, DC now begins its journey into establishing its own cinematic
universe, just like Marvel has done over the past eight years, with the
follow-up to Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Man of Steel director Zack Snyder
returns to direct as does the main cast of Man
of Steel while Ben Affleck takes over for Christian Bale in the role of
Batman. It is the first time that these titans of DC have appeared together in
a live-action film so obviously there was a lot of hype surrounding the film because
of that as well as the aforementioned fact that it’s meant to kick-start DC’s
own cinematic universe. However, at the moment it is currently being slammed by
critics, sporting only a measly 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (at the time I’m
writing this). While this isn’t really that surprising seeing how Man of Steel also received mixed reviews
from critics (that film has a 56% rating on RT) and was no doubt the most
polarizing film of 2013, I assure you that this new film is nowhere near as bad
as that RT rating suggests. Now don’t get me wrong as there are some issues
with this film, namely in regards to the story and the editing. At the same
time, though, there are genuinely some very good things about this film, particularly
the visuals, the action sequences, and the performances of a few noteworthy
newcomers to the DC ‘Extended Universe’ (that’s the term they’re going with for
this new Cinematic Universe, from what I’ve heard). In other words, I’m certain
that fans of the DC universe are going to be pretty satisfied with this
long-awaited crossover involving the ‘Son of Krypton’ and the ‘Bat of Gotham’.
The film takes place 18 months after the events of Man of Steel, in which Superman (Henry
Cavill) successfully prevented General Zod (Michael Shannon) from destroying
the Earth in order to establish a new home for the people of Krypton. At the
same time, however, Superman’s confrontation with Zod ended up causing a lot of
collateral damage to the city of Metropolis. Because of this, Superman ends up
becoming a controversial figure amongst various parties. One particular critic
of Superman is Gotham billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who of course as
we know moonlights as Gotham’s vigilante Batman. Fearing that Superman, being
an all-powerful alien, could pose a severe threat to the human race, Bruce
begins an all-out defense against Superman, which soon sees the two superheroes
coming into conflict with each other. At the same time, however, Metropolis
tech mogul Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), who also views Superman as a threat as
well as other ‘meta-humans’ currently out there, begins to experiment with both
the remains of General Zod and the Kryptonian technology recovered from the
battle of Metropolis, particularly the material known as Kryptonite, in order
to combat Superman. Lex’s actions, which pose a threat to not just Batman and
Superman but the whole world as well, soon force the two heroes to work
together, serving as a precedent for future events in the DC universe.
So as far as this film’s primary issues are concerned, they
mainly come from the story and the editing, particularly during the first
twenty minutes or so. This film admittedly does start out on a bit of a rough
note as the plot sort of goes in all directions in regards to what’s going on.
Part of it does come from the editing, which can be rather choppy at times. In
a way, that does sort of apply to the whole film; after all, this film does
cover a lot of ground even in the fairly hefty span of 153 minutes. Not only
does this film continue the story that began in Man of Steel but it also re-establishes the character of Batman
while also setting up other characters like Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). But
ultimately, I did like how the film ‘set up’ the other characters. At the end
of the day, this is still very much a Batman/Superman film and while I was
worried that Batman was going to overshadow Superman in what was originally ‘his
sequel’ (which I know some will deny but I do recall Zack Snyder stating at one
point that he wanted to do a second Superman
film before getting into anything Justice
League related, and keep in mind that this was before it was revealed that
Batman was going to be in it), the film actually is rather balanced in terms of
their roles in the overall plot. Wonder Woman is basically the only other major
DC lead superhero to have a ‘major’ role in the story but the film does feature
some ‘cameo appearances’ from the likes of characters like Aquaman (Jason
Momoa) and the Flash (Ezra Miller) and I do think that the film handled these ‘cameos’
well. They don’t overshadow Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, but they do
their job in regards to setting them up for future films without them actually
playing ‘a role’ in this film’s story. Stuff like this did keep me invested
throughout even if the narrative did become rather unfocused at times.
