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Batman V Superman: Dawn of Disappointment… I mean, Dawn of Justice. Or maybe I was right first time.
(Please note I will try and keep this as spoiler free as possible, I may mention one or two scenes that spoil a little but not enough to spoil the movie, I will point these out in my comments)
I went to the midnight showing of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice last night with hope and fear, between my hopes as a DC comic fan and the fear from critic reviews, I was worried that I would walk out disliking the newest movie in the newly forming DC Universe. In a odd way, my hopes and fear were both met which is strange to say and you are probably wondering how that’s possible, well…
The movie opened with a good solid start introducing us to Batman and his past while also bringing in current-day Superman. When watching these scenes, I was happy to see that that I was already grabbed into the action, plot, backstory and introduction to new characters.
The first act isn’t great, but solid and keeps the pace at parts until the odd dream sequence happens, and herein lies one of the problems – too many dream sequences. They are thrown in from the beginning with no initial hint that they are dreams, thanks to how the movie is edited. This movie cuts back and forth too much as if it has ADHD, and is one of the major let-downs the movie has to offer.
The second act is boring for the most part with too many scenes with just pointless chatter. It even has a scene which I think is either a dream or hallucination (no idea which because the film doesn’t explain this) where Clark Kent goes into snowy mountains and talks with his dad Jonathan Kent; again pointless dialogue with no way of knowing what the scene is supposed to be. I’ve heard critics say this movie is boring – it is in some parts and there comes the next problem, pacing. This movie has pacing that’s slow and boring which then bounces into fast and exciting like an overexcited retriever at the wrong times. The second act, itself, had the worst pacing I’ve seen in a movie in a while.
Ok I’ve talked about most of the negative, let’s look at the good V Bad points of our main characters.
Superman: If you enjoyed Henry Cavill’s performance in Man of Steel then you are getting the same in this movie, which I enjoyed. It shows how he faces a world that fears him and the struggle he feels when considering if he should continue being a hero or hang up the cape. Cavill fits the role of Superman in this universe, not only in looks but how he portrays the iconic character.
Batman: I am a huge fan of the Bat but there are some problems for me with this version and I’m sure they are complaints you may have heard before. Firstly, taking his moral motivation not to kill away, which was a very important part of his character. Secondly, the use of a bat-symbol branding device, which again is very out of character with no plausible reasons given as to why he does this. The movie tries to make sense of this, but it is incapable of doing so. However that all being said, Batman was awesome – the way he looks, the way he fights… Ben Affleck nailed it in my opinion. I’ve seen some people hate on him online and it’s really unjust as every time Batman or Bruce Wayne appeared on screen I saw the character and not an actor dressed up for Halloween.
Wonder Woman: For the most part of the movie she has very little motivation for her actions as Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), apart from looking for something which made little to no sense apart from to strenuously set up an excuse for her to appear later. When she finally appears as Wonder Woman, it’s a complete and utter joy – she nails the performance 100%. Most critiques I’ve seen have said she was one of the best parts of the movie and I agree. Her first appearance as Wonder Woman in costume – and the music that coincide – are phenomenal which leaves me really hopeful for her 2017 standalone feature.
Lex Luthor: When I first saw him in the trailers, I was very unsure about the way the character was portrayed but when you see him scheming and know his intentions and jealousy towards Superman, he became the villain that I remember. I enjoyed Luthor in this movie, even if he’s not the antagonist I wanted (read the comics or watch the animated Justice League or Superman to get where I’m coming from on this). The problem with Luthor, in this movie, is that he seems too cartoony a character for a film with such a dark serious tone.
Lois Lane: Wow, she is nothing more than a person with a sign screaming “SAVE ME!” in this movie! In one corner, we have an amazing, strong female lead in Wonder Woman and then we have Lois who is taking movie women back to the ’50s. The character is one step away from baking cherry pie between action scenes for the Supers! Amy Adams is a great actress and I won’t fault her for this, but the script for Lois in this movie should have been much stronger.
Alfred Pennyworth: Jeremy Irons portrays the best Alfred I’ve seen on the big screen so far, with the correct amount of wit and demeanour. I would have liked to have seen more of him though, especially with Bruce or Batman, but what the film shows of Alfred so far I really enjoyed and I hope to see more of him in a standalone Batman movie.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the film, plus conclusions.
Retro game fan, comic book reader, board game lover and film fanatic. I have loved videogames since I was 5 years old after visiting my first arcade, I have grown up with gaming since having my Atari 2600 then Commodore 64. I ended up building my own career crafting pixelised characters and have had the pleasure of meeting many of my retro gaming heroes who developed some of my absolute favourite games.