Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
(C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
2013 brought us Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel. It was alright -- contained cool things & bogus things. Now, we have a sequel in this Justice League franchise, 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (directed again by Zac Snyder, 300, Watchmen, Man of Steel). And my feelings: it was alright -- contains cool things & bogus things. Overall, while I liked the beginning and loved the last act, much of the lengthy midsection was convoluted, overwrought, ponderous, & dour. 'BvS' {as I'll refer to it} is one super-serious superhero drama; one that pits the titular characters - Batman (Ben Affleck) & Superman (Henry Cavill) - against each other. In 'BvS', Zac Snyder (and co.) figures out a WAY to establish our superheroes as rivals rather than allies: each questions the other one's legitimacy.
The film starts with a unique look back at the destructive Man of Steel climactic battle btwn. Superman & General Zod (Michael Shannon) - from the perspective of nearby Gotham City, where Bruce Wayne watches as buildings collapse and friends die; making him SUPER angry at Superman. He's also concerned about the possibility of Alien/God-like Superman turning against his adopted planet. 18 months after that battle in Man of Steel, Superman saves Lois Lane (Amy Adams) from a deadly hostage situation in the Middle East which, again, causes unintended collateral damage (death, destruction, brutality, mayhem).
On the flip side of things, Superman sees that Batman starts to brand criminals, making Clark Kent/Superman want to expose the Caped Crusader as a vigilante who is not to be trusted. Enter super-genius biotech billionaire, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), a megalomaniacal twit who wants these two foes pitted against each other for his own personal gain; add in a little kryptonite to the mix {Lex has his ways}, which goes a along way in rendering seemingly invincible Superman ... mortal. The stage is set for our 2 revered superheroes to go at each other in an epic battle royale - that is - until they must team-up to defeat a larger villain yet. Chaos ensues.
'BvS' is a mess of a film in which I loved things, hated things, yet didn't love nor hate the overall result ... it's just alriiiight. See? Mess. After enjoying that opening segment in which we see the Superman/Zod battle from the perspective of Bruce Wayne, the flow of the film slows and we get many scenes {some good, some not} of slow burn exposition, foggy character motivations, and general grimness. Grim, bleak, and any other verb applies. The sun never comes out, our characters rarely crack a smile, & little fun is to be had. Its as if Zac Snyder wants to out-do Christopher Nolan in portentous gravitas. One of the problems with that is: Nolan brought bleak gravitas while also building character development, traditional heroics, & a propulsive narrative that felt like it was going somewhere major. The best aspect of Chris Terrio's script is the subplot which highlights the political efforts made to deal with the superhero 'problem'. But that isn't wildly successful, either.
Lord knows Henry Cavill looks perfect as Superman, but his chemistry with Amy Adams is tepid, due mostly to the story giving them little time together. Ben Affleck is fine here, though Bruce Wayne is underdeveloped as a character, and Batman - as written - is little more than a brooding, bitter guy with a gravelly voice in a supercharged batsuit. Neither actor is given a character with real "meat" to chew on. They look the part, they battle hard, but I wanted more. Aided by some fantastic tribal drum music, Gal Gadot makes a stunning entrance as Wonder Woman during the climactic battle that made the hairs on my arms stand-up. She - like the battle itself - kicks butt! But WW is merely shoehorned in to this film with no purpose but to kick start the Justice League (for subsequent films in this franchise). Jeremy Irons & Holly Hunter are solid, but underused. And Jesse Eisenberg isn't imposing enough as Lex, a quirky Zuckerberg-like tech-nerd who's losing a grip.
At 153 min., 'BvS' is too long. I wish the 90 min. midsection had more narrative energy, less dream sequences, & clearer character motivations. Batman's motivation for wanting to kill Superman is not strong enough, in my opinion. And worse yet, his reasoning for aligning with Superman and NOT killing him ("Save Martha!!!") is both facile and ridiculous -- good thing the next 40 minutes is so badass that I could quickly move on from that ineptitude of storytelling. And yes, those last 40 min. are chock full of the kind of apocalyptic, villain comeuppance, visual-effect action that got my blood pumping again. I enjoyed it greatly. All said & done, I while I didn't actively hate 'BvS' while watching it, and while I liked enough of it, I wish the film had higher stakes, permanent consequences, but also more of a sense of fun.
