"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" Review

Title: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Screenplay by: David S. Goyer and Chris Terrio

Year: 2016


Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the latest installment in the DC Cinematic Universe. When Man of Steel was released in 2013, it was met with mixed reactions. When I first saw it, I thought it was okay. Nothing bad, nothing great, just alright. But then, after some encouragement, I watched it again, and it was a completely different experience. My opinion has changed and now I think that Man of Steel is a very good film. The marketing for Batman v Superman has been a bumpy road. That third trailer showed way too much and put some people off. But that final trailer was simply awesome. So, walking in with fluctuating expectations but still really excited, how did I walk out of Batman v Superman?

As a result of the destruction that occurred in Metropolis, Bruce Wayne sees Superman as a threat to the planet. After years of retirement, Wayne becomes the Batman once again, wanting to take down the Kryptonian. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor Jr. is manipulating the scene in the background. The film draws inspiration from the The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel by Frank Miller.

That might seem like a simple plot, but trust me there is a lot more going on than just that. But first things first; the cast. Henry Cavill reprises his role as Superman and he was the right choice for the role. I honestly believe he does not get enough credit for how good he is at portraying both Clark Kent and Superman. However, Ben Affleck commands this film as Bruce Wayne, the Batman. He dominates the screen with his presence and powerful delivery. This is a Batman we have yet to see on the big screen; an older, more bitter one. Affleck might just be the best cinematic Batman yet. It has been a while since I have seen the Keaton films so I am not entirely sure of that yet, but Affleck is perfect as Batman and I cannot wait for the eventual standalone Batman movie.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was a concern for me going into this film. Well, the character of Wonder Woman is great. She does not have many lines, but her character is well done and she kicks all sorts of ass. However, Gadot's performance is another story. The reason the character was not given many lines is most likely because Gadot's delivery is very weak. She speaks most of her lines with a very wooden tone. It really feels like she is reading from the script. Jesse Eisenberg is absolutely brilliant......as the Riddler. Seriously, Eisenberg would make for a great Riddler. But as Lex Luthor? He does not really fit the bill. A lot of people do not understand that he is actually playing Lex Luthor Jr., which should be seen as a different character. But really, when you name you say that the villain of the film is going to be Lex Luthor, you expect...well, Lex Luthor. The cold, calculating genius is nowhere to be seen. Instead, we get a typical Eisenberg performance of the eccentric, high pitched genius. I stand by the fact that Eisenberg gives a great performance, but not for the character he is portraying.

Amy Adams and Laurence Fishburne are good as Lois Lane and Perry White, respectively, (especially Fishburne) but not heavily featured. Jeremy Irons plays Alfred and though he only appears in a few scenes, he is fantastic. This is a more bitter, snarky Alfred, very reminiscent of the one from Batman: The Animated Series. I feel confident in saying that this is the best on-screen Alfred we have had to date. His back and forth with Affleck is a good deal of fun and he is actually very important to Batman (notice I did not say Bruce Wayne).

So then, how is the story? Dense; very, very dense. This film is more like a textbook than a comic book in terms of what is happening. This picture is jam packed with information and sub plots. I am actually surprised how much the "Dawn of Justice" elements overshadow the "Batman v Superman" elements. But let us begin with the latter. Everything about Batman is top notch in this film. The set up, Alfred, the action, the dialogue, it is all well executed. The Batman warehouse scene is one of the highlights of the film and the movie even illustrates the Batman with some horror in a few scenes. Superman on the other hand plays second fiddle in his own film. Batman v Superman focuses significantly more on Batman. I understand that they needed to set up his character, but Superman should not have been an afterthought as he is equally important.

Alright, let us get it out of the way. How was the fight between Batman and Superman? The fight was really good, but criminally short. The film is two and a half hours long, and the fight had to have been about seven minutes. In addition, the fight is very stop-and-go. They throw a few punches, pause for a second, then continue fighting, and so on. These pauses broke up the pacing and the excitement factor. Having said that, it was still a really good fight. It could have been better done and longer considering the runtime and how late into the movie it appears.

