2016: The Year in Film: "Batman v Superman: The Dawn of Justice" Review

I seriously can't even imagine how pissed off Warner Bros. and DC are over the fact that Marvel is making widely beloved and extremely profitable flicks featuring their second and third tier characters while DC has yet to establish a shared universe featuring the two most recognizable comic book characters to ever exist. Zack Snyder was brought in to try to bring a shared universe to DC and made the halfway decent Man of Steel a few years back. I mostly liked MoS, but thought that it featured some questionable choices, morality, WAY too much product placement and kind of went off the rails at the end. However, I thought there was enough good there to give the flick a favorable review and it left me cautiously optimistic for what was to come next for DC.  However, pretty much EVERYTHING that happened next only caused me to become more and more concerned for Zack Snyder's sanity and the presence (or lack thereof) of any kind of adult supervision over at DC.  First, the announcement that DC's universe would disregard Christopher Nolan's Batman films (all of which are infinitely better than Man of Steel and which featured a legitimate way forward for Batman). Second, the announcement that DC's universe would continue with a "Batman vs Superman" movie (that was announced featuring a reading from the famous showdown in "The Dark Knight Returns"), where a new Batman would be introduced, followed by Justice League. This set off warning bells in my mind. We were going to go from Man of Steel (a standalone Superman origin film) to full blown Justice League with only one intermediary step? Trouble. Marvel had 5 films before Avengers, and had introduced all of the main characters in a prolonged way. Third, the reveal that not only would this movie feature Batman and Superman, we'd ALSO get Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Alfred, Lois Lane and an assortment of nonsense. Trouble. That's without even going into Zack Snyder's problems as a director. He has a great visual eye. That much is undeniable. His films are absolutely gorgeous and he can direct the hell out of an action sequence. HOWEVER, he's also incredibly juvenile and responds in the worst imaginable way to criticism. It was clear that he was extremely bothered by the backlash to the fact that his Superman in MOS completely destroyed Metropolis for largely pointless reasons. He didn't think it was bad that Superman went out of his way to destroy things, because that destruction looked REALLY cool. Who else thinks that way? Michael Bay. Yes, I'm saying that Zack Snyder is Michael Bay who likes the color black. Zack Snyder is emo Michael Bay. Having him direct and be the architect of your comic book universe is fine... BUT you'd better have adult supervision in place. Chris Nolan was supervising Man of Steel... you'd be wise to leave him around, DC. Instead they gave Snyder MORE power and put him in charge of assembling and creating your Justice League. Sigh.

So here we are. It's been 18 months since the events of Man of Steel, and Superman is at once celebrated for saving the human race and mistrusted for being an alien who caused untold destruction during his battle to save humanity. In Gotham City, Batman/Bruce Wayne distrusts Superman following his firsthand witnessing of the destruction of a Wayne Industries building in downtown metropolis and the deaths of many of his employees.

The Good: First, the film is utterly overstuffed. However, some of the elements that make it overstuffed aren't necessarily problems and are in fact the best parts of the film. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is set up here, and she is awesome. Every single scene she's in is a treat and she would have been even more amazing if her intro hadn't been spoiled in the trailer. Which seems like a dumb move in retrospect. Ben Affleck's casting as Bruce Wayne was totally derided in fan boy circles... but he's pretty great. His Batman has an intimidating physicality that makes this more violent and jaded dark knight particularly terrifying. The action scenes are well done by and large, and the hints of the Justice League are some of the best parts of the movie.



The Bad: the plot is a mess. By and large, this feels like a 6 hour movie that was cut down to 2.5 hours... and I suppose that's what you get when you try to do the work of 3 movies in one (still too long!) runtime. Character motivations don't make any sense and characters run around doing what they need to do for the plot without the film telling or showing us why that would actually make any sense. Batman is a total fascist idiot when he needs to be, and yet he's exhaustively researching other characters at other points in the same movie. If he's going to exhaustively hack into security systems and what not shouldn't he at least have a conversation with Superman before deciding to just up and murder him? No? Cool, Zack. Good call.

I want to talk about one thing, especially. This film takes the time to show us Bruce Wayne's parents getting murdered. Why do we need that? Is there ANYONE who doesn't know that Bruce's parents died in front of him and was just dying for a scene of a child screaming in anguish as his parents are gunned down in the street? Who decided that was a necessity in a movie that BARELY has an comprehensible plot? That's without even mentioning how damn stupid it is that Martha Wayne's pearl necklace somehow got caught in the murderer's gun. Was it a 30 foot necklace? Or was the gunman shooting her from 4 inches away but she couldn't just slap the gun away? It doesn't make sense, Zack.

