Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Grade: C-
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy
Adams, Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Holly Hunter, Laurence Fishburne, and Diane Lane , with
Scoot McNairy as Wallace Keefe
Premise: Disgruntled billionaire Bruce Wayne becomes a
crime-fighting vigilante while nursing a grudge against Superman, who has
become a polarizing figure in the wake of the destruction of Metropolis.
Rated PG-13 for intense action and violence, scenes of peril
and destruction, some gory/disturbing images, and brief language
It’s hard to know how Batman
v Superman: Dawn of Justice would have come across if its plot wasn’t one
of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood
history. This is a movie that probably would have seemed perfunctory enough as
it is, let alone after its marketing team released four different trailers that
spoiled nearly every worthwhile moment in the film and made the dots easy to
connect even for what it didn’t spoil. But the trailers, combined, can only
amount to maybe twenty minutes, and this is a two-and-a-half-hour film. Surely
there’s a way, even with a lot of material spoiled, to still wangle a good,
even great, movie out of that?
Well, the world will never know, because Director Zack
Snyder’s film, a sequel/spinoff of 2013’s Man
of Steel and obvious franchise origin story for upcoming Justice League movies, is a mess—an
over-long, over-stuffed, dull, boring, clichéd mess. Batman v Superman might be the least-effective and worthwhile
big-screen superhero venture I’ve seen since Spiderman 3 in 2007. It
really shouldn’t be that way. Even though plenty giggled at the very concept of
“Batman versus Superman” (because, duh, Superman is indestructible, thus, it
can’t really be THAT much of a contest), you’re still talking about a movie
that features no fewer than two pop-culture-icon characters, eight
Academy-Award nominated actors, the chance to plug DC’s version of the
Avengers, and to set the mood for
this summer’s upcoming Suicide Squad,
which looks pretty rad. How could that
be bad? Well, first you make a movie that is not very good, and then you show
pretty much all the actual good parts in the trailers, leaving audiences
struggling through the film to realize there’s nothing worth watching in it that
they haven’t already seen. That’s not a good start.
Plot
While this movie
introduces several major characters, it is still a sequel to 2013’s Superman
movie ‘Man of Steel’. While not mandatory, viewing of or familiarity with the
plot of ‘Man of Steel’ is recommended because several major characters are
returning and this movie more or less picks up right where that one left off.
Sure, Superman (Henry Cavill) saved the world from total
destruction at the hands of Kryptonian sociopath General Zod (Michael Shannon),
but their grudge match leveled much of the city of Metropolis and left thousands dead. So, despite
his good looks, super strength, small-town-Kansas roots, and heroic acts, many
consider “the alien” a threat and a menace to society. One particular
individual smarting from the destruction Superman caused is billionaire Bruce
Wayne (Ben Affleck), who lives in Gotham
City
Plenty of others are on the warpath against Superman. One
surviving Wayne Enterprises employee (Scoot McNairy) launches an angry media
campaign against the “false god” who caused the destruction. A no-nonsense
senator (Holly Hunter) conducts highly-publicized hearings in the Capitol that
scrutinize every aspect of the destruction and disruption Superman has caused.
And a smarmy, rich scientist named Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), head of
genetic research company LexCorp, uncovers something in the wreckage of the
Kryptonian machine Zod was using to destroy the southern hemisphere—kryptonite.
While Daily Planet editor Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) and star reporter Lois Lane (Amy
Adams) remain on Superman’s side, the walls begin to close in, with Luthor
making big claims, the hearings getting rougher, and the “Gotham Bat” hinting
that he wants nothing more than an opportunity to pulverize Superman with his
bare hands.
What Works?
There have to be some
things that work, right? Well…some. I
blame this very underwhelming film’s muddled final output on director Snyder
and the writers, who tried to cram in and juggle way too much. I don’t blame
the actors. For all the fuss about his casting, Affleck might come off the best
of any of the actors, scowling and brooding and, occasionally, turning on the
Bruce Wayne charm. Honestly, I didn’t sit there missing Christian Bale—maybe because
Affleck has been such a visible, famous personality for so long, I’m just used
to him being in movies—though even the top-billed star doesn’t get to do that much. With his screen time cut into
by the Superman half of the plot, Affleck gets very little time to develop
Bruce Wayne as a person beyond a few creepy dream sequences he has. Cavill
makes an effective enough Superman, though the fact remains that, rather like
Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Superman just isn’t that
interesting of a character.
