“Black and Blue.
Fight Night. The greatest Gladiator match in the history of the world. God vs.
Man. Day vs. Knight. Son of Krypton vs. Bat of Gotham.”
(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD)
Well it’s safe to say that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is shaping up to be one of the
most controversial films in recent memory based solely on the response that it
has gotten from both critics and audiences. Despite reports of positive test screenings,
the film ended up getting absolutely trashed by critics, managing only a 29%
positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Ultimately, though, that didn’t stop the
film from scoring big at the box-office during its opening weekend, grossing
over $166 million here in the States and around $420 million worldwide.
Currently, it stands at around $600 million worldwide. Clearly, all of those
negative reviews did nothing to keep people from checking out this highly
anticipated pairing of two of DC’s most famous heroes. How the film will fare
from here commercially still remains to be seen, however, due to said negative
reviews. But clearly the film is doing pretty well with ‘most’ audiences, so
much so that it’s led to one of the most heated debates in recent film history,
one that’s arguably on the same scale as Batman vs. Superman itself; Fans vs.
Critics. I’ll get into that later on but until then, it’s time for me to dive
into some of the more spoiler-heavy moments of director Zack Snyder’s superhero
epic. As I stated in my original review, I did like the film. And when I saw
the film a second time, I still liked it. Were there problems with it? Yes, I’m
not denying that. But at the same time, I do feel that the film is nowhere near
as bad as its current 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes suggests. So with that
said, this post will cover a lot of aspects in regards to Batman v Superman, both the good and the bad.
THE DEATH OF THE WAYNES… AGAIN…
In the world of DC, one thing always remains certain… Bruce
Wayne’s parents are going to be tragically murdered right in front of him when
he’s a child outside of a theater. After all, this is what leads to him taking
up a life of fighting crime as the Caped Crusader. However, as many people have
no doubt pointed out, this ‘moment’ has been done numerous times over the years
in all sorts of Batman media, from
the films (Batman, Batman Begins) to the TV shows (Gotham) and even in some of the video
games (Batman: Arkham Asylum). So
there were most certainly quite a lot of collective groans from the internet
when it was announced that Zack Snyder was going to be recreating the moment
once again for this new film. Thankfully, the film gets this part over right
away as the scene plays over the opening credits. As a young Bruce attends his
parents’ funeral, he runs away and into the woods as the film flashbacks to the
moment where Thomas and Martha Wayne (who were notably played in this version
by Watchmen alum Jeffrey Dean Morgan
and Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan
(note: Morgan will soon appear on the show as the character Negan)) were
murdered outside of that theater. The film then cuts to young Bruce falling
down a hole, as was the case in previous Batman films, where he comes across a
swarm of bats who then proceed to ‘lift him up’ back to the surface. That may
sound weird to some people but it is established that this is ‘a dream’ that
Bruce is having. But ultimately like I said before, it’s good that the film
immediately did away with the one scene that has been done over and over again
over the years. And heck, I will actually give Snyder credit because this
version was pretty well-shot and paired excellently with the track ‘Beautiful
Lie’ from Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL’s score.
FOLLOWING MAN OF STEEL
While the majority of Batman
v Superman takes place 18 months after the events of Man of Steel, the first sequence after the opening credits does a
really nice job of showcasing the battle of Metropolis from a different
perspective… in this case, Bruce Wayne’s. As ‘mankind is introduced to the
Superman’, according to the scene’s subtitle, Bruce arrives in Metropolis via
helicopter right in the middle of the World Engine’s destruction of the city.
He contacts one of his employees at Wayne Enterprises and tells him to get everyone
out of the building, which he rushes over to by car while also dodging debris
from the battle. Unfortunately, that building happens to be the one that Zod’s
heat vision erratically tore through during his fight with Superman (following
the destruction of the World Engine, which Bruce does witness once he reaches
Wayne Enterprises). This then leads to Bruce rushing over to Wayne Enterprises
as it begins to collapse, resulting in that cool shot from the trailer of Bruce
running into the developing smoke cloud. He finds one of his employees, Wallace
Keefe (Scoot McNairy), trapped under rubble, which results in him becoming a
paraplegic, and also comes across a young girl who tells him that her mother
was ‘up there’ in the building. Bruce then comforts the young girl as he
watches a ‘meteor shower’ of debris rain down upon the city along with Superman
and Zod (and I bet Bruce is going to be even more pissed at Superman once he
finds out that all of that debris came from his company’s satellite). All in
all, this is a pretty intense but also fairly powerful scene that not only serves
as an alternate view of the previous film’s epic finale of the previous but
also helps establish Bruce Wayne’s role in the overall plot.
