Several minor-to-medium spoilers in this one. Sorry...
First Spoiler that's not really a spoiler: This movie was not super terrible, or the worst movie ever, like everyone said it would be. And believe it or not, I didn't really expect that. I did my best to walk into the theater with an open mind and a heart full of hope that my money would be well spent for the next two and a half hours of entertainment. From that standpoint, I was not disappointed. No, it was not a perfect movie. It was not by any means the best Superman or the best Batman story. It was full of flaws. But it certainly didn't feel like a waste of time or money, I was even quite entertained. And I think any superhero fan could enjoy it, if they can just calm the hell down for a minute.
From the moment that it was announced that there would be a Batman/Superman movie directed by Zack Snyder, and even more, that it would star Ben Affleck as Batman, the internets exploded in an uproar. The general consensus seemed to be that Ben Affleck has no business donning the beloved cape and cowl after screwing up Daredevil so royally. All I could think was, Daredevil? Isn't that movie over 10 years old? Why are we still talking about that?
From the moment that it was announced that there would be a Batman/Superman movie directed by Zack Snyder, and even more, that it would star Ben Affleck as Batman, the internets exploded in an uproar. The general consensus seemed to be that Ben Affleck has no business donning the beloved cape and cowl after screwing up Daredevil so royally. All I could think was, Daredevil? Isn't that movie over 10 years old? Why are we still talking about that?
I won't go into the reasons why I felt that Ben deserved a chance to redeem himself in the superhero genre. He landed the role, he played the part, the powers-that-be signed on the dotted line, that's not what I came here to discuss, so we're moving on.
What I really liked about introducing Batman into the world of Superman was, that Batman was kind of old, a lot older than Clark Kent. A more accurate statement was that the events of Man of Steel introduced Superman into Batman's world. Bruce Wayne's been fighting crime as the caped crusader (with Alfred's ever-loyal help) for many years now. So this is not yet another origin story. Good! If we had to be introduced to Batman ONE MORE TIME... There's a time and place to introduce the origin stories of new characters, but in this case, Batman is not one of them. So instead we see a world-weary Batman who trusts no one and has even lost a bit of his mercy and humanity. Good job on the darkness factor, Snyder.
I know you're thinking it, so let's talk flaws. I could go into Jesse Eisenberg's unhinged portrayal of Lex Luthor, were he seemed to be channeling The Joker more than anything else. Or the fact that Bat's and Supe's big argument could've been boiled down to Mommy issues... ugh. But my biggest issue with Batman vs. Superman was that it could have been two separate movies. I don't mean a Batman-only flick and then a Superman sequel released six months later. Mashing the two characters together wasn't really a problem. After all, the comics have done it pretty well time and time again. My problem was that the plot was unnecessarily stuffed to the brim --and I mean uncomfortably-full like the feeling you get when you've over (and over) indulged on stuffing and pie for Thanksgiving... or you know, on Tuesday.
At first I was annoyed that they were introducing a third character into the mix with Wonder Woman making a cameo. But as it turned out, she was pretty good. And Spoiler Alert, she proves herself a useful fighter when she shows up to fight the Big Bad in the end. I was happy with her badassery.
Watching Bruce Wayne try his billionaire playboy tricks on Diana Prince was also very fun to watch. It was one of those moments where I realized why Ben Affleck used to be known more as a leading man than an action star. He appears to be channelling James Bond as he whispers seductive barely-veiled threats in her ear. Of course, he has no idea who he's flirting with, which makes her cool reaction to him all the more satisfying.
What I really liked about introducing Batman into the world of Superman was, that Batman was kind of old, a lot older than Clark Kent. A more accurate statement was that the events of Man of Steel introduced Superman into Batman's world. Bruce Wayne's been fighting crime as the caped crusader (with Alfred's ever-loyal help) for many years now. So this is not yet another origin story. Good! If we had to be introduced to Batman ONE MORE TIME... There's a time and place to introduce the origin stories of new characters, but in this case, Batman is not one of them. So instead we see a world-weary Batman who trusts no one and has even lost a bit of his mercy and humanity. Good job on the darkness factor, Snyder.
I know you're thinking it, so let's talk flaws. I could go into Jesse Eisenberg's unhinged portrayal of Lex Luthor, were he seemed to be channeling The Joker more than anything else. Or the fact that Bat's and Supe's big argument could've been boiled down to Mommy issues... ugh. But my biggest issue with Batman vs. Superman was that it could have been two separate movies. I don't mean a Batman-only flick and then a Superman sequel released six months later. Mashing the two characters together wasn't really a problem. After all, the comics have done it pretty well time and time again. My problem was that the plot was unnecessarily stuffed to the brim --and I mean uncomfortably-full like the feeling you get when you've over (and over) indulged on stuffing and pie for Thanksgiving... or you know, on Tuesday.
At first I was annoyed that they were introducing a third character into the mix with Wonder Woman making a cameo. But as it turned out, she was pretty good. And Spoiler Alert, she proves herself a useful fighter when she shows up to fight the Big Bad in the end. I was happy with her badassery.
