By: Tyler Miller
This is a movie that many people have been waiting all their life for. Finally seeing Batman and Superman share the screen, much less fighting each other? Years ago the thought of this happening was just a dream; that is until San Diego Comic Con in 2013 when the minds of comic fans and non-comic fans alike were blown at the announcement of this movie. Well the dream is now a reality, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in theaters for us all to watch.
This is quite possibly the biggest movie of the year, what with all the hype surrounding it. Obviously the big question on everyone’s mind is whether or not the movie is the amazing and perfect movie that all the fans expected it to be. Unfortunately, it’s not the amazing and perfect movie that they expected it to be or wanted it to be.
The movie takes place about a year and half after the events of 2013’s Man of Steel. Superman (Henry Cavill) is still a controversial figure due to the destruction of Metropolis and the world is trying to figure out where he stands. Is he really a good guy? Does he have the world’s best interests at heart? Who’s to say he won’t just kill us all? That last thought is one that many people share, including none other than Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck). He sees Superman as a threat since he has the power to kill everyone and feels that he needs to be eliminated so that there is no chance of him wiping out the human race. So he prepares himself to get ready to fight Superman in the match of the century. Meanwhile we have Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) who is plotting a way to get rid of Superman as well, since he hates him just as much as Bruce if not more.
The plot sounds pretty simple right? Well it is, but to an extent. The premise of the movie is simple, but it’s the execution where things start to fall flat. For the first part of the movie, the movie bounces around from plot line to plot line in a way that’s not coherent. We go from Clark’s story, to Bruce’s story, then over to Lex’s story, back to Clark’s story, just to jump right on over back to Lex’s story. Sure there are movies that juggle multiple plot lines, but they do it in a coherent way. The way it’s done here in BvS though is not totally coherent, and because of this the plot suffers. Had things been edited a bit differently to make these scenes flow better, then it wouldn’t have been as bad at the start. Things get better at about the halfway point and all the different threads come together in the end, but the road there is a bit bumpy.
In addition to that, the movie is also trying to setup the Justice League movies (coming out in 2017 and 2019) by introducing different characters and teasing possible future events/characters. This is something that the movie unfortunately doesn’t do all that well. For those that have knowledge of the comics, these teases and setups will be something to get excited about. As someone who has knowledge of the comics I did get excited by them, but at the same time some of them felt out of place and like they were shoved in there just for the sake of setting up the universe. For those that don’t have knowledge of the comics, I can imagine these scenes being a giant WTF moment for them that only takes them out of the movie and confuses them.
Speaking of the way the movie flows, the pacing is another issue that the movie suffers from, with the beginning being fairly boring and things starting to pick up around the middle of the movie. This is due to the tone of the movie, and the fact that there isn’t much superhero action in the movie. The tone is something that many people had an issue with in Man of Steel. I didn’t have an issue with it, but I did understand the reasons why people had an issue with it. I liked the grounded, serious, realistic tone that the movie had and totally bought into it. Here though, it just bogs the movie down and keeps it from being fun or exciting in any kind of way outside of the action scenes.
Now I’m sure at this point you’ll probably be writing me off and saying “If you want fun, why don’t you just go and watch those kiddie Marvel movies? Superhero movies don’t always have to be nothing but fun and make jokes every five minutes.” You’re right. Superhero movies don’t always have to be fun fests with jokes coming every couple of minutes (which isn’t the case with most Marvel movies in my opinion). The thing is they should still have some sort of levity to them and still know how to have fun and be exciting, especially when the main character is Superman, someone that is known for being a symbol of hope and being more lighthearted than characters like Batman.
This is something that Nolan’s Batman movies did, even though they were more serious than fun. We still had moments that broke up the dour mood or kept things exciting even though the movies were serious. The same goes for Man of Steel. It had its moments of fun and excitement (Superman’s first flight always comes to mind) that kept the movie from being so dour and boring. Hell, even Watchmen is a movie that I like a lot and that movie is probably even more serious than BvS. The point though is that the movie could’ve used a little more fun and even a couple of jokes throughout to make things more exciting and less boring.
When it comes to the action, a majority of the it doesn’t happen until the end of the film, with there being only two other action scenes: one at the very start of the film, and one in the middle. The fact that there isn’t too much action for the majority of the movie wouldn’t really be too much of an issue if it wasn’t for the fact that everything else is just really boring and not that exciting or interesting. Although there isn’t that much action for the majority of the movie, when it gets to those scenes they are definitely exciting, brutal, and a joy to watch. Batman gets a majority of the action scenes in the movie (It’s only fitting with his name being the first in the title. Don’t worry, I’m joking!) and they are all pretty damn amazing.