BATMAN AND SUPERMAN
Going into this film, I was fearful that Superman was going
to be overshadowed by Batman, who gets top billing in the title (“BECAUSE HE’S
BATMAN!”), in what was originally ‘meant’ to be the sequel to his own film. And
like I’ve been saying before, I do legitimately recall Zack Snyder once saying
that he wanted to do a second Man of
Steel before getting into anything regarding the Justice League, so I don’t
really believe the ‘idea’ that this new film was always intended to be a
‘Batman/Superman’ crossover. But at the end of the day, the film actually did
do a pretty good job of balancing out these two characters in regards to their
roles in the plot. While Superman only gets ‘second billing’ in the title, the
film still very much feels like a follow-up to Man of Steel as Superman now begins to struggle with how the world responds
to him following the Battle of Metropolis. Some people view him as their ‘hero’
while others view him as a ‘threat’ to mankind. It’s good that the film does
address the ‘collateral damage’ caused by Superman’s fight with Zod, which of
course was one of the most controversial elements of the previous film amongst
audiences. It mainly does this by showcasing how truly damaging the battle was
for the people of Metropolis, including the aforementioned Wallace Keefe who
not only lost the use of his legs but also his wife and daughter as well. Henry
Cavill once again does a really nice job in the role, especially in regards to
conveying Superman’s overall poise and moral compass.
But of course the most talked about element of the film in
the months leading up to its release was in regards to the introduction of the
next iteration of the ‘Dark Knight’, played by Ben Affleck. And of course, as
we all know, when Affleck was first cast, the internet erupted in furious
anger. No matter what, superhero castings are always subjected to high levels
of scrutiny by comic book fans, but Affleck’s casting proved to be even more
controversial amongst that crowd mainly due to his weakly received previous
turn in the genre as the titular character in 2003’s Daredevil. But now that the film is out, hopefully most of
Affleck’s critics are eating their words because Affleck absolutely nails the
role. Affleck’s Batman is very much in line with the version of the character
developed by Frank Miller in his legendary mini-series The Dark Knight Returns. He’s older, more seasoned, and has clearly
been through a lot, including the death of his accomplice Robin as evident from
the suit hanging in the Batcave that has the words ‘Hahaha, Joke’s on you
Batman!’ spray painted on it, clearly by you know who. Thankfully the film does
address why the trailers made it seem like Batman sounded like a robot whenever
he’s wearing the suit. This ‘robotic’ voice was actually due to the suit’s
‘voice modulator’. I mean I guess it’s better than Christian Bale’s infamous
growly voice that actually didn’t bother me as much as it did with others
apparently. Regardless, Ben Affleck kicked major ass as the older and much more
brutal Batman. Speaking of his Batman’s ‘brutality’…
DOES BATMAN KILL?
Well just like how Superman got a lot of flak for killing
Zod at the end of Man of Steel, this
film has been getting some major flak over how Ben Affleck’s Batman clearly
kills a few bad guys during his fight sequences. While the producers have tried
to make claims in regards to why Affleck’s Batman does this, that still hasn’t
stopped a lot of fans from criticizing the film for its overly violent Batman.
However, just like how Superman killing Zod in MoS wasn’t a ‘new thing’ due to the fact that he did the exact same
thing to the exact same villain in Superman
II, Batman has also killed some bad guys before in previous Batman films. Like remember in the 1989 Batman when he kicked one of Joker’s
goons off of a clock tower? Or the fact that he was pretty much responsible for
the Joker’s death in that film by causing him to fall to his death? Or how
about in Batman Returns when he
literally does kill one large henchman by placing an explosive on him, making a
face that would eventually become a notorious internet meme, and throwing him
down into a hole when the henchman then proceeds to explode. And while he
doesn’t actually ‘kill’ anyone in the Nolan films, the scene where Ra’s Al Ghul
dies in Batman Begins, in which Batman tells him “I’m not going to kill you… but I
don’t have to save you…” before leaving the subway car can sort of be seen as
him leaving Ra’s to die. Hell, even the ‘light-hearted’ MCU films aren’t
completely scot-free when it comes to this. Tony Stark kills Savin in Iron Man 3 and the Guardians kill Ronan
in Guardians of the Galaxy. What I’m
trying to say here is that even though some superheroes have this apparent ‘no
killing’ rule, there have been a few instances in films where these ‘codes’
have been broken.