Watching Bruce Wayne try his billionaire playboy tricks on Diana Prince was also very fun to watch. It was one of those moments where I realized why Ben Affleck used to be known more as a leading man than an action star. He appears to be channelling James Bond as he whispers seductive barely-veiled threats in her ear. Of course, he has no idea who he's flirting with, which makes her cool reaction to him all the more satisfying.
While I personally preferred Affleck's portrayal of Bruce Wayne a tad bit more than I liked his Batman -and yes, there is a difference!, that's not to say he didn't do the role some physical justice. At some point in the movie when Batman realized he's going to have to take on the Man of Steel, he knows he's got work to do. Queue the montage of beefing up his exercise routine! He does everything but enter a Strongman competition! I realize that I just made it sound a little cheesy, but those are the kinds of details that I actually really enjoyed about the film. It's no secret that Bruce Wayne cannot match Superman physically. So he does the smart thing and works hard with every resource he's got available.
Training montages aside, it was all the other cameos, misleads and sneak peeks in the movie that were annoying as hell. You see, Bruce Wayne is not too happy about the mere existence of Superman. The fact that he's pretty much godlike in comparison to humans just irks Bruce the wrong way. This is the basis of our Batman vs. Superman story. But then Bruce learns of the existence of... I guess we're calling them metahumans? Several other super-powered individuals are discovered, and now he's hella freaked out!
The reason that this movie's sub-title is Dawn of Justice is because it's supposed to be leading into a Justice League movie where one would presume that the Bat, Supes, Wonder Woman and a gaggle of other heros all work together to... something something justice. But in this movie, none of them are friends yet. We should be spending this movie wondering if they'll ever realize that they should be friends instead of enemies. Will they? Won't they? But instead we gave away the ending in the title. Yes they will eventually decide to be friends and form the Justice League. Maybe in the finale, or even as a post-credits scene we could have had one of them go "Hey... have you heard of this guy that lives in the ocean? Or this guy that runs faster than the speed of light? He might be a useful addition to our little team!" Queue fanboy (and fangirl) squeals.
Instead we get a 5 second glimpse of Khal Drogo--oops I mean Aquaman-- before he shoots out of the scene like a torpedo. Okay... cool, I guess. So the internet was ablaze with images of Jason Momoa all decked out like a dark and sexy King Triton for months and months, for that blink-and-you-missed-it moment? Score one for the giant let downs. That moment would have been really really cool and exciting if I hadn't already known he would appear in the film, and we'd all already seen his character posters online several months ago. If it had been a complete surprise, a cameo of Aquaman would've been amazing. This is where building anticipation for the upcoming characters just plain backfired, in my opinion.
Training montages aside, it was all the other cameos, misleads and sneak peeks in the movie that were annoying as hell. You see, Bruce Wayne is not too happy about the mere existence of Superman. The fact that he's pretty much godlike in comparison to humans just irks Bruce the wrong way. This is the basis of our Batman vs. Superman story. But then Bruce learns of the existence of... I guess we're calling them metahumans? Several other super-powered individuals are discovered, and now he's hella freaked out!
The reason that this movie's sub-title is Dawn of Justice is because it's supposed to be leading into a Justice League movie where one would presume that the Bat, Supes, Wonder Woman and a gaggle of other heros all work together to... something something justice. But in this movie, none of them are friends yet. We should be spending this movie wondering if they'll ever realize that they should be friends instead of enemies. Will they? Won't they? But instead we gave away the ending in the title. Yes they will eventually decide to be friends and form the Justice League. Maybe in the finale, or even as a post-credits scene we could have had one of them go "Hey... have you heard of this guy that lives in the ocean? Or this guy that runs faster than the speed of light? He might be a useful addition to our little team!" Queue fanboy (and fangirl) squeals.
Instead we get a 5 second glimpse of Khal Drogo--oops I mean Aquaman-- before he shoots out of the scene like a torpedo. Okay... cool, I guess. So the internet was ablaze with images of Jason Momoa all decked out like a dark and sexy King Triton for months and months, for that blink-and-you-missed-it moment? Score one for the giant let downs. That moment would have been really really cool and exciting if I hadn't already known he would appear in the film, and we'd all already seen his character posters online several months ago. If it had been a complete surprise, a cameo of Aquaman would've been amazing. This is where building anticipation for the upcoming characters just plain backfired, in my opinion.
We also end up spending a little too much time watching footage of what is apparently the origin of Cyborg. No offense to the diehard Cyborg fans out there (I'm sure they exist), but I could have done without that entire sequence. But apparently it had to be in there because he would be making an appearance in the next movie. And I guess the next movie cannot be bothered with character introductions of any kind.
Then The Flash actually got, not one, but two cameos. One of which was another quick super-powered character introduction like Aquaman's: Bruce sees him caught on camera using his super-speed. Pretty cool, I'm okay with that. But then later what appears to be a different version of The Flash seems to have traveled through time to deliver a cryptic message to Bruce. To me, a lot less cool. Mainly because we have no idea where (or when) he's coming from, and it's never explained. The scene pops out of nowhere as if it was spliced in from a different movie. Time travel is NOT a theme in this movie or part of the plot in any way! Those in the know figured out that this scene must be setting up a future storyline from the comics that does deal in time travel, but for those who were scratching their heads, it was just really aggravating. In interviews, Snyder more or less said that he made the scene vague and misleading on purpose. All I can say is, not my favorite directing move. Poor choice, Snyder, poor choice.
