As someone who grew up reading Batman and Justice League comic books, and of course Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight Rises,” I had to check out Batman V Superman (BvS), despite all of the negative criticism.
Let me state up front that the movie IS as bad as the critics stated. I didn’t think it would be possible. Since there are many, many comments about the movie out there, I will confine my comments to those that I think are most important.
First, BvS is just bloated and noisy (and not in a fun way).
At the very least it should have been fun. It made Man of Steel look upbeat. This is something that the studios should really think about if they want to salvage the ensuing Justice League movies.
Second, I found Ben Affleck’s take on Batman to be a bit better than his take on Daredevil, and on par with Val Kilmer’s Batman (better than Clooney though).
Sorry to all the Ben Affleck fans out there, but he just doesn’t bring the nuance that Michael Keaton or Christian Bale brought to the character. In terms of look and fighting scenes, his depiction is very close to the Batman of comic book lore; more so than any film to-date. However, other than these superficial qualitiess, Affleck is an unrecognizable Batman to me. He’s very impulsive, easy to manipulate, and not particularly bright. Maybe there’s just a correlation between Ben Affleck and tepid superhero films? I don’t know.
Third, it’s clear that Zack Snyder had ONLY one purpose with this movie. It wasn’t about Superman or really jump starting the Justice League. It seemed like he wanted to prove that he could make the best Batman movie.
Suffice it to say, it’s really backfired in my opinion. It’s too bad, because I think that he could cost himself the chance of leading films in the comic book movie genre going forward. BvS should at least have been a halfway decent film.
How can anyone mess this up?? You can start with the title! What movie with ‘versus’ in the title has really been good? When you come up with one, please let me know via the comments section below. The script was confusing and some of the casting was even more perplexing. Why in the world was Jesse Eisenberg selected to play Lex Luthor??
I believe that Snyder chose Eisenberg and Affleck to prove a point. Namely, that he can put his stamp on Luthor and Batman, much in the same way that Nolan did with his Batman and Joker. Eisenberg gave us the most ridiculously annoying Luthor to ever grace the big or small screen. Superman was not even, ya know, super. He had the personality of a tree, but I don’t think that this was all Henry Cavill’s fault (see script).
And last and definitely not least, it’s worth noting that Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, provided BvS with its lone bright spot to me.
Snyder and Warner Brothers should have proceeded with a Man of Steel sequel. They had the opportunity to clean up the mistakes of the imperfect but solid first film. Here are some suggestions that I would have shared if they asked me: make the sequel brighter in color and tone; Superman more optimistic about the world, and Clark Kent more idealistic. This would have satisfied comic book fans like me and offered a more engaging film.
The last 20 or 30 minutes could have then been used to introduce Clark Kent and Lois Lane to Batman. This would serve as the basis for a third Man of Steel picture, that would introduce Superman into Batman’s world (albeit a younger Batman not the older, world-weary Frank Miller version). Perhaps Wonder Woman could have been introduced by the third film. And then film #4 could have been the first Justice League movie.
Rather than take this measured approach, Snyder and the execs at Warner Bros. chose to create an incredibly bloated, marginally coherent film in what appears to be an effort to keep pace with their “rival” that starts with an “M.” Although this film will likely make boatloads of cash, that’s perhaps the biggest impression it will make.
As Princess Leia so eloquently stated to the space pirate Han Solo towards the end of Star Wars, “if money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive.” And therein lies the problem with the DC Extended Universe to-date.
As a die-hard Batfan, I sincerely hope that plot ultimately trumps profit in DC’s “super-saga.”