Batman v Superman – In defense… sort of.

A bit late in the speedy world of pop culture but this took a lot of thinking.

This is definitely an unpopular opinion (especially among So Wizard) but I have to say it. Batman V Superman doesn’t deserve the level of abuse it’s taking. I didn’t say I loved the movie. I didn’t say it’s movie of the year. I didn’t even say your opinion on how bad it is is wrong. I will say that I didn’t hate my time in the theater, although there was a little too much time spent there. The movie had some painfully bad elements, Lex Luthor. But it also had some pretty great ones. Ben Affleck. I’ll try to keep this as organized as I can but there is a lot of ground to cover.

One thing I have to say before I really roll up my sleeves and dive into this massive film is say to the internet at large a movie not being exactly what you wanted it to be doesn’t make it bad. Of course it can sully the experience but the movie you crafted in your mind isn’t the definitive version. This is a big part of the reason why I say the movie is not as bad as people are letting on.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FULL OF SPOILERS!

The movie opens, chronologically, toward the end of Man of Steel. Superman (Henry Cavill) and Zod (Michael Shannon) are duking it out while a frantic Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) rushes in a commandeered car toward Wayne Financial. He gets there too late and has to witness the destruction so many movie-goers detested first hand. Tying the two films together like this is a great move to put a major character on the scene when he wasn’t there before. It’s also a great way to let people know we are wading into franchise territory. The very same franchise territory that forced the movie into being more obligation than entertainment. It’s the Iron Man 2 problem intensified.

It looks like Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer knew what they were doing at shining moments like the opening of the film. Then we are forced to delve into Bruce Wayne’s origin story… again. For a movie that forces the audience to assume so much or relies on a deep knowledge of comic book history they really should have left this part out. Even my grandmother knows the brief history of The Batman and she has never cracked a comic book or saw a movie with capes in it. Of course this is set up for the ‘Martha’ moment in the end but it could have been handled so much better.

Continuing with the character of Bruce Wayne, Affleck nails it. He portrays a man who has been on the job for a long time. He is cold, distant, humorless, and bitter; everything awesome about The Batman. He plays the man and the mask equally as well. The new (sort of) Bat suit is showing age and wear with use. Affleck’s Batman is clearly modeled after the Frank Miller Dark Knight. He’s big and brooding. His suit fits around hulking muscle and isn’t armor plated. The way Batman moves around is also awesome. The scene with the cops searching the old tenement building is everything Batman fans could want. It’s all suggested. Sounds. Fear. Batman playing shadow games and surprising the cops without messing that up. Scenes like this remind audiences that he’s considered a myth and legend by a lot of the criminal element. The introduction of Batman branding people is a great touch too. The only confusing part to that is why would the bat brand be a death sentence in prison? That makes it seem like prisoners are pro-Batman. Not to mention it was an unneeded explanation in a movie that needed to explain some actual story elements.

Sadly even with The Batman not all sits right in Dawn of Justice. As much as the majority of the Batman stuff is excellent, one MAJOR character breaking flaw was added. Batman kills people. A lot of people without caring whatsoever. It has been explained since the movie came out that this was a choice to show a man beyond his breaking point. Sure, fine, maybe for other characters. Batman’s one rule, the only thing on his moral barometer, is that is a line he will not cross. Even Nolan who forced Batman into retirement for 8 years over the death of a loved one, yes a similar event to what started his war on crime, understood this was Batman’s one rule.

Not only was the explanation a lame excuse, movies shouldn’t require explanations after the fact. Especially movies about good vs evil with masks and capes. If it isn’t on the screen, in the dialogue, or even between the lines, it isn’t a part of the story.

The absolute best Batman moment in the film is the warehouse fight from the third (I believe) trailer. That scene is so much Batman, so much energy, and so much fun audiences should be praying for a Batman stand alone with Affleck in it, even with the unwelcome reception Dawn of Justice is receiving. The fight scene looked like a live action version of a flawless playthrough of Rocksteady’s Arkham City. The amazing scene even ended with one of two or three moments of levity in the movie! Brilliance. If the movie was a whole lot more of this audiences wouldn’t be so up in arms.