Rather unsurprisingly, it’s Eisenberg who gets to have the
most fun and, thus, is the most fun
in this dreary film. Playing Luthor as something between his antisocial Mark
Zuckerberg from The Social Network
and an old-fashioned mad scientist, Eisenberg gets almost all the script’s best
lines and gets to greedily chew scenery that desperately needs to be chewed on.
“Psychotic? That’s a word for ideas too
big for little minds,” he says smartly at one point (yes, it was in the
trailer). “I don’t know where she is! I told them not to tell me!” He cackles
gleefully at another, while cornered, in a Joker-esque bit of mischief. When
Eisenberg turns it up in the third act, the film finally—finally!—starts to get off the ground and feel like the big-screen
comic-book entertainment it’s supposed to be, though it must be admitted even
his character is short-changed, with a barely-explained secret experiment and a
final scene that is dragged on way longer than necessary.
Besides the actors doing what they can with rushed,
overly-busy material, the movie has a few moments where it starts to become
something more. The opening sequence—the climax of Man of Steel seen from the ground-level viewpoint of Bruce Wayne—is
powerful, climaxing in a gut-punch moment where a Wayne Enterprises employee,
knowing his death is imminent, starts to pray fearfully. Batfleck has one great
bang-‘em-up fight scene against a swarm of minions in a warehouse; most of it
was shown in the movie’s most recent trailer, but it’s the only action scene in
the movie that achieves the kind of oooh/aaah
bravado great action can deliver. And there is definitely some popcorn-munching
campy fun to be had in the climactic action scene where Superman, Batman, and
Wonder Woman (oh yeah, she’s in the movie, too—think I forgot to mention) fight
a hideous creature Luthor created.
What Doesn’t Work?
Oh boy. How much time do you have?
Well, I’ll go back over some of the criticisms I’ve already
unveiled.
Over-long—well, if
the movie had been really well put-together, it might have deserved its
150-minute length. But it’s not, so it feels REALLY long. This includes a Peter
Jackson-esque parade of would-be ending sequences that tacks an unnecessary,
additional 15 minutes onto the film.
Over-stuffed—Superman
stuff. Clark Kent
stuff. Superman/Clark Kent flashbacks/dream sequences stuff. Batman stuff. Batman origin stuff. Batman as
an adult stuff. Batman flashbacks/dream sequences. Batman flashbacks/dream
sequences within flashbacks/dream sequences. Lois Lane stuff. Lex Luthor stuff.
Justice League stuff. Plug for the next movie stuff. Brief Wonder Woman
appearance. Senate hearings. Flashbacks to the Batman origin flashbacks.
Another brief Wonder Woman appearance. There’s a lot in this movie. Someone would
argue there needed to be, but there’s a better way to do it than bounce around
like a ping-pong ball and, in the process, short-change many of your
characters. It doesn’t help that in its back-and-forth-ness, all parts are not
created equal, as the Batfleck stuff is typically more interesting than the Superman
stuff. Oh, and there are at least three lengthy dream/fantasy sequences, which
the audience can tell right away are dream/fantasy sequences, that mean nothing
to the plot that go on forever. In
one of them, I sat there in disbelief, almost unable to comprehend that the
director went “yeah, keep going. This obviously-not-real,
not-forward-progress-to-the-plot stuff is fascinating”.
Dull—how many
times have seen Batman’s parents get killed now, between the big screen and the
small screen? Don’t we already know he’s haunted by his family legacy? How many
times do we need to see him moodily visit his parents’ grave? Why are we
wasting time going repeatedly back to this pointless subplot about a bullet Lex
Luthor may or may not have made? Did the source of the bullet even end up
meaning anything? In how many movies do high-ranking government/military people
sit around a table and tensely talk about “options”, only to settle for
shooting nukes at bad guys who are probably impervious to them? Aren’t the bad
guys always impervious to them? And isn’t one scene of Perry Black telling Lois Lane and/or
Clark Kent
that he doesn’t approve of what they’re doing and they need to stick to the job
enough? Do we need more than one?
Cliché—we know the
deal with Batman (orphaned, he’s sad about his parents, he’s moody, he has a
butler, he feels empowered in the batsuit, etc…). We know the deal with
Superman (he’s also Clark Kent, he’s impervious, people question him, he’s a
good guy regardless of what people say, oh but his kryptonite is…kryptonite. It
affects him. I mean, like, makes him not impervious affects him.). We know the
deal with Luthor (he’s bad news, he’s sleazy, he wants to make things go boom).
