Batman v Superman suffers from not ultimately knowing what it wants to be and who it wants to appeal to. Various sources state that the film is pretty true to the comics, which is always a good thing. But from the perspective of somebody who has no idea how this story is told in the comics, I was only able to deduce that whatever story was trying to be told, got told badly - because I for the life of me struggled to piece certain things together and left the cinema with a bunch of questions. The premise of the story is laid pretty clearly and the title itself sets it all up. But the narrative never seems sure of what it wants to focus on. What should have been a straight forward story, becomes this odd tapestry of loose ends, unmemorable moments and scenes that just make no sense at all.
This film was never going to be The Winter soldier. It was never going to be Iron man. It was never going to be of any of any Marvel films that have been laying the foundations for The Avengers films. This was always going to be a different kettle of fish entirely, which is absolutely fine. But Batman v Superman suffers from an identity crisis. Not only do the title characters struggle with coming to terms with who they are and their purpose, but everybody around them does too. The writers seem to have taken quite a number of significant arcs and plot lines from the comics and crammed them into one movie, when they probably should have either focused on one or two, or spread them across several films. Director Zack Snyder doesn't seem to know how to funnel any of this into a coherent experience. There's a real feeling of more being bitten off than could be chewed.
Batman v Superman suffers very early on from bad pacing. We are shown the origin story of Batman, which seemed strange to me at first, but has some odd kind of significance in the middle of the movie. But not enough to justify the film necessarily opening with it and spending so much time on it.
The film also does a poor job of giving the audience cues or points of reference. Straight after the flashback sequence of how Bruce Wayne / Batman lost his parents; the film switches to Bruce in the modern day, during the events of Man of steel when Superman and main villain Zod are laying waste to the entire city. Now, there is absolutely nothing to inform those who haven't seen Man of steel that this was an event from the film and where this sits within the timeline of events. My friend who I was watching this with had not seen Man of steel and was confused by what he was watching, and it took for me to explain this - which should not have been the case. Secondly, whilst we see Superman laying waste to the city seemingly not caring about the causalities; at no point does the film disclose the threat of the person Clark is fighting and the significance of Clark killing this man, despite Zod's dead body being thrown around the film like meat in a butcher shop. The film either assumes you have seen Man of steel or just expects you to accept that Clarke was fighting somebody and laying waste to a city for fun. It's strange. So many things which are connected and should have had their connections established are just left unexplained.
The screen time between Batman and Superman doesn't feel equal and the pacing contributes to this. It very much feels like a Batman featuring Superman movie. Superman is the motivation for Batman doing what he does, but we often only see things from Bruce / Batman's viewpoint. So much so that when the narrative switches to us seeing things from Clark / Superman's point of view, it often feels like an after thought. The one thing to make note of is that the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy is not part of the canon universe of this film. Superman got his origin story in Man of steel, so naturally there was going to have to be some trace of Batman's here and for his story to take precedence. But the juxtaposition of the two stories do not feel right. The film doesn't do a good job of painting the similarities between Batman and Superman's lives, of which there are many. The two are often shown in isolation and the only thread that the film makes to connect the two comes late in the film and it's something so ridiculous that you'll literally throw your hands up and declare you are well and truly done with the film.
The one thing that Batman v Superman tries to anchor is the emotion of the characters. But so many of them come across as selfless or banal that you don't feel anything for them. Batman's hatred for Superman and visa versa feels far too superficial to the point where you wonder what was truly the motivation for Batman wanting Superman to die so badly. Batman's hatred for Superman manifests over his destruction of Metropolis. Yet Batman can race through Gotham, kill thugs and shoot missiles at building willy nilly and it's all just dandy. For Clark / Superman to have seen what he'd seen in Zod and his father and to realise good and evil isn't so black and white, how could he place Batman so cleanly in a box as a vigilante and then cry when Metropolis is doing the same to him? Because of this I found myself liking neither Batman no Superman in this film. They both came off like childish pricks and because of this, I just didn't care about them. I just wanted them to either high five or just die, so we could move on and get to the part where they realise they aren't each other's enemies.
