Superman may be bullet proof, but can he survive the wrath of the critics?
Picture this: You’re a middle aged man struggling through
PTSD and depression. Your parents were murdered in cold blood by a lone gunman
on what could have been the happiest night of your childhood. The only solid
rock in your life is your foreign butler. You must continuously balance owning
Gotham’s most influential corporation with keeping the crime level at bay with
your own brute force. Everything has been taken from you. Your home. Your
friends. Your family.
There is another machine that the news is calling a world engine hovering over the Indian Ocean eradicating
the very presence of life in the area. There are beings whose eyes alone have
the power to melt steel and fly as fast as the speed of sound. Even the Police
force have abandoned hope. There is nothing you can do to help protect anyone
at all, and, suddenly, your world of crime and clowns and capes doesn't seem as
big as it used to.
It is easy to understand why Bruce Wayne detests the very
idea of Superman – his very title seemingly mocking the futility of the
American citizens who perished as a result of his untrained combat through the
skyline of the world’s biggest city. Set up at the very beginning of the film,
Batman’s story is one that has been acclaimed by fans and critics alike for
decades, and director Zack Snyder’s take on the character isn't by any means a
disservice to the legend. Despite fan’s backlash when the casting of Ben
Affleck was announced, his portrayal of the Dark Knight is arguably one of the
films many pinnacles, and seeing Batman’s first comic-accurate(ish) portrayal
on the silver screen is worth your money alone.
Talking of pinnacles, the star of this show is
unquestionably its action. Snyder – no stranger to an action sequence (see
Watchmen, Man of Steel, 300) – is absolutely breath-taking as he crafts
sequences of such beauty, such grandeur that an audience member cannot help but
grin. What makes these experiences even better is the inclusion of the world’s
most iconic characters. Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Lois Lane and more all
take part in heart-thumping scenes that are quite honestly mesmerizing, and to
see DC’s trinity battle it out on an IMAX screen with such finesse was one of
the best cinematic experiences of my life.
Unfortunately for Batman V Superman though, every step
forward that the film took was followed by a leap backwards. My main issue with
Dawn of Justice is its lack of focus. It seems as though Terrio (see ARGO) and
Snyder were so intent in powering through the timeline of the DC Extended
Universe that it forgot to create a universally enjoyable, accessible motion
picture. In the space of two hours, viewers are confronted with a confusing
array
of scenes. One moment you’re watching Clark and Lois make love in a bath
and the next you’re living through a bizarre, unexplained flash-forward
sequence that has no relevance or purpose in the rest of the movie. Ultimately,
it feels as if half of the film was left cut on the editing room floor, and the
only pieces that remained were scenes that simply don’t make sense without
explanation. The film cuts from Metropolis to Gotham so quickly and so often
that you regularly miss the first minute of a scene while working out when, where
and how the events before you are taking place. Hopefully these issues will be
solved with the already-announced, three hour long director’s cut (soon to be
released online and on blu-ray), but for now, Batman V Superman is simply too
inaccessible to the 'average Joe' for it to stand as the masterpiece it had the potential to be.
Don’t get me wrong, though. The film itself was, in my
opinion, wonderful. The film’s script did
explore the fascinating war of ideologies that fuelled the super conflict in
the film’s third act, and the courtroom scenes and news segments littered
throughout the film were not only a touching homage to Frank Miller's ‘The Dark
Knight Returns’ (the graphic novel on which this film was loosely based) but a
fascinating insight into the political debates that would surely occur should
our own world encounter a being such as Superman. There were some truly beautiful
lines here, such as “Ignorance is not innocence” and “How would you react if
your child was murdered and Superman could have saved him but the Government didn’t
deem it appropriate?”, forcing the viewing audience to question
their own philosophies. It is this intellectual take on the comic book genre that
makes Batman V Superman as interesting and as powerful as it (just) manages to
be.
One aspect of the film that was truly exciting was the
so-called ‘Dawn of Justice’. The reveal of Wonder Woman was as epic and awesome
as you would hope, and though Gal Gadot’s casting as Diana Prince initially
split fans it is safe to say that the level of anticipation for 2017's ‘Wonder Woman’ just
sky-rocketed. While staying spoiler-free, I can say that The Flash was
stunning, and his very small role did indeed get me excited for Ezra Miller’s
take on the red blur. Not much can be said for Cyborg, whose cameo was disappointingly
underwhelming (and quite honestly confusing), but Aquaman (Jason Momoa of Game
of Thrones fame) was stunning and surprisingly intimidating.
Most polarising of all, however, was Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of
Lex Luthor. The decision to make the evil-overlord a young, Zuckerberg-esque
character was an interesting one, but Eisenberg’s portrayal seemed disappointingly
two-dimensional. Though glimmers of wonder could be found in his performance,
and despite the fact that Luthor’s terrifying menace penetrated the entire film
(Peach Tea anyone?), Batman V Superman simply cannot afford to include such a
cartoon-y character in a universe it has worked so hard to make as realistic
and gritty as Nolan’s own Dark Knight adaptations. Hopefully, the character
will develop to become one with much more gravitas in future films.
Though the movie never managed to reach the heights of Man of
Steel, a film I adore, Batman V Superman by no means deserves the vendetta it
seems to have inspired from the critics of traditional media. Though the film
may seem inaccessible to a non-comic book fan, people with a basic
understanding of the Justice League and its many characters will understand and
enjoy a vast majority of this film. Despite clunky storytelling and confusing
segments, Batman V Superman is one of the most intellectual blockbusters of recent years, and with the introduction of Wonder Woman being as
strong as it was I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Warner Bros’ DC
Universe.
7 . 0
OUT OF TEN Reviewed by James Green
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