The Good, The Bad And The Ugly In The Batman V Superman Trailer

Unless you are living under a rock, do not have Internet access or have zero interest in comic book movies, you have probably already seen the Batman v Superman trailer.

After initially watching, my reaction was generally positive. However, after some back-and-forth banter with my family and friends offline, I began to question my initial reaction. And then I inevitably began comparing it to the Captain America: Civil War trailer.

For purposes here, I won’t compare the two trailers, but merely highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly of what I am calling The Dark Knight vs. Man of Steel teaser video.

The Good

The first frame of the trailer is very good to me. I like the tense conversation between Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. Not only is it cool to see the two most famous alter egos in comic book history verbally spar for the first time ever on-screen, but it is even cooler to see them battle to a draw (aided by a Lex Luthor “intervention” into their rousing conversation).

The best line of the scene was uttered by Wayne when he said: “We just have a bad history with freaks dressed like clowns.”

This line is not only a direct shot at “Supe” but also a nice reference to Batman’s previous confrontations with Gotham’s most famous criminal, the Joker.

The other things that I really like about the trailer were the hyper-kinetic fight sequences involving Batman and Superman. There’s a lot of armor, fire and flying. What’s not to like about that? To quote Lex Luthor, “it’s the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world.”

The Bad

Speaking of Lex Luthor, he becomes kind of annoying to me as the trailer progresses. His initial lines at the banquet dinner are both timely and witty. He then voices over the ensuing “Super” battle between Batman and Superman. And then he sarcastically embraces being called psychotic by Lois Lane. At that point, I began wondering if DC should consider revisiting its now-infamous ban on jokes in its movies, because it was getting tired.

The Ugly

CGI. CGI. CGI. Did I ever tell you that I hate CGI? OK, maybe “hate” is too strong of a word, but I feel that directors like Zack Snyder and Michael Bay too often rely on flash (no DC pun intended) over substance to mesmerize popcorn flick filmgoers.

Earlier in the post, I laud the fight scenes for their freshness but I also can’t help but think about the dizzying, “too-fast” movements that made the Man of Steel fight scenes hard on my eyes. And if you watch it in the 3-D, good luck!

Last but not least, I couldn’t help but be irked by the Abomination (Marvel pun intended) that was Doomsday towards the end of the trailer. I won’t comment on how or why this seminal Superman villain enters the fray, but I can’t help but comment on how derivative and cheesy he looks here.

Despite my closing paragraphs on “the ugly,” I still believe that the good of the trailer slightly outweighs the bad. At the end of the day, I’ve seen great trailers (think Prometheus) precede mediocre movies. And I have seen tepid trailers (think the first Iron Man) precede great films. So there should be no cause for alarm here.

Nothing that I have seen thus far has changed my feelings of cautious optimism regarding the film. I will continue to feel this way unless I see another trailer with too much CGI or too many Jesse Eisenberg (who I like by the way) jokes.

Until then, I’m keeping the faith, and eagerly awaiting the “the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world” when Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice drops next year.