Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

I don't even know how to start this review.

I'm gonna try and do a spoiler free review and then I will do a spoilers review because there is so much I need to talk about in this movie that will definitely spoil the movie. But in the mean time, this review will be a non-spoiler review with more to come.

Batman v Superman is a movie that I have been pumped up for for years.

In many ways, this movie was the reason I started this blog. When I first started this blog, I wrote posts about Taken 2 and The IT Crowd but I didn't really know if it was actually going to be a thing.  And if it was going to be a thing, I think it was going to be a blog on British TV shows (I'm just looking at my list of expectations at the start of this blog). This was back in 2013 and the blog really started to pick up steam when the announcement was made at comic-con that this movie was going to happen.

The rest is history and I think I owe a lot of my success to the news of this movie coming out.

So to say my expectations were high is an understatement.

Superman and Batman are two of the most recognizable heroes of all time. And so the idea of these two fighting just makes me so excited and it got a lot of people excited about it as well.

On top of that, this movie is supposed to be a catalyst for a larger cinematic universe that DC has been trying to do for years. Everybody wants to see a Justice League movie, its just a question of how do we get there?

So Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice begins introducing Bruce Wayne/ Batman (played by Ben Affleck) into the world set up by Man of Steel. The first ten minutes of this movie I thought was great in every sense of the word. Visually it was beautiful. It connected to a larger world beautifully. It introduced Bruce Wayne perfectly. It set up the world where Superman is a controversial figure and setting up a world trying to comprehend the existence of a god. These are all things that Man of Steel basically left as a layup for Batman v Superman to tackle head on and delve into some larger ideas. The DC universe was starting to look like a thinking mans superhero franchise. Again, the first 10 minutes of this movie was fantastic.

And while we're on what was really good in this movie, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne was a phenomenal choice.

This is a brutal Batman. This is a Batman that brands the criminals he goes after, something that is said to be a death sentence in prison. This is a Batman who has no problem maiming a criminal to a point where his life is going to be a living hell for the rest of his life because of the injuries Batman puts on him. And this is a Batman who I'm pretty sure straight up murders people. I think there is an argument to be made that he doesn't actually pull a trigger on somebody (unless its a dream and we will talk about that mainly in the spoiler review), but he has no problem with hitting them while they pull the pin on a grenade and they just happen to be right next to the grenade they pulled. There's a weak argument to be made that Batman doesn't actually directly murder someone, but people die in this movie because of Batman, so if you have a problem with that, you've been warned.

I personally liked this Batman more than any Batman I've ever seen.

And I feel like in the big picture of what this movie should have been, I wouldn't have changed anything about Batman. I think his motivation for wanting to fight Superman was solid. I thought his character was awesome.

So after that first 10 minutes, the movie picks up 2 years after the events of Man of Steel. There is a Senate commission to figure out the truth behind Superman.

And there's a lot going on in the beginning of this movie. Holly Hunter plays a Senator looking to figure out the truth behind Superman and what America's stand on him is.

You have Lois Lane (played by Amy Adams), going around and doing her reporter thing because she's trying to figure out this conspiracy. On top of that there's a little bit about her relationship with Superman... I will get to Lois Lane believe me.

And more importantly, you have Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman as a character, trying to figure out his role in the universe as well. And again, going back to some of the good things of this movie, I saw the inkling of a really good movie in there. I saw the inklings of a developing Clark Kent, something I think Man of Steel started but didn't really delve into enough. I saw them trying to do it in this movie and Henry Cavill continues to be a really good choice for Superman. I just don't think he's been given a good script yet. But there was an opportunity to really delve into who Superman is and how Superman sees himself.

And that's what the focus of this movie should have been on. This should have been a movie about Superman developing who he is as a hero, what he stands for, and what he's going to fight and what he isn't.

(I am really looking forward to the spoiler review)

So again, there's a lot going on. Superman has inner turmoil. There's the thing with Lois Lane. There's Batman's whole deal. Then there's Wonder Woman and her whole deal which I will get to. And then there's Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.

Now I did a post on this casting a while back here's a link to that review

I am going to reuse a meme I used then but is definitely appropriate here.

Jesse Eisenberg...

Man I wanted to like you. I really, really did. I wanted to say to everyone that despite all the naysayers, despite all the people that didn't like him in the trailer, despite all the movies you've been in in the past, Jesse Eiesenberg played a good Lex Luthor... but this was not the case.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Lex Luthor and like a lot of this movie. There is an inkling of good just screaming to get out. Lex Luthor spends most of the movie conniving and preparing for a larger plan and I will say, when you finally figure out his motivations for why he's doing the things he's doing, he does a decent job conveying those thoughts.

