Superman v Batman is a movie that many of us having been waiting a very long time to see. Despite everything that Man of Steel was, so many of us were hopeful that DC could turn things around. I was very keen to see the movie- despite low expectations.
My dad took a night off work, I took a night off study and my family came together for a 9pm screening two days after the films release in Australia. We were excited, grinning as we clutched our tub of popcorn with Choc-top bits clinging to our cheeks. We were chatting about our theories on the movie, sparring between who would ‘win’ or if anyone would win at all. We had actively avoided any mention of it in Social Media or TV so that we could engage in the full experience of understanding the plot without any prior thoughts or bias.
I had hopes, not huge beaming lights but the smallest flicker that maybe, just maybe DC would live up to everything I remember as a kid. Maybe it would remind me of why I loved those Justice League cartoons so much. Maybe it would remind us all of why the world still pursues it’s love of Batman.
I was nervous of course, this was the first time we had seen Batman on the big screen (despite the awesomeness of Gotham and Arkham Knight) since Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan created utter greatness.
As the time came, we took our seats and waited.
We waited through the tedious 20-minute commercial advertising.
We waited through the elongated movie trailers.
And then finally, it started.
It started wonderfully with a scene we have witnessed many times shown in a cinematically and emotionally beautiful way (death of the Waynes). I was happy. I felt in that moment that DC was back, finally.
And then Bruce started flying with bats. Dream or no dream the movie started to loose its firm grip on me.
Very soon, it was like it had never touched me at all.
I’m sure by now everyone has heard at least one interpretation of the movie and I highly doubt that anything I say will be new. But these are my thoughts on the most controversial moments and why I personally believe that the movie was a fail:
I liked Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex. Yes, it wasn’t like anything we’ve seen before but it was good.
Past versions of Lex Luthor such as Gene and Michael played Lex Luthor Sr., A very different character to Lex Jr.
Recall when Lex talks about his father founding Lexcorp and making a name from himself from nothing- this is the Lex we know.
Did it feel like Eisenberg was emulating Heath Ledger’s Joker? In some ways yes, but on the other hand it just seemed like he was playing a psychotic super villain- which is playing to what audiences want to see (Joker, Loki, Penguin, Riddler, Harley etc.) with a little bit of his own extra style.
A lot of criticism insinuates that Eisenberg is playing the same role he has played many times before. It would be unfair for me to make any comment on this as the only movies of his that I have seen are Rio and the Social Network- hardly enough to develop a clear picture of his acting (but man was Lex a lot like Blu).
My mum loved this version of Lex- she grew up surrounded by Superman and ‘Salah’ (Lex’s name in Arabic) and is very picky with what she likes. She didn’t seem to mind the variation and neither do I honestly. It was refreshing and tried to reach for something greater. I don’t want to see remakes of movies I have seen countless times, I want something new to enjoy and that, at least, was what Superman v Batman gave me.
While it is important to stay true to the source material, it is also important to explore creativity and present things in a different light. At the end of the day, this was what Snyder and Eisenberg were trying to do.
With characters like Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye etc. those of us who are not familiar with the animated universes and older material can only really connect one actor to the characters.
When we talk about Lex Luthor, Batman, Superman and the like, we have so many more pre-existing impressions from a wide range of interpretations names like Michael Rosenbaum, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Christian Bale, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, Adam West, Christopher Reeve, Tom Welling and Brandon Routh are just some that come to mind with no further research. We have standards to compare every new actor to and that makes it harder for anyone trying to be unique in the DC Universe.
Thinking about it like that, it kind-of makes sense as to why Snyder was doing what he did, with crazy dream sequences and little batman flying with bats but unfortunately, I didn’t feel it worked. Some elements were great, I loved the interaction between Clark, Bruce and Lex (and Jimmy Kimmel). I loved the little snippets of Cyborg, the Flash and Aquaman. But the movie was too ambitious, Snyder tried to squash too many things into a limited timeframe with a slow build-up and that was the movie’s greatest downfall. If we could have had the same movie without the dreams and Doomsday but with more Clark and Bruce, perhaps it would have been a different film.
Now about Ben Affleck, my opinion is that he did his best with what he was given. As we all know, actors aren’t given an opportunity to compose the story line but it is up to them to interpret their characters. As I mentioned, the plot was a mess of incoherent sequences but Affleck managed to create moments of great Batmanness- in those moments he looked right into the soul of anyone who objected to his casting (myself included) and did not need to sneer for we all felt ashamed of what we had said. In other moments, he seemed to focus a vast majority of his energy on remaining stoic without showing us who Bruce Wayne actually is. Overall, considering the weakness of the plot, Ben Affleck managed to show us a good Batman who has the potential for greatness. If he gets a solo movie (with a good plot), we may yet see another amazing Batman very soon.
DC has tried so hard with this film to lay down the bricks for the Justice League and all that it can be. This caused inexcusable plot holes and techniques that should really only belong in TV shows (eg. unexplained messages from the future that are never mentioned again). As is common opinion, DC panicked at the success of Marvel and have tried to emulate their success. From memory, Marvel built up most of their characters in solo movies over at least a few years before creating the Avengers. People need to care about the characters as individuals before they can become a team. DC can’t just rely on past material outside of their cinematic universe to build these bonds and release a film with only one character that we have seen a part of. We hardly saw Superman’s alter ego at the Daily Planet, making him only the Man of Steel and not the working class man that we can relate too. Affleck’s Batman and Bruce needed to have their own solo film so that we could understand, respect and most of all CARE about him. As he was, he had the attitude of a damaged teenager with no solid motive. No spoilers but the way the actual Batman v Superman fight ended was ridiculous, I’m sure anyone who has seen it can agree.
I have no experience in film making, I’m not even an avid reader of comics. I do read them from time to time but they are hella expensive in Australia so I have to be quite selective in what I pick up. As such, I have only seen a limited spectrum of the comic book story lines so I speak as someone who enjoys Comic Book Movies and Comic Book Characters without being well versed in the field.
Obviously nothing I have said comes as news to anybody, but I wanted to write my thoughts down because I left the cinema feel angry and sad. Angry because of all of the things it could have been and sad because of all that it was.
epitomeofnerd 