Movie Info
Movie Name: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Studio: DC Entertainment
Genre(s): Comic Book/Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Release Date(s): March 19, 2016 (Premiere)/March 25, 2016 (US)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Batman now can move like Batman: Arkham Asylum
The battle between Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod has left Metropolis wrecked and destroyed a company of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). As the world starts to rebuild, it is also questioning Superman’s role in it…especially after the slaughter of men in Africa while rescuing Lois Lane (Amy Adams). Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) has also targeted Superman and he has a plan that will bring Batman and Superman together in a battle to end all battles.
Directed by Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a follow-up film to 2013’s Man of Steel. The movie was released to critical pans but a massive box office draw (and fall-off). The film received Razzies for Worst Supporting Actor (Eisenberg), Worst Screen Combo (Cavill and Affleck), Worst Screenplay, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off with nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Actor(s) (Affleck and Cavill), and Worst Director, .
Don’t listen to me…I jack up timelines all the time!!!
Here’s the deal with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It is a good Superman film but not a great Batman film. As a bigger fan of Superman, I kind of liked the film, and as an introduction to the bigger DC Cinematic Universe, I have some hope.
The story draws from a lot of sources. It primarily takes the Batman from Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and combines it with the Death of Superman storyline. In addition to that, there are elements of Justice League: War (which adapts Geoff Johns Justice League 1: Origin storyline). There are pacing problems in the movie, but it feels like a pretty tradition (though be it long) super-hero action movie.
Bring on the Wonder Woman movie!!!
It is actually a rather smart story in that it examines the “superhero” part of superheroes. This has been done before in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, but not to this scale. If you question the whole path of Lex Luthor, the idea of forcing the two characters to fight as a distraction for his own plans (and in the process eliminate one or both of them without being labeled the killer himself) kind of makes sense though at first glance it seems like a lot of work…but I’ll admit, I don’t know what he’d hope to do by creating Doomsday.
Cavill still remains a much more human and fallible Superman than some of the previous actors. Affleck didn’t do much for me as the brooding and sullen older Batman (but his story was also weaker). Amy Adams is good as Lois Lane, and Jesse Eisenberg’s eccentric Lex Luthor has its moments. Both Holly Hunter and Jeremy Irons were good in their small roles, but the big scene stealer had to be Gal Godot as Wonder Woman. I look forward to her solo movie more after seeing this movie and it was nice to have a Wonder Woman who wasn’t anglicized.
Maybe I should have handed the spear off to Wonder Woman…oops
Visually, the movie is very dark. I think it worked a bit better than the darkness of Man of Steel, but it still isn’t that bright Superman that many love. I do think that the fight scene at the end with Doomsday worked far better than most of the Marvel “big fight” scenes (though Doomsday kind of looks like a Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle meets Peter Jackson).
In general, Batman v Superman was actually better than both The Avengers and The Avengers: Age of Ultron (with it being far superior to that film). While The Avengers takes things too light with jokes that hit or miss, Batman v Superman suffers from being a bit too dark. The viewers also don’t always need “origin” films…we know how Bruce Wayne became Batman (that could have been dropped). In addition to Wonder Woman, the film briefly introduces Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and Flash (Ezra Miller)…and with the vision appearance of Parademons and a destroyed Earth, Darkseid can’t be far behind. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is followed by Suicide Squad in 2016 and Wonder Woman in 2017 with Justice League coming out in 2017 as well.
Related Links:
Superman: The Death of Superman
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns—Part 1 (2012)
