It's not a good sign when the Shia
Labeouf parody trailer “Dawn of Do It” looks more appealing than
a film's actual trailer. But c'mon, Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice is the first film to
have both the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel in it, so superfans
are pretty much obligated to see it. But is it any good? Let's find
out!
The
movie begins with a brief retelling of Batman's origin story. I would
make a joke here about how almost every Batman movie has to have one
of those, except here it feels like a shot-for-shot remake of the
origin story we saw in Batman Forever. Anyways,
we then see Bruce Wayne in Metropolis during the events of Man
of Steel in a brilliant scene
that illustrates just why Wayne doesn't like Superman. We're then
introduced to Batman in a creative scene that looks like it's from a
horror movie. Also Batman now brands his victims... yeah. We then cut
to - - for cryin' out loud! How much more jumping around could this
movie possibly do? The pacing on this film is so dang messy and so
dang fast, that the film's first half scarcely has any scenes that
are longer than a minute. This actually really irritated me; hardly
anything was as developed as it should have been. The film's second
half is like a disjointed mishmash of ill-explained events. So very
long story short: Lex Luthor manipulates Batman and Superman into
fighting each other as he also tries developing weapons to use
against Superman. It's a plot that just throws everything but the
kitchen sink at you, and it honestly could have been two separate
movies. It's a film loaded with dream sequences, Jesus allegories,
and terrorism/War on Terror metaphors. It also takes forever to end;
just when you think you've seen the last scene another one pops up.
Nevertheless, I have to give it to them, the scene where Batman and
Superman finally square off is by far the highlight of the film. That
part alone is worth the price of admission.
Batman v
Superman has a pretty large cast of notables, and for the most
part they do a fine job. Ben Affleck is a capable Batman and an even
better Bruce Wayne, all disillusioned and obsessed-like. Not the best
Batman, but still very good. Also, this Batman kills people; this
didn't bother me but others might be up in arms. (Side note: the new
batmobile looks way better this time. It's sleeker, leaner, and less
like a tank.) Wonder Woman was kind of cool. It's just too bad that
she doesn't really do anything until the end. (Also, she looks
suspiciously like Scarlett Johansson... just sayin'.) Jesse Eisenberg
was a so-so Lex Luthor. I didn't much care for him, but you can tell
he's trying, perhaps a little too hard. Doomsday just sucks, plain
and simple. Aside from being completely CG and having no dialogue,
Doomsday is absolutely nothing like he is in the comics (at least any
that I've read). He's got a weird array of random powers that had me
scratching my head. Lastly there's also a few cameos of other heroes
that are sure to come in the DC expanded universe sequels, but
they're just awkwardly inserted here, as if we're suddenly watching a
bunch of short teaser trailers.
The architect
behind Batman v Superman is Zack Snyder, who previously
directed such superhero films as Watchmen (2009) and Man of
Steel (2013), this movie's prequel. If you're familiar with his
work, you'll notice a lot of his conventions here. This includes
slow-mo, dream sequences, obvious symbolism, and parallelism. In
short, his direction is decent this time around. The action scenes
are intense yet watchable. The film is also very computer generated
effects-heavy which doesn't always look that great, especially during
the final fight scene. The 3-D is very “meh” - by the halfway
point I had honestly forgotten I had those 3-D glasses on my face.
Overall, Batman
v Superman: Dawn of Justice fails to measure up even to the
average Man of Steel. This one isn't well written, it's very
unfocused, it's not well-paced, and it feels just a bit too long.
It's worth viewing if you really want to see Superman and Batman on
the same screen together. Otherwise, this is one chapter of the
cinematic DC universe you need not concern yourself with.
Grade: two out of
five.
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