Batman v Superman was one of the most anticipated movies of
the year and I would venture to say that it was one of the most anticipated of
the decade. People had been waiting for Batman and Superman to make an
appearance in the same movie for 70 years and this past weekend that wish came
true. Now the question that people asked was if such an epic movie idea would
live up to the hype and the answer is no.
While I do not think that the movie was all that bad (I was
entertained for a good chunk of it), I would be lying if I told you that it was
one of the best superhero movies ever; it is far from it. In my estimation this
movie was even behind the divisive “Man of Steel” movie from a couple of years
ago. Sure it is exciting to see Batman going up against Superman for about 5
minutes, but this is a fight that should have gone on for a while longer and
that should have occurred on the screen at least one more time.
The motivation for Batman is clear; Superman is too powerful
to be left to his own devices. Keep in mind that BvS is a sequel to Man of
Steel so the devastation of Metropolis is part of the story. During that fight,
Bruce Wayne sees the destruction caused during the Superman vs. Zod fight and
that destruction and loss of life is very personal to him. That intro to the
movie was fantastic, but that is when the movie takes a turn for the dull.
We were saying that we could have left the theater at that
point, come back an hour and a half later and then enjoy the next good part of
the movie which is the ending. The 2nd act of the movie is very
unorganized, with moments that have a potential of being great that go wasted.
Lex Luthor has files on some of the super-powered beings in the world including
Wonder-Woman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg… and he has them all arranged using
their insignias which how the hell does he know them? It was a very cheap way
to introduce the members of the Justice League, especially the intro of Aquaman
(“I stab you”).
The final 20 minutes of the movie are packed with action;
and while enjoyable they are not without problems. The fight between Batman and
Superman is short and ends with a very dumb excuse about the names of Clark and
Bruce’s respective moms. Yeah they were about to kill each other, but their
moms have the same name so they can be buddies now?
Doomsday was unnecessary to the movie, but since he was
there they should have at least done better with him. He looked like if a troll
and Michelangelo from the Ninja Turtles had a baby. Batman did almost nothing
in that final fight which kind of hints at the fact that he does not really
belong in a team that includes Superman and Wonder-Woman. Maybe if he was
getting them towels or massaging their shoulders, but come on man, give him
something to do.
Lex Luthor was probably the worst part of the movie. He was
distracting, not that menacing and not fun. It felt for a moment that they were
using him as comic relief, because he was just ridiculous, but I don’t think
that is what they were going for. If they did try to use him as comic relief
then they failed.
In the end there is sacrifice in the fight, but the final
scene spoils that sacrifice by telling us that the character that sacrificed
himself was going to be ok anyway. So yeah there were flaws in this movie but
it is not worth the 30% it has on rotten tomatoes.
Batman was a great character and Ben Affleck gave us the
Best Batman that we have ever had. Wonder Woman left me wanting more from her
and Superman was great, but he needs to be used better. DC and WB need to
understand that not every character needs to be The Dark Knight in their DCEU.
Superman is not about hope in this movie, but Henry Cavill can and should be
that.
While the movie is not great it does set up the DCEU which
we are hoping will be better than this. Overall I am giving Batman v Superman:
The Dawn of Justice a 2.7 out of a possible 5.
