I liked Batman V Superman. I’m not even gonna bother telling you about all the things that were wrong with it, because you have enough materiel on that. Instead, I wanna share what I liked about it. Those little moments of brilliance that resonated with the long time DC fan in me that the other DC films failed to capture.

Dawn of Justice felt like a giant comic book come to life. It “read” like a comic book; with a plot that was just there for us to have some of my favorite comic book moments brought to life. What Snyder did was pretty much take the ending of The Dark Knight Returns, which is arguably the ultimate Batman bible in terms of aims and motivations for the character, and just added content around it to make a film.

And I’m ok with that. In fact the “Special thanks to Frank Miller” at the end is fitting.

If you wanted to, you could sit down and pick apart any one of the recent superhero movies, granted some are easier to pick apart than others, but these “lackings” need to be measured in the face of the bigger picture they are trying to present; and the bigger picture here is that we get to see two of the greatest comic icons be brought to life amidst some of their most pinnacle comic book moments.

Like I said, the film to me played out just like a comic book. It reminded me very specifically of the fairly recent Geoff Johns story “Flash Point”- both shared a dark tone and both dared to re-imagine our DC staples in new and interesting ways.

In Flashpoint, part of the story arc involves a re-imaging of the Joker, making him out to be Bruce Wayne’s own mother. In this alternative reality when their son is shot an killed in front of them, Thomas Wayne becomes a gun trotting version of the caped crusader while Bruce’s mum snaps and becomes the Joker.

Now, can you imagine if such a thing happened in a feature film? It would be torn apart by “fans”; but in the confines of the comic world, this interesting idea is allowed to fly. One could argue that this is because the idea presented is an alternative take on the characters we know and love, and that we still have the comics to go back too. BUT then, the same can be said for what we see on screen.

None of the versions of Batman or Superman have been 100% of what they are in the comics. Even the 1989 Batman that so many people, like myself, have held dear all this time, took massive liberties with the character. Turning Jack Napier aka The Joker into the man who shot Bruce’s parents, making the Bat suit black and letting Batman actually kill people. These are just a few of the dramatic changes that fans embraced with that film.

Heck, even Christopher Nolan took the Batman into directions I personally didn’t like. He actually took the idea of a man dressing up as a bat to fight crime and made it grounded and almost reasonable. BUT it’s not! That’s bat-shit crazy! And that’s what Snyder, or at least his writers, put back on the table.

But then all these things kind of go back to the source materiel they were referencing, which was mostly the work of Frank Miller. Miller dared to embrace Batman’s insanity. You can actually read about it here in a previous post I wrote, which celebrated 30 years of Millers Dark Knight Returns.

I love that one line from Dawn of Justice when Bruce is talking to Alfred: “We’re criminals Alfred, we always have been”

I love that, because this Batman accepts that if you’re going to be running around town as a vigilante; there is no room for half-assing it. It’s often been argued that Bruce Wayne dressing up as a bat only encouraged the other “crazies” in Gotham to take on their own alter egos. But when you see what Affleck’s Batman has in store for the scum of Gotham, it would take a seriously sick individual to wanna go up against that. A sick individual that we will hopefully see in Jared Leto’s Joker come Suicide Squad.

Keven Smith recently commented on Batman V Super, and one of the things he said that stood out for me was that this film dhad no “heart”, and that’s true. While normally I’m talking about how superhero movies really lack actual heroism, especially in my complaints against the Man of Steel movie, I think it’s established pretty early on in BvS that “having a heart” is an idea that died a long time ago in this DC setting.

Right from the start of the movie we have that lump in our throats from the death of the Waynes. And we see glimpses of how this tragic event swelled in Bruce’s throat; growing like a cancer until finally it’s let out as one loud, angry scream… and that scream is Batman.

This is hammered home when Batman tells Superman that the world only makes sense when you force it to. This is dark… this is gritty… this reaches a bleak recess that Nolan could have only dreamed of for own his films. Where the Bale Batman can slip a smile at Alfred or share witty banter with Lucius; the Affleck Batman wakes up angry, even if it’s next to a beautiful woman. He’s got no time for laughs, so much so that even Alfred has grown tired of trying to talk any sense into Bruce and now just mournfully aids him against his blind quest for… something.

“That’s how it starts” says Alfred to Bruce… “The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men… cruel”

There is no “heart” …

I also love the way the film addresses Superman. If some how we did have a super powered man flying around taking it upon himself to “right wrongs” we’d all be left to wonder… who is going to keep him in line? What if he does something wrong?

“The world has been so caught up with what he can do that no one has asked what he should do” ~ Senator Finch

Thematically this borrows some what from Snyder’s previous adaptation of Alan Moore’s work: Watchmen.

Watchmen was another film that showed us that you would have to be crazy to be a hero, as the only person in it who is really trying to stand up for the “good of the people” is Rorschach, who both the comic source and the film reminds us is troubled and more than a little crazy. But he is intent on answering the question: Who watches the Watchmen?

In the case of Batman V Superman, The Dark knight thinks that the Big Blue Boy scout did do wrong and needs to be put in line. In fact, Batman’s entire motivation in the film is that he hated the ending of Man of Steel as much as we did.

I wish the film did explore this more from Clark’s perspective. Looking at his struggles to save a world that is more afraid of him than “with him”, but maybe we can see this later in another movie.

I guess most of what I’ve said just means I personally loved the new movie because, though it fell short in a lot of places, it rose to become my favorite Batman film.

Addressing the other bits and pieces of the film; it did take a moment to warm up to their new take on Lex Luthor, but when you think about it, he is a perfect fit in today’s billionaire world of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.

You can’t hate on Wonder Woman in it because she appears on screen for a little over 7mins. That was just enough to have me be interested in the character but not enough to make me love or hate her. I think some fans are upset because they wanted more of her; but she will have her own movie for you to piss on soon… so just hang in there.

I didn’t mind the new Flash either. I think most people are just hurt that it’s not the guy from TV. Ezra Miller is a decent actor and we gotta wait and see what he actually does with the character in the next film. Same for Aquaman and Cyborg.

Actually, for the little we did see of Cyborg; I was pretty excited. I also got a kick out of seeing Joe Morton as the guy who helps create our cybernetic hero, since he also had a hand in our impending doom by creating Skynet in Terminator 2.

I loved the new Bat mobile and the Bat wing, both were broken in very nicely. And what about that Bat-fight in the warehouse; you can’t tell me that you didn’t like that. And you can not tell me that when the Caped crusader finally does go toe to toe with the Last son of Krypton; it didn’t give you chills. Those moments were my favorite pages from Dark Knight Returns brought to life in all it’s brutal glory.

The only thing I flat out didn’t like was Doomsday. I felt like he was forced into a script that already had too much happening. But it gave way to some great action pieces so I can’t be that put off by it.

I’ve never been one to question critics, because at the end of the day they have to share their opinion; it’s what they do. But I can not understand the horribly low scores Batman V Superman has gotten. And as for the fans complaining; surely there is some merit in this film that appeals to your fandom?

It certainly has all the hallmarks of previous DC efforts. It’s dark. It’s gritty and kids may not like it.

The story is a bit “hit n miss” in places, and there is at least one “Dream sequence” that felt out of place; but to me Dawn of Justice is the best DC movie yet.

I’m very excited to see what happens next.