"Everything's changed. Men fall from the sky, the gods hurl thunderbolts, innocents die. That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men cruel."
Filmology Rating: 1.37 out of 4
We will now hear the case of Jonny G v Zack Snyder: Clash of the Fanboys. I have watched Man of Steel a few times since it first came out in 2013 and after having a violently negative reaction to it the first time, it has slightly grown on me. I thought I could have some hope for the sequel until I found out that the film would be a crossover with Batman. In the hands of a more capable director the film could work, it has worked for years in the comics and television shows, but at the hands of Zack Snyder I was expecting a Batman to come out killing everything he saw, and just being a brute for no real reason. And then to top it off, the complete title came out: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I don’t want to talk about Marvel too much so I will get the elephant out of the room; Marvel took at least seven years planning to get to The Avengers and, if the years aren’t what you want to measure, it took five films to get to The Avengers. Marvel took time to build a universe but Warner Brothers seems to want to rush it and expects fanboys to eat it up. Yet I still went into the film hopeful: these are characters I have grown up loving and now I finally get to see them together on the silver screen.
Eightteen months after the Battle of Metropolis, Bruce Wayne/Batman, played for the first time by Ben Affleck, has become a hardened hero after watching the citizens of Metropolis being killed because of the battle between Zod and Superman, once again played by Henry Cavill. Wayne has been training and building new weapons to engage in a battle against the alien who destroyed Gotham’s sister city. Meanwhile Lex Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is searching the planet for kryptonite since he has a dislike for anyone with superpowers. Superman and Batman finally face off after hatred has overflown on both sides, with the greatest gladiator match of all time. The biggest question is: who will win?
These are not the characters I have grown up reading in DC Comics or watching in films like Superman (1978) and The Dark Knight. The characters that I, along with countless other people, have grown up watching. The characters I grew up watching didn’t kill, which both Batman and Superman do in this film without giving it a second thought. They are bruting and looking for fights the entire movie, while the characters that I adore are the shining lights during our darkest days. Zack Snyder along with David S. Goyer and Chris Terrio, the writing duo for the film, would rather watch two characters hating each other rather than stopping to think for a second and taking out the greater evil in this film.
Speaking of the greater evil, Jesse Eisenberg plays a terrible Lex Luthor. While I love the concept of Luthor being a millennial tech entrepreneur, the way he is written and played in this film seems completely out of place. The other issue is you never understand Luthor’s motivation. Yes, the character in the comics hates Superman, but if you are trying to sell this movie to the general public, most of whom don’t read comic books, then you need to actually explain character motivations. I ended up trying to connect many dots to try and figure out what Luthor’s true plan was and I still can’t figure out what he wanted at the end of the day.
Since I seem to be bashing the film I do want to talk about a shining light of the film which is Gal Gadot, who is playing Wonder Woman in her big screen debut. Gadot brings a sense of fun to the role of Wonder Woman, which the other two actors of the Trinity seem to forget. During the big battle during the third act Gadot has this smirk on her face, she is enjoying the thrill of the battle and knows that she is kicking ass. It also helps that Wonder Woman has a fantastic theme by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. From the performance that Gal Gadot brings to the outstanding score the character has, I am excited for Wonder Woman to come out in 2017.
While I think it’s obvious that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a mess of a film, I still found a sense of glee watching the Trinity on the big screen for the first time. I didn’t care for the gladiator match in the film but when the trio shows up for the end battle together I was ready for Justice League Part 1 as long as it offers a sense of fun. This film should have left me wanting to go read my World’s Finest comics but instead it made me want to hide them under my bed like a big secret.
Rating: Rent It
-Jonny G
It has been almost 2 years since the Superman (Henry Cavil) battle with General Zod left Metropolis in shambles. Since then, there has been a debate on whether or not Superman is a threat to the world. In the aftermath of the fight between the two, many people feel angry, specifically Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). He is convinced that Superman is now a threat to all humanity and soon begins to try and find a way to stop him for good and take back Earth. Meanwhile Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) has a hidden agenda of his own that has dire consequences for our two heroes.
Batman vs Superman is a movie that has been rumored for years and is finally here. I have been looking forward to this movie for a very long time for obvious reasons. I am a movie nerd and I get excited about nerdy stuff and two great superheroes going at it is right up my alley. So after waiting for all these years and seeing the movie….. I have very mixed feelings about it. There were some things that I liked, some parts were ok, and then a lot that I didn’t like. I also have one VERY big issue with this movie as well.
To start off with the good, we have to start off with Ben Affleck. Ever since he was cast as Batman in this movie, there has been a lot of debate as to whether or not that was a good choice for Batman. Christian Bale left some pretty big shoes to fill but let me tell you, Affleck nailed this role. Bruce Wayne is getting a little older now and Gotham and fighting crime has worn him down a little bit. Adding to the loss of friends and innocent civilians during the Superman Zod fight, his motivation for wanting to get rid of Superman is believable. This part was key for me in selling this whole movie; the motivation has to be there in order to make the audience interested in his story and quest to take down the son of Krypton. As Batman, he was excellent. He was fast, he was agile, he was extremely strong, and was smart as well. Everything you want to see in a good Batman character. Then for the few scenes where he was Bruce Wayne, he also sold that character very well. The only slight issue that I have with this Batman is that he seems to have thrown out morals about not killing people out the window. He was killing henchmen left and right. While I personally don't have an issue with it, some people might because this is so different from the typical Batman character and it does add a rather dark tone to him.