The film starts with a unique look back at the destructive Man of Steel climactic battle btwn. Superman & General Zod (Michael Shannon) - from the perspective of nearby Gotham City, where Bruce Wayne watches as buildings collapse and friends die; making him SUPER angry at Superman. He's also concerned about the possibility of Alien/God-like Superman turning against his adopted planet. 18 months after that battle in Man of Steel, Superman saves Lois Lane (Amy Adams) from a deadly hostage situation in the Middle East which, again, causes unintended collateral damage (death, destruction, brutality, mayhem).
On the flip side of things, Superman sees that Batman starts to brand criminals, making Clark Kent/Superman want to expose the Caped Crusader as a vigilante who is not to be trusted. Enter super-genius biotech billionaire, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), a megalomaniacal twit who wants these two foes pitted against each other for his own personal gain; add in a little kryptonite to the mix {Lex has his ways}, which goes a along way in rendering seemingly invincible Superman ... mortal. The stage is set for our 2 revered superheroes to go at each other in an epic battle royale - that is - until they must team-up to defeat a larger villain yet. Chaos ensues.
'BvS' is a mess of a film in which I loved things, hated things, yet didn't love nor hate the overall result ... it's just alriiiight. See? Mess. After enjoying that opening segment in which we see the Superman/Zod battle from the perspective of Bruce Wayne, the flow of the film slows and we get many scenes {some good, some not} of slow burn exposition, foggy character motivations, and general grimness. Grim, bleak, and any other verb applies. The sun never comes out, our characters rarely crack a smile, & little fun is to be had. Its as if Zac Snyder wants to out-do Christopher Nolan in portentous gravitas. One of the problems with that is: Nolan brought bleak gravitas while also building character development, traditional heroics, & a propulsive narrative that felt like it was going somewhere major. The best aspect of Chris Terrio's script is the subplot which highlights the political efforts made to deal with the superhero 'problem'. But that isn't wildly successful, either.
Lord knows Henry Cavill looks perfect as Superman, but his chemistry with Amy Adams is tepid, due mostly to the story giving them little time together. Ben Affleck is fine here, though Bruce Wayne is underdeveloped as a character, and Batman - as written - is little more than a brooding, bitter guy with a gravelly voice in a supercharged batsuit. Neither actor is given a character with real "meat" to chew on. They look the part, they battle hard, but I wanted more. Aided by some fantastic tribal drum music, Gal Gadot makes a stunning entrance as Wonder Woman during the climactic battle that made the hairs on my arms stand-up. She - like the battle itself - kicks butt! But WW is merely shoehorned in to this film with no purpose but to kick start the Justice League (for subsequent films in this franchise). Jeremy Irons & Holly Hunter are solid, but underused. And Jesse Eisenberg isn't imposing enough as Lex, a quirky Zuckerberg-like tech-nerd who's losing a grip.
At 153 min., 'BvS' is too long. I wish the 90 min. midsection had more narrative energy, less dream sequences, & clearer character motivations. Batman's motivation for wanting to kill Superman is not strong enough, in my opinion. And worse yet, his reasoning for aligning with Superman and NOT killing him ("Save Martha!!!") is both facile and ridiculous -- good thing the next 40 minutes is so badass that I could quickly move on from that ineptitude of storytelling. And yes, those last 40 min. are chock full of the kind of apocalyptic, villain comeuppance, visual-effect action that got my blood pumping again. I enjoyed it greatly. All said & done, I while I didn't actively hate 'BvS' while watching it, and while I liked enough of it, I wish the film had higher stakes, permanent consequences, but also more of a sense of fun.