This back and forth mess of love and hate extends to the way in which Superman is viewed within the world of the film. On one hand everybody seems to revere Superman because he flattened most of the city in Man of steel in his battle with Zod and they deem him a threat to mankind, yet there's a statue erected in his honour in the centre of the city itself. Everybody blames Superman for numerous incidences, where it's clearly obvious that the things they blame him for are not his fault and there's evidence to prove that - yet it's just conveniently hush-hushed. It's all such a mess.
Then there's Lois, who in this instance is a case of a good actress miscast and badly written. Lois does nothing but dote on Superman and justify his nonsense. And very often her selfish actions are what lead Superman into trouble. Now, Lois has always come across as a hard head reporter, but she's always maintained an honest relationship with Clark and given him good advice. In this film all Lois does is pat Superman on the back and go 'There, there. It will be okay'. The Lois I recall would straight up tell Superman what the situation is and how he can help overcome it and then Lois would do what she can to facilitate this from the perspective of a reporter as well as Clark's lover. But there was none of this in the film. Lois was redundant throughout this story. She served no purpose other than being the dog whistle that makes Clarke come running. She amounted to nothing more.
The relationships between the characters feel far too rushed and everything is far too convenient. Clark and Lois are never really explained. He gets into a bath tub with her and has sex with her. That's how we know they're a couple. All of Clark / Superman and Lois' exchanges are when he saves her. But we never get to why the two of them love each other and why Lois is accepting of the fact that her boyfriend is an alien who only ever seems to be with her when she's in danger. The film didn't need to explain this in detail, but some acknowledgement of their love being something deeper would have helped us care about these characters and invest in how difficult it must be for them to be together.
None of the relationships in the film feel rich enough for you to invest in them or care about them. The only relationship in the film which worked well was that of Bruce and Alfred. Alfred is the only person in the film who seems to talk sense. But none the less, Bruce goes off and does stupid shit for the silliest of reasons.
The story in Batman v Superman is too superficial. This may seem like an odd statement, but the characters in this film take far too drastic actions over the silliest things with no weight or explanation. It's a genuine case of: shit happens, people take a side, they want somebody dead. The film never delves into why these characters are doing what they're doing, and as a result it makes them come across as really stupid and one dimensional. There was a real chance for Zack Snyder here to link this film to current events and really start a dialogue which transcends. After all, this is something that DC and Marvel both do often within the comics. But here, really poignant issues which parallel current events and life as you and I know it are completely glossed over.
The script for this film is awful. None of the dialogue feels natural and the writing is stiff and stilted. There are odd moments when the characters are able to breathe and they feel natural. But for the most part, the writing is just wooden. It's a shame, because the film has a good cast. But they're playing badly written characters and acting through shitty dialogue.
For all of the flack that Ben Affleck gets, he plays a good Bruce Wayne. Bruce is miserable and continually pissed off. This is Ben Affleck to a tee, so I don't get why people were so bent out of shape over him playing this character. I genuinely thought Ben did good with the role. The problem with Bruce Wayne in this film is that he gets given some God awful lines.
Henry Cavill looks the part for Superman. But whenever he's in Clark mode, something feels off. I never feel like Henry is ever acting. He just constantly looks upset as Clark and confused as Superman, who in this film is plain stupid. There were way too many instances in this movie where I was like 'How could Superman have not seen X or Y coming?'. It often defies hero logic. Superman can swoop in to save Lois from falling off of a building, but he fails to notice that Batman has a grenade launcher full of kryptonite rounds and fails to notice the dozen other hazards which put his and other people's lives in danger. It doesn't make any sense. For all of Superman's abilities, he just seems downright dumb.