BATMAN’S NIGHTMARE + FLASH APPEARING TO BRUCE
From what I saw online prior to the film’s release, one
particularly hyped scene was the one first shown in the Comic-Con trailer where
Batman is shown fighting bad guys in a desert-like area. A later teaser showed
more of that scene which seemingly was one of the first to set up the major
conflict between Batman and Superman. As it turns out, however, this scene was
actually just a dream (or as some have called it, a ‘Knightmare’ (ha-ha…)) that
Bruce has that establishes a future where Superman has become the ‘threat’ that
a lot of people, including Bruce, fear him to be. In this desert-like
wasteland, Batman fights a few mercenaries that work for Superman, including
winged insect-like creatures known as Parademons who work for the villain
Darkseid in the comics. Speaking of Darkseid, his ‘Omega’ insignia is briefly seen
in the distance at the beginning of the scene, which seems to indicate an
appearance in future DCEU films (“Maybe he exists out there in the universe.
Maybe he’s looking for something. Something that is against life?” -Zack
Snyder). Anyway, Batman is then promptly captured and tied up as Superman
enters the room. After killing the other two ‘prisoners’ who were there with
Bruce, Superman takes off Bruce’s cowl, blames him for ‘what happened to her’
[Lois] (Injustice connection?), and
then kills him. Thankfully this is just a dream though obviously it does set up
the possibility of what might happen if Superman ever turned bad.
Bruce is then woken up by a mysterious stranger appearing to
him in an electrical surge ‘portal’. This ‘stranger’ happens to be none other
than ‘The Flash’ himself, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), who, for those unfamiliar
with the character, is able to travel through time and even other dimensions
with the use of his super-speed. It should also be noted that ‘this’ Flash is
wearing a very mechanical-looking suit during this sequence. I bring this up
because, admittedly, if I hadn’t gone into this film knowing that a scene like
this was going to happen, odds are I wouldn’t have figured out until after the
film was over that this was supposed to be the Flash. I wonder if that’s
actually going to be the costume he’s going to have in these films, which I’ve
recently read is a nod to Injustice: Gods
Among Us. In fact, this whole sequence is apparently meant to serve as a
reference to that storyline in which Superman becomes ‘ruler’ of the Earth
after an incident in which he is tricked by the Joker into killing Lois and
destroying Metropolis. But anyway, in this brief scene, Flash is pretty much
warning Bruce about that ‘bad’ future and tells him to seek out Lois Lane, who
is ‘the key’. Flash then remarks that “You were right about him" and urges
Bruce to “Find us”; by ‘us’ he is referring to people like him who are known as
‘Meta-Humans’ (more on them in a bit). Now to be perfectly frank, this scene
actually doesn’t contribute that much to the overall plot of the film. It’s
actually a very random scene and I’m not even sure if these new DC films are
ever going to do something along the lines of Injustice. Still, it’s a very interesting moment that gives us our
first glimpse of Ezra Miller’s version of the ‘Scarlet Speedster’.
WONDER WOMAN
While she has appeared in numerous TV shows over the years,
both live-action and animated, Batman v
Superman actually marked the feature film debut of DC’s most famous
heroine, Wonder Woman, played here by Gal Gadot. And while she doesn’t have as
big of a role in the film compared to Batman and Superman, she does end up
becoming one of the film’s biggest standouts. Like Affleck, Gadot faced quite a
bit of scrutiny from fanboys when she was first cast in the role. It seems like
the main reason for this, aside from the very sexist criticism by some who said
that she didn’t have the right ‘figure’ for the part (namely in regards to her
breasts), was due to the fact that Gadot’s filmography, which mainly consisted
of her recurring role as Gisele in the Fast
and Furious films, made some people question whether or not she was ‘qualified’
enough for the part. But ultimately she proved that she was more than capable
of taking on the role. Just like Cavill as Superman, Gadot very much carries an
excellent heroic poise throughout, especially during the action sequences. And
believe me, when she finally gets in on the action during the finale in order to
help Batman and Superman take on Doomsday, complete with her badass rock-heavy
theme, that’s where things really get epic. Suffice it to say, it’s clear that
the character of Wonder Woman is in great hands and it’ll be very exciting to
see the character kick even more ass in her solo film next June.
LEX LUTHOR
And now we come to probably the most polarizing member of
the cast; Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. As you might have guessed, this was
yet another highly controversial casting choice when it was first announced.
