BATMAN V SUPERMAN Review - 5 Things I Loved and 5 Things I Hated
Well, it's finally here! The greatest gladiator match the world has ever seen! Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is in theaters and having already seen it, I have to tell you that it was a blast! It wasn't the greatest superhero movie that I've seen, and it's still not as good as what Marvel has managed to do, but I was entertained! The movie is pretty much exactly what I expected it to be, and there were things that I loved about it and things that I didn't like at all, like Zack Snyder dropping the ball on the story again.
I thought I would share with you five things that I thought the movie did right, and five things where I thought it dropped the ball. I do get into some SPOILER territory, so proceed with caution.
5 Things I Loved:
5. Visually Stunning
With Zack Snyder at the helm you know the film is going to be visually explosive. The guy just knows exactly how to throw insanely cool eye candy at audiences. Every shot is a work of art, and I loved how this world was brought to life visually. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Everything — the sets, visual effects, cinematography, and costume designs — was magnificent.
4. The DC Lore
As you know, this movie is going to set up the Justice League movies and other DC films that are in the pipeline, so a lot of cool stuff was teased like Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Darkseid, and more. I also enjoyed the little teases of Batman's past, which I hope ends up getting explored in the solo Batman film in development. There are a lot of fun Easter eggs for fans to pick out, and it made it fun.
3. The Showdown Between Batman and Superman
The fight sequence where we finally see The Dark Knight and Man of Steel fight each other is awesomely badass! Snyder did a great job setting it up and executing it, and Batman had the freakin' upper edge almost the whole time! He was ready to take on Superman, and it paid off for him! The fight ended with Batman on top ready to take down Superman. He would have won!!!! Batman had him! I never had any doubt. So what stopped him from finishing Superman off? Well, there's a little M. Night Shyamalan moment at the end where Superman yelled out to "Save Martha" because Lex was going to kill her. This made Batman stop fighting and start yelling back, "Why are you saying her name?!" You see, Batman and Superman have mothers with the same name, and that got Batman to stop, and that's the moment the two bonded and teamed up to fight Doomsday.
2. Wonder Woman
Going into this film I didn't think that I would like their take on Wonder Woman, but damn...Gal Gadot freakin' kicked ass as the character, and she ended up being one of the best parts of the movie! Snyder promised that Wonder Woman would impress, and she did indeed. I loved watching her, and now I'm even more excited to see her upcoming solo movie! A whole movie devoted to this version of the character!? Sign me up!
1. Batman
Ben Affleck's version of Batman is my favorite big-screen version of the comic book hero so far! You've never seen Batman like this before and it's the version of Batman that I've been waiting for! This is a hardcore Batman that is utterly badass in every way. You've never seen Batman like this before, and it just blew my mind. Bruce Wayne was perfectly portrayed, his costume looked amazing, the way he fought and took down bad guys was brutal and at times even deadly. This was a well-rounded version of everything that I've ever loved about Batman, and it even reminded me of how the character was portrayed in Batman: The Animated Series, just a live action version that is a bit more hardcore.
5 Things I Hated
5. Choppy Story
Like Man of Steel, Batman v Superman didn't have a smooth flow to it. It was a very choppy, weirdly cut and written film that made following the story pretty jarring. I'm not sure why Snyder keeps doing this and using this style for these films, but it's not working for me. There has to be a better way to tell these stories. The way Snyder goes about making these films is hurting the characters. As cool as they are, the film is still ridiculously all over the place and there's no real character development for anyone. I know they brought in Argo screenwriter Chris Terrio to work on the script, but that obviously didn't help it.
4. Doomsday Killing Superman
I thought it was way too soon to bring in this character. He does end up "killing" Superman at the end of the film, which was weird to me because I feel like I didn't have an time with this version of Superman to connect with him and care that he died at the end. For example, I didn't have the same emotional connection to him as I do with someone like Captain America or Iron Man. I'd be devastated if either one of them dies in the upcoming Civil War. Those characters have been built up for years, though. Superman needed that before he was killed off. It was just way too soon for me to care. Hell, the character hardly had any kind of character growth from the first movie to this one. He's still struggling with the same issues.
3. Batman's Visions
During the course of the movie, Bruce Wayne is having these random dreams and visions that hint at some big threat coming, like Darkseid. These visions include some of the other Justice League members like The Flash. My issue is why in the hell is Wayne having these dreams? What makes him so special to be seeing these visions? Is it just random? Or is there something that happened to him in his past that is causing them? We don't get any answers, but it didn't make sense that Batman would be having these visions unless it's just because he's Batman, and that's just stupid.
2. Lex Luthor
I was really looking forward to seeing how Jesse Eisenberg would handle Lex. We've heard so much talk about how great and interesting this version of the villain was that I pumped up for to see him on the big screen. Well, I was completely let down. This version of Lex is just awful and annoying. He obviously belonged in an insane asylum, but instead he is running a multibillion dollar company. The character is over-the-top and cartoonishly zany. The character and his personality just did not fit the rest of the tone and vibe of the movie. They might as well have just made him a mustache-twirling villain with a maniacal cackling laugh.
1. Lois Lane
She just seemed like one of those characters thrown into the movie because it was in her contract. It's fine that they used her in the movie, but there were parts of the film where she just didn't belong, like near then end when Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman were in the heat of battle with Doomsday. She was there for contracted screen time, but I found her presence more annoying than anything.
Basically, Snyder has all of the right and awesome elements. He really has everything he needs to make a great film! He just doesn't know how to properly put those elements together. He's still got some learning to do.
Make sure to read Ben's review of the film here if you haven't already. He absolutely hated it, and it's not hard to see why.