Jesse Eisenberg is surprisingly good as Lex Luthor. He plays him in a much more maniacal way than you would expect and skirts close The Joker. It's a different take on Lex Luthor, but in a film where so many of the characters come off as beige and characterless, having a somebody as flamboyant and skittish as Lex helps place a wave in what would otherwise be a flat line. But there were times when I found it difficult to make out what Jesse was saying. Maybe it's because I have awful hearing as it is or because I was sat a meter away from a Dolby surround speaker. But there were moments during Lex's soliloquies where I was like 'Whaddhesay?'.
The, there's Wonder Woman. She's great. She's everything. She's the only good thing about this film. Gal Gadot looks the part. She tall, she's beautiful and she plays Diana with just the right amount of sass and mystery. She was grossly under-used during the earlier moments of the film and under-used in general given how she received the same level of promo in posters as Superman and Batman. Having more more moments between her and Bruce Wayne would have helped bring out how she truly feels about men and how Bruce sees women. But this isn't really touched upon and therefore Diana is just seen as a potential femme fatale and nothing more. But her reveal in the suit is one of the films best moments. I jumped out of my seat and was in the aisle like...
The cinematography in the film is a real mixed bag. There is no consistency or a particular type of tone that is set to make it stand out. It often feels like scenes were directed by different people and then all cut together. The scenes with Batman have one aesthetic, the scenes with Superman have another. And then when there are scenes with an abundance of special effects, it feels like a whole other movie altogether.
The action scenes in this film are mute. There is no variation in the action. Every fight scene between Batman and thugs is just a case of Batman breaking arms and head butting. Every scene with Superman is just people being thrown through walls. The action scenes just aren't interesting to watch, because they are so monotonous, longer than they needed to be and a lot of the time it's difficult to grasp what is happening. The big fight between Batman and Superman is anti-climactic. Not because you can see it coming a mile off and you know it's going to happen, but because the fight itself is crap and it doesn't make any sense. Batman has a constant upper hand in his fight with Superman which isn't believable, even with the tricks he pulls. So much logic goes out of the window during their fight and it just draws you out of the action, because you're trying for the life of you to explain what you're seeing on the screen and how it could possibly be within the world of the story itself. It doesn't add up and this is a feeling which I had throughout the film. Nothing makes any true sense. Nothing here adds up.
Aside from Wonder Woman, the one other glowing aspect of this film is its score. From the offset Hans Zimmer throws down the gauntlet and it shines. He did an amazing job here.
Two iconic, likeable characters were made to feel lifeless and unlike-able. I have to hand it to Zack Snyder and his writers for that. Bruce's reason for wanting Superman dead was ridiculous for a man of his intelligence. And Clark / Superman was just an airhead throughout the entire film. The plot was nonsensical and the pacing of the film is completely off. The film jumps around between so many different situations and plot threads and it never pulls them together. Bruce and Clark both have dreams and hallucinations, but they aren't obvious dreams or hallucinations. Clark daydreams about his deceased Dad as he's trekking across the Arctic, but the way the scene is set-up you would think that his Dad was still alive. Seeing as we're discussing Clark in the Arctic, let's also talk about how there's nothing alluding to his fortress or solitude or why that area has meaning to him and why he sees the ghost of his father there. The film continually throws things at you and expects you to just accept it, when the thing that's thrown at you is so riddled with holes that it becomes one of many points of contention throughout the film that you just can't let go, and these moments pile up.
It's a real shame what happened to this film, because there are flecks of good moments, but they are masked by so much fluff, nonsense and bad decisions in script writing and cinematography. The Justice league moments in the film will make you smile. Wonder Woman steals every scene she's in, in and out of the outfit. Ben Affleck is a very good Bruce Wayne and Laurence Fishburne is great as Perry White. But what could have been a good and epic story got told badly, and two iconic characters got made to be complete idiots via lousy writing and directing. So much gets caught in the cross fire of this film, that you aren't left with much of anything.
The thought of a Justice league film on the horizon should excite me. But if it's going to be anything like Batman v Superman, then I won't bother watching it, and will continue to get my crime fighting superhero posse fix from The Avengers. Well...Wonder Woman might convince me. Maybe.
RATING: 2 / 10
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