The reason this time was simple; a lot of people just couldn’t see Mark
Zuckerberg from The Social Network in
the role of Superman’s arch-nemesis. But as for me… I thought he was fine. Now
with that said, Eisenberg is very much playing the character in a fairly
over-the-top manner and I completely understand if that ends up being ‘too
much’ for some people. It’s also been argued that his motivations in the film
are pretty damn weak, specifically in regards to why he’s pitting Batman and
Superman against one another when he doesn’t have any real history with either
of them. However, I will argue that he does have some noteworthy moments here
and there, two in particular. The first is when he orchestrates a bombing at
the congressional hearing that Superman attends by planting explosives within
the wheelchair that he gave to Wallace Keefe. In other words, Wallace ends up
becoming this film’s Hector Salamanca (Ding Ding! (And for the record, that
ironically happens to be the same words that Luthor starts chanting at the end
once he’s arrested.)). Actually, the main reason why I list this scene in
particular is simply because I just love the way that Lex straight-up trolls
Senator June Finch (Holly Hunter), who’s established to be one of Superman’s
biggest critics, by placing a jar of ‘Granny’s Peach Tea’ (which in reality is
a jar of urine in reference to a comment that she made to him earlier in the
film) next to her, which she notices while in the middle of questioning
Superman on his actions.
The other really great scene involving Lex is when he first
confronts Superman on the roof of the LexCorp building in Metropolis. After he
first meets with Lois, which then leads to him pushing her off of the building,
resulting in her being promptly saved by Superman, he then reveals to Superman
his plan to have him fight Batman, who has already prepped for battle over in
Gotham. When Superman refuses to comply, Lex reveals his ace in the hole; he’s
kidnapped Superman’s mom and tells him that she’ll die in one hour unless he
kills Batman. Cue Superman delivering one of the most ferocious death stares of
all time with the help of his heat vision (which is fitting considering that
that death stare can literally kill you) and you have the set-up for what
becomes, as Lex puts it, “the greatest Gladiator match in the history of the
world”. By the end of the film, however, Batman and Superman end up working
together to defeat Lex’s creation Doomsday along with Wonder Woman and Lois.
Lex is last seen in prison as his long hair is being shaved off, which of
course results in him finally taking on the character’s iconic bald look. It’s
not certain yet when we’ll be seeing Lex again but we can only imagine what’s
he going to do when he does return. Will we see him in Justice League? Either that, or there have been rumors regarding a
potential appearance in Suicide Squad.
For now, though, only time will tell…
THE ‘OTHER’ META-HUMANS
We still have some time before the Justice League films but until then, Batman v Superman featured a sequence that helps set up some of the
other characters who are set to be a major part of the franchise. Now as many
of you know, the addition of other heroes in the film aside from Batman and
Superman was one of the main reasons why I was initially skeptical about the
film before its release as I felt that the film was getting way too
‘overcrowded’ with characters who hadn’t been properly introduced yet by that
point for a film called Batman v Superman.
However, at the end of the day, this really is a ‘Batman and Superman’ film and
every other major hero, save for Wonder Woman and the aforementioned cameo by
Flash in Bruce’s dream, only makes a brief cameo in the film courtesy of a
series of video files that Bruce steals from LexCorp and then proceeds to send
to Wonder Woman when he figures out that she’s basically an ‘immortal being’ by
finding a picture of her with a bunch of soldiers that is dated ‘1918’. I
presume this pic is a ‘screen-cap’ from the upcoming Wonder Woman film given the fact that the character of Steve
Trevor, who’s going to be played by Chris Pine in the film, is one of the men
alongside Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman then goes through the other files which
contain footage of other ‘meta-humans’ (a DC Comics term for ‘superhero’).
Barry Allen is seen stopping a thief at a convenience store with his
‘super-speed’, Aquaman (Jason Momoa) is seen emerging from a sunken ship in the
bottom of the ocean, and Victor Stone AKA Cyborg (Ray Fisher) is shown being
experimented on by his father Silas (Joe Morton, who notably had a role in
another famous ‘robot’ film, Terminator 2).
And I must say that I really liked ‘this idea’ of how the
film introduces future DC protagonists. Going back to what I said before about
my initial skepticism over the film being ‘overcrowded’, I originally felt that
DC should’ve done something similar to what Marvel did with the MCU and start
with ‘solo’ films based around these characters before teaming them up for a Justice League film so that we could be
more familiar with them first. However, I’ve since realized that the way that
they do it in this film is ultimately for the better, as it does allow them to
take a different route than Marvel in regards to setting up their Cinematic
Universe. If they had just gone the Marvel route, then they would’ve be seen as
‘copycats’. And like I said, I do think that this method of setting up the
other characters was a good move. They don’t ‘physically’ appear in the film
(again not counting the aforementioned ‘Flash’ scene) but these video files do
help establish that they are out there. Because by the time that we do end up
getting to their solo films (Flash:
March 18th, 2018, Aquaman:
July 27, 2018, and Cyborg: April 3,
2020), the first Justice League film
(and also the second in regards to Cyborg’s film) will have already been
released, negating the need to have to do an ‘origin’ story for these
characters due to the fact that we’ve already been introduced to them in
previous films. And by the end of this film, Bruce tells Diana that he plans to
find ‘the others’ so that they’ll be ready for whatever threat may come in the
future. In short, DC is not going the same route that Marvel did when it comes
to setting up their Cinematic Universe and I’m totally okay with that.