Let’s talk about Ben Affleck and his Batman actually now that we’re on the subject. This is definitely not like any Batman that’s been portrayed on the big screen. He’s violent, brutal, unforgiving, and even more badass than any other version that we’ve seen in theaters. I probably sound like I’m jumping on the bandwagon right now (you’ve probably thought that already about everything else I’ve said if you’ve read other reviews) but this is THE definitive Batman. Affleck not only nails the Batman side of things, but he also nails the Bruce Wayne side of things as well, effortlessly showing us the playboy side of him and the hardened, worn down side of him as well. Whenever Affleck is on screen, he immediately becomes the most interesting and exciting character to watch just because Affleck does a great job with the role. If you were worried about him because of Daredevil, you have nothing to fear.
Henry Cavill plays Superman essentially the same way that he did in Man of Steel, so if you didn’t like him there you probably won’t like him now. The only difference is that he’s much more stoic in this movie, so you don’t get much out of him aside from in a few scenes. Amy Adams doesn’t get much to do in the movie as Lois Lane, which is unfortunate because she’s a great actress. Her character has some nice scenes with Clark, showing the relationship they have and how much closer they’ve become since Man of Steel. These are some good scenes, and my only complaint is that there just weren’t enough of them.
Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor has been a hot topic ever since he was cast in the role. Once people heard his speaking lines people became more hesitant, with some even shooting him down and saying that he’s too Jokerish and not like the actual Luthor. I personally didn’t have an issue with him, but I do wish he was more of a sinister character and not the hyperactive character that we got for a majority of the movie. I was reminded of his performance in The Social Network, which wasn’t bad at all, but just doesn’t fit the Lex Luthor character all that well. Perhaps whenever he pops up again we’ll get the sinister version of the character.
The other big character that everyone was looking forward to seeing was Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. This is the first time that the iconic character has been brought to the big screen and she didn’t disappoint at all. Well, at least when she was in her Wonder Woman outfit during the film’s finale. During that part she definitely showed that she can be this Amazonian warrior that kicks loads of ass in a fight and doesn’t back down. Any doubters in Gadot’s ability to play Wonder Woman can eat their words now. She pops up semi-sporadically throughout the rest of the movie as her citizen alter ego Diana Prince, and doesn’t really get to do much aside in her scenes aside from set up the Justice League movies. That’s not to say that Gadot did a bad job with the role because she didn’t at all. She was probably one of my favorite things about the movie. It’s just a shame that she didn’t have a bigger role in the movie (but not too big), so I’m blaming the writers for this one. I’m excited for her solo movie that’s coming out next year though, which will hopefully be good.
Our other players are Jeremy Irons as Bruce’s trusty butler Alfred, Laurence Fishburne as Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White, and Diane Lane as Clark’s mom Martha Kent. None of them have particularly too much screen time (due to all the different things that the movie is trying to do), but they make the most of it. Irons is probably the standout of the bunch as he brings a new Alfred to the big screen that’s more hands on with Batman’s activities and left a good impression on me.
When it comes to the music, I don’t have much to say other than the fact that composers Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL do not disappoint. Each character has their own theme music and they all sound great. Wonder Woman’s theme may be my favorite, although Batman’s isn’t bad either.
All in all, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is not a bad film. Do I think that some of the critics were too harsh on it? Yeah I do, as the movie is not a horrible film at all. It’s simply okay. I liked the movie, but not as much as I was hoping I would. I was really hoping that I would walk out the movie with my mind blown and saying that it was amazing, and unfortunately that didn’t happen. Admittedly there was one thing about the movie that blew my mind, but other than that nothing else really excited me as much as I hoped. Not even the shot of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman on screen together excited me as much as I thought it would, simply because it didn’t feel all that earned. I hate to do this, but I have to.
With Marvel’s The Avengers, the big hero shot with all the characters standing in a circle on screen together had me pumped and really excited. That was a moment that I had been waiting for since 2008 with the first Iron Man movie. Every subsequent movie made me care about the characters and connect with them, leading to that big FUCK YEAH moment when they shared the screen together in Avengers. Since the characters aren’t developed enough in BvS and we don’t have that same emotional connection with them, the moment just kind of falls flat. We don’t get the same sense of camaraderie that we did in Avengers, so instead of me being as excited as a ten year old on Christmas day, I was only mildly excited.
Let me wrap this review up though. The movie is just an okay movie. It’s not a bad movie, but at the same time it’s not great or amazing either, and unfortunately it doesn’t live up to the hype. I still liked the movie, but I wish I liked it more because it could’ve been better than it is. We’ll see how the Justice League movies go since Zack Snyder is directing them. Perhaps he’ll have someone watching over him more? Only time will tell.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is in theaters now.
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