Ok, there is SO MUCH that happens because it happens in the comics. The amount of outside knowledge that is required to watch this movie is insane. What is Doomsday, what are his powers and why does he seem to be impossible to kill? NO ONE KNOWS BECAUSE THE MOVIE NEVER TELLS YOU. Why does Clark Kent love Lois Lane? No one knows. Because he does in the comics, duh. Henry Cavill is boring. Amy Adams is miscast and underused. The Daily Planet subplot is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. (Which, btw, how is Clark Kent a reporter in this world? He doesn't have a degree)  Batman is an idiot and Alfred tells him he's an idiot and then he's no longer an idiot for the dumbest reason imaginable. Batman and Superman murder people. Several people. But for some reason not Lex Luthor. There was probably once a good movie here... but it's buried under what should have been a solo Batman movie to set up Batfleck and a separate Man of Steel sequel.


Pro-tip, DC: DON'T HIRE BEN AFFLECK TO ACT IN ZACK SNYDER MOVIES. Haven't you seen The Town? Argo? Those movies are infinitely better than anything Snyder has made or ever will make. This movie is infuriating because it feeds into the nonsense that superhero movies are stupid and pointless. THIS superhero movie is stupid and pointless because Zack Snyder treats his audiences like idiots.

I HATED THIS MOVIE. Except for Wonder Woman. She was amazing.

Watch, but only to hate watch, and to enjoy a few cool scenes.

4/10

2013: The Year in Film: "Man of Steel" Review

It seems odd in this present era where comparatively minor superheroes like Iron Man, Thor and Captain America are the stars of hit movies that the original and arguably greatest superhero of them all, Superman, hasn't had a successful film in more than 30 years. Bryan Singer left the X-franchise to make the stinker that was "Superman Returns", which was too concerned with the past to really make any narrative strides with Superman, and in the meantime Batman was the center of one of the best movie trilogies of all time while Marvel built a cinematic dynamo around Robert Downey Jr. and the Avengers properties. Enter Zack Snyder, the guy behind the somewhat disappointing (but visually stunning..) Watchmen and 300. That alone is not all that promising, but when you throw in that the film was produced by Chris Nolan and written by Nolan writing partner David S. Goyer things become a bit more promising. Throw in a potentially great cast: Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon, and a compelling trailer, and this movie became a "must-see".

This film serves as a "Batman Begins"-style origin story and reboot/reinvention of the character of Superman/Kal El/Clark Kent.  We open with a fascinating, innovative and compelling look at Krypton in its dying days and get a powerful look (through a mix of flashbacks) at Clark's childhood and life in Smallville and his quest to become Superman. When a Kryptonian menace threatens life on earth itself, Clark is forced to become Superman, confront his past, and save humanity.

The Good: the cast is spectacular. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are completely believable as Ma and Pa Kent, and all of the flashback scenes to Clark's childhood are simply great. Similarly, Russell Crowe is better than he's been in years as Jor-El.. this is the multiple Oscar nominee we all know and love. (Slimmed down, too!) Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent is tremendous, and really brings an inner turmoil to the character that we haven't seen before. The always good Amy Adams brings a believable journalistic drive to Lois Lane, something that has often been lost in older iterations of the Superman story. Michael Shannon as Zod is suitably menacing and relentless, while not completely evil. By focusing on the character and growth of Clark Kent, the first hour of the film is as good as anything I've ever seen in a superhero movie. I'd really compare it to Batman Begins in that way, but instead of Batman's darkness and obsession we get Clark's sense of wonder and discovery. That's a good thing. The film also wisely (and in stark contrast to Superman Returns) marks a complete break from the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeves mythos of the past. New look, new score, new story. A Superman for our time, and that's definitely a good thing. Since it's Zack Snyder, we know that the visuals and the effects are going to be tremendous, and they don't disappoint. There are some spectacular (of course) action sequences, I especially liked the fight on the streets of Smallville, and the villains are sufficiently powerful to challenge Superman on his own terms. In addition, I particularly enjoyed the film's depiction of Krypton. These weren't just humans in funny costumes, this was a foreign feeling culture and society, and the film really does a good job establishing that Superman is indeed a child of two vastly different worlds.

The Bad: the final action sequence is at least 15 minutes too long. The film has a rather relentless final hour, that coupled with Snyder's shaky-cam can be rather exhausting. There's also the issue of the mindless destruction. Yes, Earth is under attack from Kryptonians, but at times it feels like Superman is making no effort to limit the damage. This is troubling, both from the perspective of what Superman has historically been presented to be, and from the implication of a Superman who doesn't care that his actions result in massive destruction. Think back to Avengers, there are multiple scenes of the heroes saving civilians or making an effort to lead the battle away from civilians. Great power, great responsibility, etc. Along the same lines, there is some sketchy, if sensible, advice from Jonathan Kent. While undoubtedly a great man and a great father to Clark, Pa Kent also advises him to keep his power a secret. There seems to some middle ground there. [insert secret identity here]

In all, this is a fine film, and is the best Superman movie ever made. With the strength of the cast, I'm optimistic for the Superman franchise moving forward and hopefully the creation of a wider cinematic DC universe. On the quality of the performances and the greatness of the film's first hour, this is a fine, if ultimately flawed (mostly morally) film. Well worth seeing, but brace yourself for massive and often mindless destruction. 

8/10.