BATMAN V. SUPERMAN… ALSO, ‘MARTHA!’
To be perfectly frank, the ‘fight’ between Batman and
Superman, hence the title of the film, is only about five to ten minutes long.
So if you’re going into this film expecting a lot of Batman-Superman brawling,
prepare to be disappointed. However, even with that in mind, I still thought
that the scenes where the two fight each other were pretty damn epic. Batman is
all decked-out in his awesome armored bat-suit and equipped with a Kryptonite
riot gun and a Kryptonite spear, with the kryptonite being stolen from Luthor,
so that he can have a fighting chance against Superman. The fight ends up being
a continuous power struggle in which both Batman and Superman gain the upper
hand at certain points. But by the end of their fight it is Batman who is in
control as he prepares to impale Superman with the Kryptonite spear. But before
he can do that, Superman pleads with him to save his mother. And wouldn’t you
know it… Superman’s mother happens to share the same name as Batman’s mother;
Martha. This effectively stops Bruce in his tracks, which then leads to him
heading off to rescue Martha. To put it bluntly, it seems like this is becoming
the equivalent of the ‘neck snapping’ scene in the previous film in regards to
how controversial it’s been. But like that scene, I don’t necessarily see the
‘problem’ with it. I mean, sure, it’s probably the most blatant coincidence in
film history that both Mrs. Wayne and Mrs. Kent share the same first name and
I’m actually surprised I didn’t fully realize that until this scene. But even
with that in mind, I recognize the emotional resonance behind the scene.
Bruce’s memory of his mother’s death allows him to finally see the humanity in
Superman, after he had spent the last few minutes saying that he’s “not a man”.
Sure their ‘fight’ with one another was brief but let’s be honest, we all knew
that they were going to team up by the end anyway.
DOOMSDAY
And we come to yet another infamous example of fans
criticizing a trailer for ‘giving away too much’. In this case, it was in
regards to the third trailer for the film in which it was revealed that the
character of Doomsday, created by Lex Luthor via a mix of his DNA and the DNA
of the deceased General Zod, was going to be in the film. But as someone who
doesn’t really get worked up over this stuff, the trailer reveal didn’t bother
me. And ultimately I think that the film did do a fine enough job with this character,
especially in regards to the one thing that he’s known for in the comics (more
on that in just a bit). There was some criticism early on over his overall
design in the film but it’s established that Doomsday is able to regenerate and
‘evolve’ over time so it does take some time before he starts to look more like
the Doomsday from the comics. And while the film ultimately concludes with the
trio killing Doomsday with the help of Batman’s kryptonite spear, I have the
feeling that this won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing Doomsday in the
DCEU. And besides, from what I hear
anyway, not being a big comic reader, Doomsday is not really meant to be ‘a
villain’ in the same way that villains like Darkseid and Brainiac are. He’s
more or less just a big brute but of course this ‘big brute’ does something big
in the comics, hence why he’s so noteworthy. And that ‘big’ thing happens to
occur in this film as well. On that note…
THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN
In 1992, DC Comics made headlines for killing off Superman in
the storyline The Death of Superman
as the result of a fight between Superman and Doomsday. Ultimately though, this
was more or less viewed by most people as being nothing more than a publicity
stunt in order to boost sales and even the team behind the storyline admitted
that this was the case. But nevertheless it did make media headlines and BvS ends up paying homage to this
storyline by, yes, having Superman die at the hands of Doomsday. Realizing that
he can only be defeated with the Kryptonite spear, Superman launches himself at
Doomsday and impales him with the spear. At the same time, however, Doomsday
impales Superman with one of his bone spurs, resulting in both of their deaths.
As the rest of the world mourns Superman, a private funeral is held for ‘Clark’
(who of course is also declared dead) in Kansas attended by Martha, Lois,
Bruce, and Diana, with Martha giving Lois an envelope that contained an
engagement ring that Clark was planning on giving to her. It is here where
Bruce tells Diana of his plan to find the other meta-humans so that they can
protect the Earth now that Superman is gone. The film ends with Lois dropping a
bit of dirt onto Clark’s grave and as the final shot rests on the grave, a
slight heartbeat is heard as some of the dirt begins to levitate in the air.
Also, it’s clear that this ending was influenced by Inception due to the fact that the scene fades to black right as
the dirt begins to rise.