But these problems do sort of become less prevalent as the
film goes on and this is where Batman v
Superman really starts to shine, namely in regards to its visuals. There’s
no denying that Zack Snyder is one of the best ‘visual directors’ in the
business. That is especially true whenever Snyder does a ‘comic-book’ film,
like he did with 300 in 2007 and Watchmen in 2009. It’s been very much
shown that Snyder really does have a talent in regards to translating the
imagery of the comics to the big-screen and that once again shows with this
film. So even if you’re not a big fan of this film, there’s no denying that it
has one hell of an awesome visual style. That also translates well into the action
sequences. Admittedly most of the action sequences are reserved for the third
act of the film but when they do happen, they’re pretty darn epic, especially
the fight sequences between Batman and Superman and quite frankly any action
sequences involving Batman for that matter. Like Man of Steel, this film has attracted a considerable amount of flak
for its overall tone; in other words, these films have been criticized for being
‘too grim’. However, I don’t entirely agree with that because while it is true
that these films are much more serious compared to the lighter-hearted efforts
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that doesn’t mean that they are completely ‘dour’.
There are a few light-hearted quips peppered in here and there, particularly from
Alfred (Jeremy Irons, who is, to put it simply, quite excellent in the role of
Bruce Wayne’s trusty butler) and Perry White (Laurence Fishburne). Some of you
might recall the rumor that DC was mandating a ‘no joke’ policy in regards to
their upcoming films. Well based solely on this film I can tell you that this alleged
‘no joke’ mandate… was a load of bull.
Performance-wise, the returning cast of Man of Steel (Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, etc.) are as solid as
they were in the first film. Ultimately though, the major focus for most people
this time around was the newcomers; Affleck as Batman, Gadot as Wonder Woman,
and Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. It’s pretty much guaranteed that any major
superhero casting is going to be subjected to much scrutiny from comic book
fans and Affleck’s casting as Batman is arguably the most controversial
superhero casting of all-time. While Affleck has redeemed his career in recent
years thanks to his directorial efforts with films like Argo and Gone Baby Gone,
his previous turn in the superhero genre, 2003’s Daredevil, was clearly still in the minds of a lot of comic book
fans. Thankfully, a lot of those critics are hopefully now eating their words
because Affleck is superb as Batman. His take on the character is very much
influenced by the older Bruce Wayne from Frank Miller’s iconic series The Dark Knight Returns and Affleck
handles the role of the aged Batman perfectly. The controversy over Gal Gadot’s
casting of Wonder Woman mainly stemmed from the fact that Gadot’s filmography
prior to this film wasn’t necessarily that ‘illustrious’. But ultimately she is
excellent in the role. Obviously she isn’t in it as much as Affleck or Cavill
but once she ‘becomes’ Wonder Woman, man does she steal the show. And finally
we come to Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, who of course attracted controversy
on the grounds that some believed he ‘didn’t look the part’. As far as his
performance in this film goes, it’s no doubt going to be one of the most
polarizing elements of the film. Eisenberg does play the role in a fairly
over-the-top manner. For some, this will be a bit ‘much’ but I will say that he
does have some genuinely memorable moments from time to time and at the very
least it feels like he’s at least doing something different in the role
compared to what has come before.
At the end of the day, Batman
v Superman: Dawn of Justice may be attracting a rather negative reaction
from most critics but that doesn’t automatically mean that the developing DC ‘Extended
Universe’ is in jeopardy. I have the feeling that the next two films in this
franchise, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman, are probably going to fare
better with critics. Still, I do feel that some critics have been overly harsh
on this film. Some critics will deny it but I assure you that I have some
clearly biased reviews from people who kept s***ting on this film before they
saw it; in other words, they went into it already intent on hating it and that’s
just unfair. Anyone who’s been following this blog the past few years will know
that I used to be pretty darn critical towards this film in the years leading
up to its release, mainly after it was announced that Wonder Woman was going to
be in this ‘Batman and Superman’ film. But ultimately I realized that I was
being totally unjust towards the film by being overly critical towards it
despite the fact that it wasn’t even out yet. I’ve made it clear that I’m a
bigger fan of what Marvel Studios has been doing with their Cinematic Universe
but that did not influence my thoughts on this film in any way. And ultimately
I will say that I did like Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice. Yes, there are some flaws, namely in regards to
the film’s rather scrambled narrative. This is by no means a ‘perfect’
superhero film. But the things that this film does right truly are great, particularly
the visuals, action sequences, and noteworthy performances from the likes of
Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, among others. A 30% on RT this is not… if you ask
me, it should be in the same camp as Man
of Steel and have a rating somewhere in the 50’s that represents the
admittedly polarizing nature of the film. Ultimately though, I will say this…
if you’re a fan of DC Comics, and if you did like Man of Steel I have the feeling that you’re really going to like
this film no matter what the critics may say about it.
Rating: 3.5/5
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