Another great fight in the film is the titular match. Batman vs Superman. No, not Bat of Gotham… because no one has ever referred to him that way, ever. Except the worst portrayal of a DC character in any medium. The Batman/Superman showdown should have come about 45 minutes earlier so the bond that shows up between them has time to be built. And to keep audiences from falling asleep. There were some good moments leading up to the fight, but there was also a lot of dead air. The fight is well thought out. The effects are top notch. Both men at their finest in the film. The effort of choreographing any fight scene has to be appreciated. When choreographing a showdown of God and Man (a running theme in the movie) the actors taking it completely seriously is crucial to the audience hanging on.

Not let’s shift the focus to Superman. Henry Cavill is a phenomenal portrayal of both Clark Kent and Superman. He looks the part, he has the right charm, even the right swagger. You want to like this guy. He worked his ass off at Gym Jones to look the part of a virtual demi-god and he seems to genuinely enjoy doing the work. Dawn of Justice doesn’t bring us reluctant Clark Kent or a joyful Superman. Dawn of Justice brings us a man with all the power in the universe beaten down by a society of doubters and complainers. Half the world hated him because the fight with Zod that leveled a lot of Metropolis. The other half saw that without him the World Engines would have done even more damage and there wouldn’t be a Metropolis to rebuild. The one major issue that hangs over Superman’s head felt like a build up to Marvel’s Civil War. The man has too much power and no accountability. Even saving Lois Lane from a terrorist organization resulted in a massacre that people blamed Superman for since he didn’t stick around. Or did it? More on this later.

Superman’s frustration was his humanizing moments. His hatred for Batman seemed a little extreme, more of that being forced to make the mental connections for the storytellers, but sometimes some people just rub you the wrong way. Superman was also dealing with the typical mixed identity situation every Mask finds themselves in at one point or another. He is wholly in love, and connected to, Amy Adam’s excellent portrayal of Lois Lane. He is constantly distracted by her the entire film. He was going through a crisis of character as to who he was and when he comes back for Justice League I think it will be a lot more down to business Superman and a lot less making out in the tub.

Okay so Superman destroyed Metropolis? Not so much. He fought Zod who was actively destroying it. Yes he did a bad job at managing collateral damage but he was new to the superhero thing. All isn’t automatically forgiven but he wasn’t maliciously cooking the citizens with his eye lasers. Superman caused a massacre after saving Lois Lane? Not really. The massacre happened because he was there? Not even that. Lex Luthor is revealed to know the identities of both Batman and Superman. He is the one pulling the strings through the entire movie. His men were responsible for the massacre and he’s the one who rallies citizens against Kansas raised Clark Kent.

Lex pulling the strings was another one of those glimmering moments of hope in the movie. It showed with a pair of scissors, or maybe a machete, the script and final print could have been cut down to the greatness we wanted it to be. Lex could never go toe to toe with Superman. He had to outspend, outsmart, outwit, and trick him. This is an idea of just that. The unfortunate thing is the Lex Luthor we were given to deliver it. Jesse Eisenberg is easily the worst thing about this movie. He is channeling Jim Carrey’s Riddler from Schumacher’s Batman Forever and not even doing a good job at that. At least Carrey had some fun hamming it up. There were a few moments where Luthor was trying to play a man teetering on the edge of madness, which would explain some of the eccentricness in his performance until you stop and think. Lex Luthor was anything but crazy. It’s even sadder to think that Bryan Cranston was up for the role instead.

More on Lex Luthor being terrible is how Doomsday was created at all. Kryptonian origins, sure, fingerprint scanners, sure. But… what? It’s hard to even begin talking about this. It really just “worked” because the plot dictated it to. Lex is a multi-industry billionaire mogul. Why not create Doomsday in a genetics lab? Simple solution that makes WAY more sense. Hey, we cloned Zod and it went terribly wrong. Who knew?!