I really have to give Snyder and his team credit for having
the guts to kill off Superman like this. And I will also admit that I actually
did get rather emotional during this part, which I guess can be attributed to
the fact that I did like Man of Steel, which
therefore means that I did become attached to this Superman thanks to that film.
So in short, I think this scene was handled really well and the way that most
people are shown reacting to Superman’s death correlates to something that I
will be discussing later on in this post. With that said, though, I think it’s
safe to say that Superman won’t be dead for long in the DCEU. Not only is that
evident based on the inconclusive nature of the ending, but this is also the
world of comics, after all, where heroes usually don’t stay dead for long. After
all, in the original Death of Superman storyline,
Superman only stayed dead for less than a year before he was brought back. Still,
it’s going to be interesting to see what’s going to happen with Superman when Justice League Part One rolls around
next year. Will he be resurrected in that film? Is it possible that he may not
even be in most of the film but perhaps is brought back right at the end of Part 1 so that he can take part in Part 2? As always, though, it’s unclear
yet of what this storyline’s eventual outcome is going to be. We’ll just have
to wait and see what happens with the first Justice
League.
Now that I’ve gotten pretty much all of the major aspects of
the film out of the way, it’s time for me to address some of the topics of
debate that have come as a result of the overall reaction to this film.
IS THE FILM ‘HUMORLESS’?
A common criticism of both this film and Man of Steel is that they are way too
‘dour’ in tone, resulting in films that are arguably ‘humorless’. Now to be
perfectly honest, looking back upon Man of
Steel I can’t actually recall a lot of ‘humorous moments’. The only real
exception to this that I can think of was an admittedly very awkward bit at the
end where Major Ferris tells General Swanwick that she thinks Superman is ‘kind
of hot’. And in the months leading up to the release of BvS, there were reports that DC was issuing a ‘no joke’ mandate in
regards to their upcoming films. Personally I hated the idea of a ‘100%
serious’ superhero film franchise as even previous ‘dark’ superhero films like
Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy were able
to add in some effective bits of humor from time to time to lighten up the mood
when necessary, like in The Dark Knight
Rises when Selina tells Bruce that she’s sorry that he lost all of his
money, to which he responds by saying “No you’re not”. I’m not saying that DC
should have directly gone in the same route as the MCU films when it comes to
humor but obviously ‘dark’ storylines don’t apply to every DC hero (e.g.
Flash). However, once the film’s controversial third trailer came out, along
with the first official trailer for Suicide
Squad (not the Comic-Con footage, the actual trailer), I realized that this
‘no joke’ thing was a bunch of bull.
And while there have been many people who have said that BvS is completely ‘humorless’, that’s
not exactly true. There legitimately are some funny comedic quips from time to
time, primarily from Alfred (Jeremy Irons is frigging awesome in the role. This
is an Alfred who isn’t afraid to dish out a few cracks at his master,
particularly in regards to his love life) and Perry White (‘Crime Wave in
Gotham!’ Other breaking news: ‘Water, wet’!”). However, with that said, those
are only a few brief moments in a two-and-a-half-hour film so obviously the
majority of the film is more serious in nature. And based on recent reports, it
seems like some of the other DC films will be adopting a much more
light-hearted tone compared to this film. Aquaman
director James Wan has stated that he’s interested in capturing “the fun
spirit of high-seas adventures, treasure hunts, sea monsters. That’s the spirit
that I’m going for. Swashbuckling”. Not only that, but a few days after the
release of BvS it was reported that
Warner Bros spent a considerable amount of money on reshoots for this year’s
other DC film, Suicide Squad, in
order to implement more humor into it. It’s questionable, though, if the film
needs more humor considering that the recent trailer already suggested that the
film would have a much different tone than BvS,
so hopefully these reshoots don’t hurt the film too much. But as for Batman v Superman being completely
humorless? NAH!!
DOES ZACK SNYDER ‘HATE’ SUPERMAN?
This seems to be a question that’s been going around
recently considering the generally somber tone of both Man of Steel and Batman v
Superman. Some have argued that Zack Snyder actually ‘hates’ the character
of Superman and the way that he portrays the character in these films is proof
of that, specifically in regards to his ‘brooding’ nature and the fact that a
large part of society doesn’t trust him. However, I see his ‘views’ on the
character in a completely different context, as I feel that Batman v Superman actually serves as a
commentary against the negativity of modern society. Many characters in this
film view Superman as ‘the enemy’, particularly Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor,
hence why both of them try to ‘stop’ him in their own way. But in doing so,
these two end up serving as prime examples of the cynicism of society that
directly contrasts with the generally optimistic moral nature of Superman.
