★ 3

– Surya Vijay Urs

Info

Duration: 2h 31m

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Gal Gadot

Director: Zack Snyder

Year Released: 2016

I love superheroes. I’ve been a Batman fan for the longest time, ever since my dad first showed me Tim Burton’s Batman (1989). The first time we see Batman in that film is when he appears and kicks the crap out of two thieves, and that was the moment I fell in love with him. He doesn’t have any powers, he’s just a regular guy (well a regular rich guy) and hence, relatable. My friends know I absolutely love Batman, and, even more than that, comics in general. When the mere idea of two iconic superheroes from DC was introduced as a possibility, I was hooked. Therein lies the problem, and that is why I view “Batman v Superman” as a disappointment.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean a disappointment as in “Oh the movie was appalling and horrific” – I watched it twice and overall, I actually enjoyed it. I mean a disappointment because the hype surrounding this film was crazy, and for good reason. People started taking sides, fans would debate about who would win in a fight, and many speculated on what this movie would mean for the DC Cinematic Universe as a whole. I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a movie promoted so aggressively in a while, but this just goes to show how excited most people were for the movie, from hardcore fans to even casual viewers. What people need to realize is that no matter how harsh the critics are being, they cannot be biased and be grateful that Batman and Superman are on the same screen, they need to be objective, go through the movie step-by-step and make a judgment as to whether the movie can work on its own.

The movie focuses on the aftermath of Superman and Zod’s fight across a majority of Metropolis – and the audience gets to see Bruce/Batman’s perspective of it and where his anger for Clark stems from. The movie boils down to the point of whether Superman is allowed to do whatever he wants without having to follow orders or having to report to anyone, or have a system in which he is not allowed to go around flying wherever he wants and causing damages, as he does so to save Lois in Africa. If Lois had a gadget or something to contact him then yes it is more than plausible but it happens around three times in the film. Superman goes into a deeper hole with the officials because of Lois, Lex attracts his attention because of Lois, and I won’t state the last one because if someone is reading this and they have not watched the movie, I rather not spoil it for them. I like Lois, I like Amy Adams, but she is not written well, plain and simple – at least they showed her getting to Clark using a helicopter instead of her supposedly running through half of Metropolis [Man of Steel].

The premise of Batman & Superman’s fight and how it ended – If Clark can easily hear Lois in Africa while she’s being held at gunpoint, surely he can hear his mother being held hostage while being in the same city. There was no proper expectation going in of what the fight between the two would be like but I still do not know what to make of it – I was definitely entertained but it just seemed way too one-sided. The way it ended could have been way better – pausing when Clark says “Martha”. Both their mothers have the same name, whoop-de-doo – this is likely the reason for why the opening scene was too long. Thomas Wayne mouths Martha’s name and I guess that’s a smart move because it triggers Bruce’s memories and keeps him momentarily distracted. It does demonstrate his more emotional side but the concept seemed cheesy in the moment.

Wonder Woman was just amazing to see on-screen – Gal did well as Diana Prince and as the superhero. One thing, however, is would it have much difference if she wasn’t in it? Other than the final fight, she wasn’t used to her full potential. Sure there isn’t enough screen time for all that, but an idea is that she could have been the one to expose Lex to Bruce and Clark and then from there, an epic team-up would happen – her main purpose was to support the existence of metahumans, but she made a good appearance and her solo film will be highly anticipated. Speaking of Lex, I was surprisingly fine when Jesse Eisenberg was cast. It was definitely a curious choice – Lex is an aggressive and very manipulative character, and Jesse will still be remembered as Mark Zuckerberg from “The Social Network”. He also beat expectations – it was a different role for him and he did bring his A-game. The only issue was how psychotic they showed Lex to be – his thoughts are not as collected and organized as his comic-book counterpart. The big-twist, Doomsday, was actually pretty cool to see, although the spikes were slightly disappointing, and the final fight was entertaining, but again to a certain extent thanks to Hans Zimmer [the music transitions were poor].

The question is, does the movie work as a stand-alone movie? The answer is yes, but to a certain extent. Man of Steel, although not exactly the best superhero movie and may have had its flaws, can stand on its own two feet. This movie partly relies much on the viewers’ previous knowledge of comic books as well as future events that inspires Bruce to get Diana to help start the Justice League. Flash time-travels to warn Bruce [was it a vision? a dream?], we see previews of The Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman, Lois Lane is apparently the key to everything [Injustice?], and Parademons also make an appearance as Lex also makes references to Darkseid. I do not like making this comparison but this movie is essentially the “Captain America: The First Avenger” of the DCEU, because both these movies were a set-up for the big group to come in and kick ass.

Did I enjoy the movie? Initially, I didn’t know and that upset me but after watching it a second time, I actually did enjoy the film. The cast was impressive – Ben Affleck did SUCH a good job, he exceeded everyone’s expectations at representing both Bruce Wayne and Batman when previous incarnations were only good at being one of the personas. The cast as a whole were brilliant. The set designs were beautiful, from the new re-designed Batcave to Gotham in the final fight. The cinematography and the aesthetics were alluring but the editing can be improved on. Regardless of the many flaws this movie has, I have to applaud Zack Snyder for taking so many risks and getting this movie and his vision for the DC Universe out there. To make this big a movie is no way an easy task, not only because of the multiple storylines and paths that can and could have been taken, but also because again, the humongous hype and scrutiny while being under the public eye must have been a lot of pressure.

A friend recently said this to me: “Snyder found a gorgeous puzzle set, and every piece was amazingly well designed. And then he threw it on the ground and said it was done. If you separated the movie into pieces and told people pieces of the film, the movie would sound great, amazing actually.” The editing caused the movie to not have an organic flow: there were many scenes where the transitions were not natural and the shift in music was too sudden and went from very heavy to a soft instrumental – it just didn’t make sense. There are a couple of flaws in the plot and the music was not spectacular. Hans Zimmer’s best work on a superhero film will always be on “The Dark Knight” – it didn’t feel like Batman and Wonder Woman had a proper definite theme like Superman does, which disappoints me because Hans’ ability to represent a character through the live instrumentation is often beautiful.

As I said before, I don’t know what I expected. I’m just glad this movie finally exists because this will set-up future films for the DCEU and it opens up the gate for so many different projects, from the Justice League to Wonder Woman to Green Lantern Corps – there are so many potential films and I cannot wait. For now, I would like to just tell everyone to lay off the critics back, it’s their job. If you don’t agree, that’s fine. Such things should be open to debate and that is how productive conversations can happen and especially with a movie with a large magnitude in terms of its impact, we should keep an open mind and that way, improvements can be made so that in the future, comic-book fans can actually get a DC team-up that is well received by all audiences.

Acting: 4/5

Script and Screenplay: 2.5/5

Cinematography: 4/5

Music: 2/5

Editing: 2.5/5