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Rating: 1.5 out of 5
The two titans of the DC Comics universe are Superman and Batman. Two superheroes that rule the top of the mountain. Superman is on one side with being the unbeatable alien with powers literally out of this world. On the other side is Batman, the loner and vigilante, who doesn’t have any powers but is considered the world’s greatest detective. If these two Titans were to square off, who would win? Many would say Superman because of all his powers and abilities. Yet, Batman is a force to be reckoned with as he has the money and brain power to take down any villain. Watch some of the cartoon series with Batman in, and you will see that he is the most powerful hero in all of DC comics.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a follow-up to the 2013 film Man of Steel and the second film in the DC Extended Universe. Directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, we get a movie where the Man of Steel vs. The Caped Crusader. The story begins with another flashback of Bruce Wayne’s childhood. We usually see his parents’ death at the hands of a mugger, followed by him falling into a cave where the circling vortex of bats elevates him back to the surface. The story jumps to the present eighteen months after Superman’s destructive battle with General Zod in Metropolis. Superman (Cavill) has become a significant and controversial topic in the world: is Superman a hero or the new god bound to enslave humanity? Bruce Wayne, aka Batman (Affleck), has become a billionaire and whips ass at night in the streets of Gotham for the past twenty years. Bruce believes that Superman is a threat and vows to bring him down after watching the battle between Superman and Zod in person and watching many of his friends die. Behind the scenes, Lex Luthor (Eisenberg), owner of Lex Corp, is obsessed with bringing down Superman and becoming the master ruler. He plans to turn the world against Superman and have Batman kill the Man of Steel. Mysterious Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gadot) also lurks behind the scenes as she pursues her plans. Will the two heroes destroy each other or find out that they are being manipulated?
This year was the year when DC put out Batman vs. Superman, and Marvel put out Captain America: Civil War. Batman vs. Superman came out first, and a few months later, Marvel dropped their film. We know who won this battle. It was Marvel. That is not the discussion for this review. It is to discuss the film Batman vs. Superman. The movie tries its best but never gets off the ground. It is long, boring, has awful special effects, and the story is meh. Some characters were awful to watch; the idea was strong but went by the wayside, and it didn’t work at all. The film is entertaining but not mind-blowing.
Let’s start off with the story. It took a while to get going, but the concept was interesting and would actually happen. We see the influence of Nolan’s storytelling and ideas. First, what I liked was we didn’t spend half of the freakin film doing a backstory on how Bruce Wayne became Batman. It was about five minutes, but we see the hatred that was formed for Superman. The concept that I liked about the film was the one that questioned whether Superman could answer for anything and if he was a living god. The first instance of showing Superman as a “bad” guy was when the disabled dude climbed up on Superman’s statue and defaced it. Next, we see Clark sitting at home watching all the news stories questioning him, everything he stands for, and whether he would become their ruler. You see Clark having doubts about himself and wishing this was explored even more. When Clark goes to the Senate hearing, Luthor has a bomb explode, which makes the world see him as a villain. Still, Clark doubts his abilities because he doesn’t see or notice anything. His decision was to do an exile. Superman can’t save everyone and can’t be everywhere.
The story shows Bruce’s motivation in wanting to bring Superman down. He watches Superman and Zod battle each other and sees the destruction and loss of life. Bruce has been battling crime in Gotham for twenty years and is in a never-ending battle with crime. Even as the world’s greatest detective, he seems very hardheaded and trains like a beast to bring down Superman. You can see his obsession when he has a dream about the apocalyptic world where Superman is a God, and everyone bows down to him. When he wakes up, he sees a figure in the Flash saying Lois is the key and blah. The scene with the Flash didn’t do anything to progress the story and sidetrack Batman.
Lex Luthor exploits those feelings and thoughts by creeping his way into a senator’s life and gaining access to Zod’s body to perform experiments and get kryptonite. It felt like the build-up to the fight between the two heroes was stale. Batman does this chase scene trying to stop Luthor’s cronies, but Superman gives his car a love tap and makes it explode. Superman gives Batman a warning to not show his symbol in the sky. Batman asks if he bleeds. It was an intense scene that made you want more but then we go through a full hour until the finally battle when Lex Luthor frames Superman into trying to kill Batman. The fight was over the top but seemed stale. It was as bad as the final battle between Neo and Agent Smith. The ending of the fight was stale. In the end, the two shrug shoulders and become BFFs. It made no sense. They team up to stop Luthor.
The fight against Doomsday looked terrible. We see Wonder Woman come into the fight. Let me take a second and say the way they used Wonder Woman was off. They should’ve not even included her in the film. She was eye candy for Bruce, and he found out who she was, but I thought it was a waste of time for her to be in the film. The film also did the whole Marvel thing by introducing the other characters in the Justice League. It was fun to see the other characters, but Marvel did it way better. Back to the Doomsday fight. I wasn’t feeling it at all. It just didn’t stick the landing right, and with the whole death scene, I see where they were going, but it still failed. I don’t know how this film could’ve been better.
Synder has his own style for making films. I do enjoy the look because they are different. Yet, sometimes, it looks like it is all over the place. It has this really dark tone to them which fits the DC universe but other times, I am watching three different styles in one film. Batman was presented in a gloomy way. His dream showed his mindset. Superman was filmed in another sight. The final battle, the CGI, and special effects were all over the place, and it was laughable. Doomsday didn’t look right. I don’t know what was happening with that character, but it didn’t look right. Also, how freakin close is Gotham and Metropolis. I thought they were far apart, but in this film, they are right next door to each other.
Regarding the cast, I had reservations about Ben Affleck playing Bruce Wayne/Batman. Following Christian Bale from Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy was a task I didn’t want to take on. I was somewhat feeling Affleck as Batman. He really didn’t push the needle for me. It was nice that he didn’t use a voice modifier to make his voice deeper. In this version of Batman, he showed the Cape Crusader as someone who is a little older and has more of a worldview in mind rather than Gotham. He seems to be someone that has seen a lot of shit and is wiser about the world but also still has a cynical view of the world.
Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman showed more depth as the famous superhero. I enjoy Cavill as Superman. He has the role down and really brings out many sides of the hero. In this film, we see the hero doubting his abilities and whether he should really help people. The news is a powerful thing, and even heroes are not immune to questioning. Cavill also brought on Superman’s mean side when dealing with Batman. He is not above killing someone; even when he tries to reason with Batman, he also tries to beat some sense in him.
Let’s take a moment to talk about Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Holy shit, did I not like Eisenberg as the famous criminal mastermind. This version of Luthor was an annoying little shit. I couldn’t stand him; he seemed to detract from the film’s seriousness. Eisenberg really did show a new version of this character because I hated him. Gone was the bald look, and in return, I felt like we got a spoiled brat who was a clearance section Tony Stark playing with people’s lives like toys.
I wrote enough. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of those films that you get hyped over and then are unfulfilled by. The movie is really a headscratcher that was more of a bore than anything else. I see what DC is trying to do, but it is starting to fail miserably. Hopefully, the DC universe can find its footing because the film they put out was complete trash.