Ignore for a moment the infamous neck snap from Man of Steel and you’ll see that Superman’s morally right attitude
is still present in both of these films and that it’s actually society that is
wrong to distrust him. Because even though there are moments where Superman
starts to question if he truly is “a symbol of hope”, he still remains
idealistic throughout, hence why Superman has always been such a great hero
over the years. And while Bruce initially doesn’t see that, by the end of the
film he finally does realizes how wrong he was to misjudge the ‘Man of Steel’.
So to quote Forbes writer Mark
Hughes, who wrote an excellent piece in regards to this question (the link to
which will be provided below), Batman and Superman are “two heroes embracing
hope, having faith that good will triumph over evil, and committing to fight
for that idealism. Superman gives his life for it, dying for this world because
he had faith we were worth the sacrifice — a powerful absolute force of good
dying for a flawed world, to try to save us from ourselves”.
THE SCRIPT- WHO’S TO BLAME?
So while I will say that I did like this film, there’s no
denying that the script is a bit of a mess. It tries to juggle a lot, and even
with its hefty two-and-a-half-hour runtime it’s arguably too much even by that
length. So that ultimately leaves one question; who is responsible for the
convolutedness of the script? At this point it seems like there are three
possible ‘suspects’. The first is the film’s ‘original’ writer David S. Goyer,
who of course also wrote Man of Steel.
I even recall seeing that Zack Snyder once had a ‘story’ credit (which has
since been removed from the credits but could still be ‘true’ in a way) and if Sucker Punch proved anything, it is that
Snyder really shouldn’t be in charge of writing the story. The second culprit
is the film’s other writer, Chris Terrio, who worked with Ben Affleck on Argo. This would be especially concerning
because it was Terrio who had been brought in to re-write the script. So what
happened? Was Goyer’s original script so messy that Terrio couldn’t do anything
about it? Or did Terrio actually make it worse? Hell, it was even reported that
Ben Affleck rewrote parts of the script on a daily basis while in costume. What
happened there, Ben? And finally, there’s the possibility that this was all due
to studio interference by Warner Bros. It’s not like this hasn’t happened
before with other superhero films. It happened with Sony and the Amazing Spider-Man films and the
conflict between Fox and Josh Trank over last year’s Fantastic Four has been very much well-documented. And there has
been talk about Snyder having to cut a lot from the film, which will seemingly
be put back in for the Extended Cut, so maybe this is the case. At this point,
who knows?
THE FUTURE OF THE DC EXTENDED UNIVERSE
So because this film has been doing badly with critics, it
has raised the question of whether or not this is going to have a negative
impact on the developing DC Extended Universe. And to that I say… not really,
at least not at this moment. And the reason I say this is because this is just
one film. Sure it happens to be the first real film that’s meant to set up the
DCEU but the fact that most critics hated it doesn’t necessarily mean the end
of the world just yet for this franchise. There are still two more DCEU films
that are on the way that have at least gone through principal photography. There’s
Suicide Squad, which will come out
later this year in August, and next year’s Wonder
Woman. Also, Justice League Part One,
which will once again by directed by Snyder (I’ll get to him in a bit), will soon be starting principal
photography. For now, I suggest that most people just wait and see how these
next few films turn out. If anything, I do have the feeling that they will at
least fare much better with critics. Though if they don’t… then yeah, the DCEU
is screwed. And as I noted earlier, the fact that Warner Bros is apparently issuing
reshoots for Suicide Squad in order
to make it ‘more humorous’, even though the last trailer made it seem like this
wasn’t necessary, may or may not be a troubling sign depending on who you ask.
FANS VS. CRITICS
All of this controversy over the quality of this film has
led to some very heated debates between the fans, who have clearly been much
more positive towards it, and the critics who generally reacted unfavorably
towards it. All of these arguments have once again raised the question of
whether or not film critics ‘matter anymore’, with both sides viciously
attacking the other for their views of the film. Some fans have accused critics
of being ‘paid by Marvel’ to purposefully hate on the film while some critics
have gotten very defensive over the backlash that they have gotten for their
thoughts on the film. So here is where I chime in; this whole ‘fans vs. critics’
debate is just like the infamous Gamergate scandal that pretty much made all
gamers look like a-holes even if they weren’t involved in that scandal’s debate.
This is a case where the arguments from both sides against each other don’t
entirely hold up. In defense of the critics, they have been accused by fans of
‘not knowing what they’re talking about’. But here’s the thing… we critics do
know what we’re talking about. And while some have accused critics of ‘not
caring about superhero films’, that’s not really true either. I mean I’m pretty
certain that there are some critics out there who believe in that damn ‘fatigue’
argument that I wish would go away and never return but for the most part, they
legitimately have reacted pretty positively towards the majority of the
superhero films that have been released these past few years.
