MOVIE REVIEW: BATMAN V SUPERMAN – DAWN OF JUSTICE
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Director:
Zack Snyder
Cast:
Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg
We are currently living in a timeline of my wildest childhood dreams. The times of big budget Superhero movies on the silver screen. I’ve loved all types of movies for as long as I could remember, and I especially love “comic book” movies because those would always be my favorite type of cinematic adventures to have. Good versus evil story lines that were clearly spelled out, fantastic visuals, and crowd pleasing moments. It’s what going to the movies have been all about for me personally.
I was not a fan of Zack Snyder’s “Man Of Steel” for multiple reasons, mainly because after watching all the many other iterations of Superman, I feel like I have an idea of who those characters are, and I did not recognize them at all in that movie, nor was I invested in this new version of Clark. Knowing that “Batman v Superman” was going to be a introduction to other superheroes in this “realistic world” approach, I was very optimistic that things were going to be revamped to have it all fit comfortably together.
From the very beginning I was puzzled by some of the scenes, but I ignored them to see what was in store for the characters. The more I saw, the more I was disappointed and kept getting taken out of the movie, and it was difficult for me to get back in.
After an exciting opening scene featuring Bruce Wayne’s introduction to Superman and all the carnage from the battle during “Man Of Steel”, the story plods along, laying down threads that I hoped would mean something to me by the end of this show. Instead it just left me with a bunch of questions. Why did the government have General Zod’s body this past year and a half? Why is there a Kryptonian ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean for the past year and a half? Superman just left it there?
The more the movie went on, the more these story points just stood out to me. What was Lex Luthor’s deal? No one noticed how “off” this guy was? What was his plan? Why does he even want to destroy Superman? Aargh!
I really did like the Batman in this movie, and Affleck was the bomb yo! Wonder Woman looked amazing. Visually this movie is stunning, but the foundation for any adventure is a good story. That’s why we watch movies or read books….story. This movie has a really thin foundation to build a franchise on. The introduction of the future “Justice League” members was the only real joke in the movie. (If only there was an investigative reporter in this flick who could travel around finding these super-powered individuals, and maybe he would realize that they could form a team when the world is in need and he could probably lead them…..sigh)
One of the other issues I personally had here is that I’ve seen other really good “Superman/Batman” team-ups before with DC’s animated adventures.
Hey Warner Brothers, if your $300 million movie’s script isn’t even a third as good as a cartoon from a few years ago, then why are you wasting our time?
I know people love this movie, and I’m glad superhero movies are still the flavor, but trust me when I tell you there are much better comic book movies out there and much better stories featuring these characters. This movie plays well as a colorful spectacle, but it’s time Zack Snyder stepped his game up if he’s going to continue.
Grade 1.5 out of 5
-Markellus