Now for the sub plots, and there are quite a lot of them, but I will only mention a few. Lex Luthor has his own reasons for opposing Superman, so the film follows his exploits of trying to incriminate and defeat Superman. It is not really that intriguing until he gets a hold of General Zod's ship. Once he gains access to it, things begin to get interesting, but we do not get much of that. Wonder Woman has her own story that is really minimal and not too interesting whether you know the character or not. The whole purpose of it is to hint at the fact that she is really old. And finally, the Justice League set up. I can some this up with one word: lazy. Dear God, this was so tacked on. The film comes to a screeching halt just to set up the Justice League for about five minutes, and then continues as normal. This could have been so much better but I will go into more detail in the following paragraph.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* Okay, so Batman gets a hold of some LexCorp documents containing information on "special beings." Namely, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. First of all, each file has the icon of the hero as the thumbnail. What? LexCorp took the time to create each of the icons to make the files look pretty? It makes no sense and should have been left to the individual characters to create their own symbol. Another thing that does not make sense is how Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) reads the email. She slowly scrolls through the message, line by line, revealing Bruce Wayne's questions one at a time. This might seem like a nitpick since it is done for dramatic effect, but who does that? So Diana proceeds to click on each video file one by one. The Flash one is easily the best. Aquaman's starts and ends well, but that middle section could have been cut out to create more of a mystery. I love how Aquaman's eyes glow in that dark cave and how he takes off at great speed, but in between that, he kind of poses for the camera. What? Cyborg's is the weakest, resorting to some lab footage and sporting very weak effects and set up for the character.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* While I am on the topic of the Justice League set up, I might as well mention the Knightmare. So Batman has a vision of a post apocalyptic Earth. We see him infiltrate a desert operation (that features a huge omega sign, hinting at Darkseid) and then get captured by Superman. We get a good look at some parademons and the confrontation between the two main characters is great. Then Bruce wakes up only to be greeted by a character yelling at him from a portal. This is our first look at the Flash and his ability to time travel. He gives some crucial information to Bruce before leaving. This moment reminded me a lot of A Christmas Carol because the Flash's warning had a tinge of horror and a bit of a ghostly vibe. These two scenes were great.

*SPOILER FREE* Zack Snyder returns as the director and his fingerprints are all over this picture. His visual style is present in full force. Snyder has proved to be a very visionary director. Batman v Superman has a very stylistic look and some creative shots, which is clear in the opening credits. The way Snyder frames the death of Bruce's parents is the best depiction of it we have ever had on the silver screen. By the way, I was a stroke of genius to have Bruce's origin take up the opening credits since everyone and their mother already knows it. However, his insistence on desaturating these DC films will always baffle me. I had the same issue with Man of Steel, but it seems more prevalent here. The film, though stylistic, is quite colorless. Also, Snyder is not a very talented storyteller. Batman v Superman seems more focused on style than substance. Plot threads are glossed over in favor of well done visuals.

The editing is unforgivably sloppy. The film feels very choppy and there is often little flow or transition between scenes. For instance, my favorite scene in the film is actually one of the quieter moments. Bruce is in the Bat Cave and he is looking at the Batman costume. He stares into the black and empty cowl, seemingly hating the existence of the Batman, hating whom he becomes when he dons the black outfit. And then he walks over to, presumably, Jason Todd's costume, or Robin. The Joker's graffiti writing still affects Bruce to this day, as does his failure to save Robin. This is such a powerful scene, but the two moments that sandwich it have nothing to do with it. The scene before has Alfred telling Bruce to go to Lex's party and the one after is him at the party. Why was this emotional moment squeezed in between the two? The editing also affects the pacing of the film. The film can drag at points, although it is never boring.