However, in defense of the fans, that doesn’t mean that
critics are always right and quite frankly this is the problem that some
critics have been making in the wake of the film’s release. There have been
some who have gotten a bit too entitled over their opinion, clearly forgetting
that film is subjective and that not everyone is going to agree on every single
film that comes out. So in other words, if you did like this film, don’t be
afraid to passionately stand up for your opinion on it. And if you didn’t like
it, that’s perfectly fine. There’s nothing wrong with you not liking the film.
Just remember not to crap on the parades of those who did like it. And on that
note, as much as some critics are going to deny it, there really have been some
‘heavily biased’ reviews towards this film. Now I know that bias towards film
is something that we all have; there’s no such thing as an ‘completely unbiased’
person when it comes to this stuff. But even with that in mind, I have clearly
seen some reviews from ‘critics’, who I won’t name due to the fact that doing
so would mean that I have to actually give them ‘credit’, who in the months
leading up to the film’s release constantly kept s***ting on it, which of
course then led to them obviously hating the film once they actually saw it.
And if you ask me, that’s just completely unfair. As I’ve made it clear before,
I used to be very skeptical about the film but I gradually moved away from that
‘mindset’ because I realize that it’s stupid to be critical of a film when it
wasn’t even out yet. But ultimately some did follow that ‘mindset’ and if you
ask me, maybe those ‘critics’ should have a glass of ‘Granny’s Peach Tea’.
And finally, one last
question…
SHOULD ZACK SNYDER DIRECT JUSTICE
LEAGUE?
Having already directed Man
of Steel and now Batman v Superman,
DC and Warner Bros have tapped Zack Snyder to direct the upcoming two-part Justice League film, with Part 1 set to come out next year and Part 2 set for a 2019 release. However,
due to the harsh reception towards BvS,
Snyder has suddenly become public enemy no. 1 in the eyes of DC fans. Whereas
Joss Whedon had quite a nice reputation amongst fans when he was first
announced as the director of The Avengers,
Snyder clearly hasn’t been as lucky. It’s gotten to the point where there’s an
actual petition circulating around the internet to get him removed from the
director’s chair for Justice League,
which you know is totally going to work (sarcasm…). It’s actually rather
ironic, actually. Snyder is currently being treated by fans the same way that the
world treats Superman in the film, except in this case I have the feeling that the
film’s commentary on modern day cynicism that I discussed earlier won’t change
anything in real life. But all joking aside, it does make you wonder if Warner
Bros is now hesitating over their decision to put Snyder in charge of Justice League, which is set to start
filming later this year. So here’s my two cents on the deal… I have no major
issue at the moment with Snyder doing the film. Whether or not you liked BvS, you cannot deny that Snyder is one
of the best visual directors in the business. As my friend Dan LaPlante pointed
out, if you just put him in charge of directing the action and let someone else
be in charge of the story, then these films would be outstanding. But obviously
that’s not going to happen with Justice
League and quite frankly I’m okay with that. And yes, my more optimistic
attitude towards him taking on the job mainly stems from the fact that I did
like both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman but the point still
stands regardless. Unlike a good chunk of the internet, I’m willing to give
Snyder one more chance. My only advice to him, though? Get better writers…
FINAL VERDICT
I like this film. I recognize that I’m in the minority when
it comes to that statement but I do think that this film is far better than
what most critics are saying. In fact, upon re-watch, this actually turned out
to be one of the rare cases where a film got better in my opinion the second
time around. So with that said, I’m officially revising my original rating of 3.5/5
and am now giving Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice a 4/5 rating. Like I said before, I’m
not saying that this film is ‘perfect’. There are some issues, namely in
regards to the script, but it’s not like these issues were irreparable. I’m
definitely going to get this film on Blu-Ray when it comes out, particularly for
its R-rated Extended Cut. I do believe that this version could potentially fix
some of the issues with the theatrical cut. It wouldn’t be the first time that
this has happened for a Zack Snyder film, as the director’s cut of Watchmen was easily the superior version
of that film. And at this moment, I do believe that this will happen with Batman v Superman once it hits the home
media market. But as for the Theatrical Cut, it is again nowhere near as bad as
that 29% on Rotten Tomatoes suggests. What this film may lack in regards to the
writing I think it makes up for with the incredible visuals and action
sequences, particularly during the third act starting from the fight between
Batman and Superman all the way up to the final battle with Doomsday. So while
DC might have had a rough start compared to Marvel in regards to setting up a
superhero cinematic universe, this film’s critical underperformance doesn’t
automatically mean that they’re out of the race just yet.
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