Besides visits from the future, Bruce Wayne keeps having these creepy dreams. No, they're not just nightmares about bats, which we both expect, and also expect that at his age he'd stop having by now. They're surreal, semi-prophetic sequences that point to a bigger Big Bad that will probably show up in the next film. Yet again, we're hinting at some future plotline instead of focusing at the task at hand. Teasing about future calamity only confirms that we will in fact live through the current trouble in order to face the next. This takes the viewer out of the moment and makes the stakes less dire. You can read a more indepth explanation of Bruce's dreams here, but it won't really stop them from completely stalling the flow of the film.
This, THIS is the biggest problem I have with franchise movies of late! No one treats them as complete stories. Every movie is just a lead-in to the next. Therefore questions are only posed, never answered. If we spend half the movie speculating about what is going to happen in the next movie, what was the point of the first one to begin with?
You know what was a fantastic superhero movie? Batman Begins. And The Dark Knight was even better. But you know what was great about those two movies? They each told their own story, with little regard for what might be coming next. Batman Begins spent all of its time and energy introducing the world to Batman and how he ticks. It was a great story from beginning to end. Then at the very end of the film, when the story was finished, we got something to look forward to as they teased us with a new villian for the next film: The Joker. This is the way to do it, folks. Don't stop in the middle of one story to tell us about a different one that hasn't happened yet. Dawn of Justice is not the only offender on my list. My beloved Marvel Universe has also been tainted by this cart-before-horse madness with Avengers: Age of Ultron, where Thor stopped the entire movie to have a prophetic dream having to do with the upcoming Thor: Ragnorok. I'm sure there's some way to explain how this helped the Avengers beat Ultron, but... yeah, I'm done.
All in all, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice was a halfway decent superhero movie that I would not mind watching again when it comes out on Blu-ray. But it ultimately becomes a reminder of all the things that are going wrong in the movie industry. Producers and execs are all too busy counting their bats before they've hatched to really focus on creating excellent content, one story at a time.
-Jenna
Then The Flash actually got, not one, but two cameos. One of which was another quick super-powered character introduction like Aquaman's: Bruce sees him caught on camera using his super-speed. Pretty cool, I'm okay with that. But then later what appears to be a different version of The Flash seems to have traveled through time to deliver a cryptic message to Bruce. To me, a lot less cool. Mainly because we have no idea where (or when) he's coming from, and it's never explained. The scene pops out of nowhere as if it was spliced in from a different movie. Time travel is NOT a theme in this movie or part of the plot in any way! Those in the know figured out that this scene must be setting up a future storyline from the comics that does deal in time travel, but for those who were scratching their heads, it was just really aggravating. In interviews, Snyder more or less said that he made the scene vague and misleading on purpose. All I can say is, not my favorite directing move. Poor choice, Snyder, poor choice.
Besides visits from the future, Bruce Wayne keeps having these creepy dreams. No, they're not just nightmares about bats, which we both expect, and also expect that at his age he'd stop having by now. They're surreal, semi-prophetic sequences that point to a bigger Big Bad that will probably show up in the next film. Yet again, we're hinting at some future plotline instead of focusing at the task at hand. Teasing about future calamity only confirms that we will in fact live through the current trouble in order to face the next. This takes the viewer out of the moment and makes the stakes less dire. You can read a more indepth explanation of Bruce's dreams here, but it won't really stop them from completely stalling the flow of the film.
This, THIS is the biggest problem I have with franchise movies of late! No one treats them as complete stories. Every movie is just a lead-in to the next. Therefore questions are only posed, never answered. If we spend half the movie speculating about what is going to happen in the next movie, what was the point of the first one to begin with?
You know what was a fantastic superhero movie? Batman Begins. And The Dark Knight was even better. But you know what was great about those two movies? They each told their own story, with little regard for what might be coming next. Batman Begins spent all of its time and energy introducing the world to Batman and how he ticks. It was a great story from beginning to end. Then at the very end of the film, when the story was finished, we got something to look forward to as they teased us with a new villian for the next film: The Joker. This is the way to do it, folks. Don't stop in the middle of one story to tell us about a different one that hasn't happened yet. Dawn of Justice is not the only offender on my list. My beloved Marvel Universe has also been tainted by this cart-before-horse madness with Avengers: Age of Ultron, where Thor stopped the entire movie to have a prophetic dream having to do with the upcoming Thor: Ragnorok. I'm sure there's some way to explain how this helped the Avengers beat Ultron, but... yeah, I'm done.
All in all, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice was a halfway decent superhero movie that I would not mind watching again when it comes out on Blu-ray. But it ultimately becomes a reminder of all the things that are going wrong in the movie industry. Producers and execs are all too busy counting their bats before they've hatched to really focus on creating excellent content, one story at a time.
-Jenna