The director Zack Snyder has always done a good job with action scenes (but suffers from a big issue that I will talk about later) so they were all visually stunning. The special effects were big budget so they look exciting and will be entertaining for sure. Henry Cavil as Superman also did a good job. This time around, he looked a little more comfortable in this role and also portrayed some more complex emotions this time. Do I deserve to be here and should I be here? Am I really a help or do more problems come out of me trying to give aid? I thought that he was better in this movie that he was in Man of Steel so was great to see.
There were some things that I just thought were ok. Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luthor had his ups and downs. I liked that they were trying to do something different with his character but sometimes it was a little too far. Without giving too much away, sometimes he pulls of genius, sociopath, and villain and sometimes he comes off as odd and annoying. If they would have toned down his little quirks and just focused on more of a young genius villain with more of a serious side, I think it would have been a lot better. I can also blame some of it on the writing as well. I thought there was a lot of excess dialogue and some of the lines needed to be better or just cut out. This is a long movie and it definitely could have been cut down some.
Now for the things that was just flat out bad. The pacing of the movie of the movie feels off. There are two acts to the film; the first being almost a political movie that debates ethics and moral dilemmas, and the second being nonstop action. I get the idea of having a big grand finale but is it really a finale when the last half of the movie is just action? It seems overwhelming almost so I would’ve liked to see the pacing be more even throughout the entire film. There are also a lot of plot gaps and things that don't quite add up. Director Zack Snyder knows how to make action movies but he doesn’t really know how to add a solid plot to it as well. It feels thrown together at times and focuses way too much on action and less on a solid story. Now I'm not sure if this is completely his fault or DC comics and the producers. This is my biggest issue with the movie.
The biggest fault in this movie is that it feels the need to lead into a next movie. As a stand-alone film, a movie should be solid and could be an independent film if need be. The whole concept of movies that lead into future movies have ruined a lot of popular movie franchises, specifically the Spiderman movies. If you make a solid movie that just hints at a future movie, then that is perfectly fine! However if you are too focused on making a new franchise and not just taking one movie at a time, it allows for leaks in the plot and an unfocused train of thought. If you make a good movie, people will want to see a sequel. You shouldn’t have to force the idea of sequels on the viewers. This is the biggest fault with Batman vs. Superman and also a lot of modern day superhero movies. They lead into the future movies so much that it forgets to make this movie a solid standalone film.
One last fault with the movie is that this movie takes itself too seriously. With the dark tones and themes throughout the film, there needed to be some light hearted moments or jokes throughout to balance it out. Apart from a few one jokes from Alfred (played by Jeremy Irons who was great as the new Alfred) there really wasn’t a whole lot of humor. DC movies seem so heavy and dark compared to Marvel movies. If they want to step up to Marvel and be on that level, then they need to get better in this category.
Most movie goers will enjoy the movie. However if you take a step back and examine the movie more closely, it is deeply flawed. After years of waiting around for this movie to be released, I don't think it quite lived up to the hype. I’d go see the movie if you are a superhero fan but don't expect it to be perfect by any means.
Rating: Skip It
-Nick
BVS (Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice) may have been a great film if it had been released a decade earlier, but in this time period of superhero saturation BVS fails to achieve what so many other superhero films have achieved. BVS is technically speaking a direct sequel to 2013s Man of Steel. Although a new Batman played by Ben Affleck serves as the primary character of the film, the tone and plot align closely to Man of Steel. Director Zach Snyder directed both Man of Steel and BVS and is slated to direct all future Justice League movies. Snyder has often been criticized for focusing too heavily on visuals at the loss of well-developed characters and a cohesive plot. These strengths and weaknesses are blatantly obvious in BVS.
Since the trailers for BVS have already revealed the entire plot of the movie, I will only spend a small amount of time highlighting the plot of BVS. Superman’s climactic battle near the end of Man of Steel leaves a great deal of Metropolis in shambles. There to witness the destruction is billionaire playboy and part-time vigilante Bruce Wayne (played by Ben Affleck). Bruce Wayne witnesses the death of a great deal of his coworkers and vows revenge on Superman. Bruce Wayne shares a great deal of the publics fear about the potential harm that Superman is capable of causing. This fear is also held by Lexcorp head Lex Luthor (played by Jessie Eisenberg). A great deal of the film focuses on Superman struggling to find his place in the world while Batman and Lex Luthor search for a way to destroy the son of krypton. In all honesty the first 2/3 of the nearly 3 hour long BVS are interesting and subdued. Although there are significant pacing issues and bizarre transitions, the first 2/3 of the movie play out more like a thriller than an all-out action movie. In the last 1/3 of the movie director Zach Snyder devotes the entirety of the remaining time to a CGI action spectacular that completely kills the movie. The action is absurd and over the top, and the occasional instances of comic relief feel wildly out of place in a movie that is drenched in a dark tone.
In all honesty I don’t want to spend much longer discussing BVS. What we receive in BVS is a dark take on the DC universe. BVS might have been better if it had not followed the exceptional Batman films that were directed by Christopher Nolan. Director Christopher Nolan carefully crafted a modern Batman film that possessed a strong emotional story within its dark tone. Snyder attempts to replicate this style but he fails. He fails because he doesn’t give enough attention to his characters. Snyder might be able to craft a moderately entertaining film, but if he doesn’t refocus on his characters or the story the Justice League will be dead on arrival.
Rating: Skip It
-Tyler