But as Lex Luthor, it just wasn't the right choice. As much as I wanted it to work, as much as I wanted Jesse Eisenberg to surprise us all and really be the Lex Luthor I wanted him to be, on top of his character being wasted, it just wasn't a great choice. I don't think I would have liked the character any more than I do now if someone else had been casted, but I think I would have been happier with the character if say a Bryan Cranston was cast as Lex Luthor. I still think that's a great idea and should still happen (Spoiler review ;) )

I will delve a lot more into Lex Luthor in the spoiler review but I think his character was just not written well and the casting was just wrong all together.

And then there's Wonder Woman.

Here's what I will say about Wonder Woman.

I'm excited for a Wonder Woman movie now more than ever. I was always excited for Wonder Woman but this movie had a couple of scenes that screamed A WONDER WOMAN MOVIE IS COMING!

While we're on the topic of good things, I liked Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. I think she's going to be great in her next movie. I think everyone who was skeptical of Wonder Woman is very quiet now.

That being said. Wonder Woman did not have to be in this movie. The only reason Wonder Woman was in this movie was to promote her movie coming up, and give DC bragging rights that they brought in a female superhero before Marvel did. And to that I say... way to go DC, you brought in Wonder Woman... what do you want a cookie?

Wonder Woman did not have to be in this movie and definitely not to the level that she was.

And Wonder Woman leads me into the part of the movie that I didn't think I was going to like and that's the Dawn of Justice Part.

From the beginning, I was worried that this movie was going to be split into two. It was going to be Batman versus Superman but it was also going to really promote the forming of the Justice League and the Dawn of Justice part was going to be shoe horned in there.

And in a sense it was.

Wonder Woman was definitely shoehorned into the movie. There are a lot of cameos for The Justice League that were shoe horned into this movie. And the truth is, that doesn't bother me. I knew it was going to happen. In fact I liked the way it did happen. I wasn't sure how they were going to introduce Wonder Woman, I wasn't sure how they were going to introduce members of the Justice League and they did it in a way that was really well done. I thought it wetted your appetite enough to get excited but didn't totally take away from the movie by itself.

It does take away from the movie when it happens in the weirdest spot you could ever put it. I'll say exactly where in the spoiler review but The Dawn of Justice part of this movie was just not put in the right place.

And that's kind of the theme with this entire movie. There are so many good parts about this movie, there are inklings of good in this movie, its just where its placed. Its how this movie is structured on a very basic level that just makes in an incoherent mess. And that is hard for me to say because I really wanted to not just like this movie, I wanted to love it.

I think performance wise (even to a point Jesse Eisenberg) everyone did a good job. I think the real blame here goes to Zack Snyder.

Now before I go on, I do have to note that a lot of these things might not be directly Zack Snyder's fault. A lot of this movie could have been the mandate of the studio wanting to create a franchise and shoveling as much shit into this movie as they could.

But studio blame can only go so far. Zack Snyder needs to be held accountable for a lot of the choices being made.

I don't think Snyder shouldn't have directed this film but it is obvious that this is too big of a project for him. Snyder at the end of the day decides how the movie is structured, he decides what from the script goes in and what goes out. And the biggest problem with this film is not the actors, its the structure and that falls directly on the director and writers, mostly David S Goyer.

And I have gone to bat for these guys in the past. I have pointed to times where they succeeded and when they didn't succeed, I said let's wait and see if it ends up panning out. I have spent years saying these guys are cooking up something good with Batman v Superman and we all just have to be honest with ourselves and say, on a basic level, this was not a well made movie.

I'm gonna just leave it at that and treat this a little bit like a two parter because the real criticisms I have with the movie are very spoiler heavy and not something I can say in this post. But overall, I have seen worse superhero films, but as a film alone, Batman v Superman is an incoherent mess. There was a lot of potential and a lot of good things will come out of this movie. But at the end of the day, this is not the movie I was waiting 3 years for.

But what do you think of Batman v Superman? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as your requests for future reviews coming out of this blog. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews first hand.

I'll leave you with this. I saw this a couple days before the movie came out and I really enjoyed it. Its Batman v Superman if it came out in the 90s and the trailer that would come out of it. But since I can't always put up the right stuff, here's the actual end video of the BvS trailer but with Christian Bale. Enjoy!