Getting back to a positive note, allow me to bring up the action. I already talked about the titular fight, which was a great moment, but sadly only a moment. The Batman warehouse fight is definitive Batman. The fight is well choreographed and entirely thrilling. The final fight with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman fighting Doomsday is the best fight in the film. Even though I hate the fact that the filmmakers did not save Doomsday for a later installment (and that he does not look nearly as intimidating or as cool as he does in the comics), the fight is pretty spectacular. Each of the three heroes bring their own strengths to table and the fight is fulfilling. It is not too short and not too long. The length is just right. The fact that it overshadows the Batman and Superman fight is severely disappointing. There is also a car chase in the middle of the film that is pretty sweet but...Batman kills people during it. What? I know Batman is older and more grizzled, but not killing people is what separates him from the villains. I would be fine with it if the film offered some sort of explanation for it, but that never happens.

In addition, Zack Snyder repeats that annoying habit of his to save all the action for the last act. It happened in Man of Steel and it happens here again. This creates two problems. One, the first two acts can come across dull in comparison. Two, the last act suffers from action overload. There is such a thing as too much action, no matter how awesome it may be. If the battle between Batman and Superman occurred about halfway through the film, with the entire first half focusing on setting it up, the film would have been paced much better. That way, the second half of the film could focus on Lex Luthor as the main villain and introducing the Justice League in a more appropriate manner. The way the film is now, the first two acts feel unnecessarily long with plenty of scenes that do not really go anywhere and an overblown third act.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* This seems like a good time to bring this up. For those of you who are unaware, Doomsday is famous for killing Superman in the comics. It is just about the only thing he is known for. So when he was shown in the trailer, it kind of spoiled the ending of the film for a lot of fans. So yeah, Superman dies in this film. I do not have a problem with Superman dying, I just wish it would have been saved for later. His dying now does not hold much weight because you cannot have a Justice League film without it. However, had they postponed his death until after the Justice League films, then we would have been in uncharted territory. But as it stands, I am fine with his death for the most part. I thought the coffin was a nice hint at his eventual return (black coffin, silver "S" which resembles the suit he wears when he comes back to life) and that should have been enough. But then the film has to show the specks of dirt lifting off of the coffin before cutting to black. This was a phenomenal misstep because it totally backs away from the bold step the film just took.

*SPOILER FREE* The visual effects are solid throughout, with the minor exception of the Cyborg cameo. Weta Digital was behind the Doomsday effects and it really shows because it looks like a modified version of the cave troll from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Why could they not have gone with an appearance closer to the comics? It would have looked better and more original. Anyways, the visual effects for Superman are just as good as in the previous film if not better, thankfully. The Batman mech suit is a work of art, looking magnificently sleek and intimidating. The visual effects deliver all around.

The music was composed by both Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. The music overall is fantastic. It is easy to tell which composer was behind each song. Zimmer's compositions are very beautiful and heavily inspired by classical music. However, the classical compositions do not mesh well with the tone the film sets up and they feel out of place. On the flip side, the Junkie XL tracks are inserted in the action scenes and they fit perfectly. They are exciting and follow the action beats well.

I realize that this review sounds far more negative than I intended. Let me be clear; I liked this movie. This is the best on-screen Batman we have ever had and everything surrounding him is marvelous. That opening scene with him in Metropolis while it is being destroyed is amazing. Affleck and Cavill are very comfortable in their roles and I cannot wait to see more of them. The film looks and sounds great, Wonder Woman is a badass, the fight scenes are brutal and electrifying, and there are some truly brilliant moments. However, it is very difficult to ignore how heavily flawed this picture is. The script often does not make sense, especially when it comes to character motivation, which is an awful shame because that is the driving force of the movie. The film is unfocused in more than a few parts, Gadot has very stale delivery (and has me a bit worried for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie), Eisenberg is miscast, the titular fight is unforgivably short, and there are many scenes that either make no sense or do not belong in the film. I know that a three hour version deemed the "ultimate cut" will be released in a few months, and if it adds enough content to change my opinion of the film for the better, I might review it. As it stands now, I had fun with this movie and I enjoyed it quite a bit, but it does come as a vast disappointment. This film has potential written all over it, but it only managed to achieve some of it. Nothing super, but pretty good.

Grade: B-