So Lex is pulling the strings. He wants vigilantes and demi-Gods put aside. Why? What does he gain from it? He was the villain for the sake of villain with no clear intentions as to why.

There is already so much going on between Batman, Superman, and Lex Luthor. We don’t need anything else, right? Well we got it. Dawn of Justice is the real title of the movie. Batman v Superman was just a way to throw some keywords in. Cramming more stuff in doesn’t seem like the best idea but some of it was pretty cool. Wonder Woman seems to be one thing most (not all) people can agree on being cool. Diane Prince was basically Selina Kyle from The Dark Knight Rises but Wonder Woman herself was something of a bad ass. She had a great introduction and stood toe to toe on the big screen with iconic heroes for the first time ever. Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash all get a bit more than a mention. The Flash not being Grant Gustin from the incredibly well done TV show still irks me and many others but that was the idiotic choice that was made.The promise of more heroes to come is exciting nonetheless. We can’t do Batman without Alfred and Jeremy Irons is a phenomenal Alfred. He needed more screen time for sure.

Alright, acting and multiple storylines aside there is more good to be found in Dawn of Justice. The framing is immaculate. In typical Snyder fashion every shot is gorgeous. Every scene so meticulously planned any single still frame in the movie could be made into a poster, or a panel for a comic book. Maybe the powers that be should let him be the director of photography or lead cinematographer but not actually in charge of script or story elements going forward. The score was also incredible. Hans Zimmer never disappoints. The only disappointing thing to come out of it is that Zimmer announced he is done scoring Superhero movies. Maybe his announcement isn’t a direct result of Batman v Superman’s public beatings but it sure feels like it.

HOW TO FIX THIS

• Recast Lex Luthor.
• The Martha Wayne/Martha Kent realization was supposed to be Batman seeing Superman as a human being for the first time. That was muddled and lost. He saw human moments with Lois Lane already and in his weird cyber-ninja-Flash dream he was warned Lois Lane is the key.
• Don’t have the nuclear missile. We all loved The Dark Knight Returns, but we didn’t need every part of that in this. Especially if it didn’t work. It amounted to nothing and the US Government would never fire a nuclear missile over a populated city. Fallout.
• Don’t show every single thing in the trailers. We want a surprise not a checklist when we watch a movie.
• We really needed a movie between Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice. One focused more on Batman and the two year period after the incident in Metropolis. Have Superman be a side character but that’s it. Not only would this give audiences more time with these characters, it would alleviate some of the story lines from a single movie.
• For years moviegoers complained about the destruction in Man of Steel. Towards the end of Dawn of Justice Batman says we need to bring Doomsday back into the city to get the spear. What the hell? Sure they throw out twenty-seven times that the port is abandoned but they also make sure to cram in that Doomsday hits an uninhabited island. Not only that but Batman leads him back then sits around waiting for his opportune moment while Superman and Wonder Woman fight him.

Let’s try it this way.

Batman needs the spear. Superman and Wonder Woman engage the monster just the same. That scene was great. Batman goes back for the spear so a titular hero isn’t standing around and waiting during the movie’s climax. The fight plays out as it did. Superman gets impaled.

Superman doesn’t die. That’s idiotic in the second movie of a franchise, especially when there’s no cliffhanger that he may be dead. Even non-comic fans are queued in on the fact that he’s gonna be back. That is something they could have left implied and didn’t.
Instead Lane should show up and be the instrument in getting him into the sun to regenerate. Then we have that moment too that we’d lose by ditching the senseless Nuclear Missile.

Is my version perfect? No. But it’s a huge improvement.

So there you have it Whiz Kids. A very wordy, very long look at Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice. The movie had some huge flaws and some truly awesome moments. It brings a lot of promises and shouldered a lot of responsibility. If you can put your expectations aside this movie is no worse than any other massive franchise builder with too much going on. Yes it could have been better. But it also could’ve been a whole lot worse.

Take it easy on the movie. It’s not as bad as a lot of people like to say. Of course you’re all entitled to your opinion but let’s have a discussion, not a debate.

Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice 3/5

yeah… I said 3/5.