We know the…Well, okay, the movie probably wouldn’t have seemed nearly as cliché
if we hadn’t already been exposed to nearly all the best parts. But we know
enough about the general gist of these people without getting heaps of it all
again. Give us something we’re not expecting
(curse the marketing people who made that a not-possibility with their lovely,
lengthy trailers!)!
Bottom line, it felt off from the start. Again, Affleck is
fine, but it takes little time to make you miss Christopher Nolan’s pristine,
detailed Batman Begins in terms of
Batman origin stories. Speaking of which—Irons is passable in this movie’s
interpretation of Alfred (he’s more akin to a partner in crime here than a
butler/father figure), but it’s hard to watch him play the character after
Michael Caine did such a marvelous job with his three-dimensional, emotional
portrayal in the Dark Knight films. It
really is.
Hey! Here’s an idea! In a movie called Batman versus Superman, why don’t you actually give us some BATMAN
VERSUS SUPERMAN!! Honestly, I don’t think these two actually did more than
exchange inflammatory tweets and mean glances until the
one-hour-forty-five-minute mark. THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE!!! Look, even if you know that we know that they’re
not gonna end up mortal enemies, at least make it more fun!
Oh yeah…Wonder Woman
is in this movie! I can’t tell if Gal Gadot is a great actress or not, or
if she has the kind of charisma that could have livened up this movie or not.
But I did know she was playing Wonder
Woman in this movie and she was going to be in it…well, why not have her in it, then? It’s a massive
shame her big character reveal was spoiled in the trailers—ditto with Batty and
Supes’ amusing reactions to her appearance. But honestly, for as much as we
already know the drill with Batman and Superman—well, I can’t speak for other
audience members, but I don’t know
the drill with Wonder Woman. Why not give us more Wonder Woman? We’ve seen
female characters as the mysterious woman-about-town, exchanging thinly-veiled
banter with the male leads before (i.e. Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises). Oh I know, you
want me to buy a ticket to the upcoming Wonder
Woman movie to find all that stuff out. But, you know, if you have an ace
up your sleeve in the form of a cool, appealing character your audience might
like, why not use it more? We’re all going to see the Wonder Woman movie anyway!
Speaking of Wonder Woman, can I get an amen and a big check
sent to whoever does her makeup and hair when she’s in costume? I swear, she
got basically stomped on, body-slammed, thrown around, smashed into a car,
smashed into a couple buildings, and engulfed in a cloud of dust while fighting
that giant thing that looked like the cave troll from the first Lord of the Rings movie, but, at the end
of it, her face was completely spotless, and there was not a hair out of place.
Content
Batman v Superman
is neither Deadpool nor The Dark Knight in terms of violent
content. There’s no slicing of faces or dismemberment or torture. Batman does
break some people’s arms, though, as well as use their own knives against them.
And when Superman is exposed to kryptonite-made weapons, they hurt him. And
when Lex Luthor’s prize creature creation is shown coming out of the womb-like contraption
it was grown in, yeah, that’s kind of yucky. The mood is pretty dark here, and there
is some dark, shadowy content (I mean, one of its title characters is a dark,
shadowy character), but it’s not much more intense than the average superhero
movie.
Bottom Line
Even once the ratings and reviews started coming in, I
admit, I held out hope. Alas.
Even though Ben Affleck outperforms the haters’ expectations and makes for a
perfectly-competent Bruce Wayne/Batman, Batman
v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a big, ugly misfire, a movie that’s too long
and too busy and still manages to waste time, waste good actors, and not
deliver anything above average or exciting that wasn’t already shown in the
trailers. Honestly, even the fight scenes aren’t that cool. Spoiler: you
already saw most of the best fight scene in the trailer. The reviews aren’t
stopping people from seeing the movie, and I invite you to go ahead and see it
and judge for yourself, but, for me, it wasn’t interesting enough, wasn’t
entertaining enough, came too soon after the Dark Knight movies, and had too many, too long ending scenes. I
mean, really, it came just short of having hobbits hug and cry. Here’s hoping
DC’s legit-looking Suicide Squad
movie makes this one look like a joke.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Directed by Zack Snyder
Screenplay by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer
Batman characters created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger
Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Rated PG-13
Length: 151 minutes
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