Directed by: Zack Snyder
Rating: ★★½
What do you get when you mix a great Batman film together with a rubbish Superman film?
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The critics have ravaged this one, and unjustifiably so. It may not be the greatest movie of all time, but it also isn’t the worst. Batman v Superman is a blockbuster superhero spectacular that sets out to do exactly what it says on the tin: pit Batman and Superman against each other in order to set up the Justice League movie.
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| So this is what Batman vs Superman looks like... |
So if you want to watch two and a half hours of muscle bound men brooding and punching things then that is exactly what you’re going to get.
I honestly did not think I would like this film as much as I did. Man of Steel was abysmal, and we all know Zack Snyder’s gone mad with power. Also, Ben Affleck is just… Ben Affleck, so I really didn’t think that this would work.
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| Wonder Woman is a welcome addition to the proceedings... |
But, on many levels, it does. And on several others, it doesn’t.
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| What's going on? Why on earth is Lawrence Fishburne in this movie?? |
Batman v Superman is a Batman film. Batman is the lead, and he gets the most to do. Superman is just an emotionless menacing hulk who really has no agency or part to play- except to save Lois Lane.
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| Just like Man of Steel, Lois Lane needs to be constantly rescued. |
Taking place after the events of Man of Steel, Batman is not a fan of Superman, and neither are a lot of other people. It makes sense really, since he inadvertently killed about half a million people. But people also don’t like Batman, as he is a vicious vigilante with a lot of mummy issues. The two are pitted against each other, and we are obviously on Batman’s side because Superman is played by the forgettable and entirely wooden Henry Cavill, and Batman is played by slightly less forgettable and almost entirely wooden Ben Affleck.
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| Give us a smile Ben... |
But don’t worry people- the producers knew what they were doing. They cast really strong, really decent actors to fill out all the supporting roles, so that everyone else in the movie can actually portray human emotion. This is why Lois Lane (Adams) gets such a big part even though she really shouldn’t (but I’m glad that she did as she is great) - someone capable has to be compelling.
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| Amy Adams is a great actress- and gets to show off her skills. |
The casting of Ben Affleck was very divisive, but as critical as I am of Ben Affleck, he does actually makes a great Batman. I really rate him in this film- not that it is hard to steal the show from a man who can twitch his face into two different types of frown.
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| Here is Henry Cavill Frown Number 1. |
The casting of Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luther was also divisive, but he does his job well and I didn’t mind him. He was annoying in a good way.
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| Lex Luthor is a rich spoilt brat who has no real reason to be villanous. |
Amy Adams and Holly Hunter are the real stars of the movie, and although Hunter is heavily underutilised and we should have seen more of her, she chews the scenery in every single frame she’s in.
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| It's great to see Holly Hunter back on the big screen! |
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is a supermodel who wears two different types of suit- a tight business suit and a Wonder Woman suit. Her powers seem to be the ability to grow breasts when she turns up to save the day.
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| Wonder Woman likes to pout- which is what you get when you cast a supermodel instead of an actress. |
The plot is intense, the film is dark, and they almost touch on something brilliant by nearly making Batman insane- but unfortunately this doesn’t go anywhere as they never fully flesh this out.
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| Jeremy Irons does his best by playing Batman's butlet Alfred. |
For no apparent reason, half way through, Batman has a prophetic dream that is essentially just a comic book plot line put in for the fanboys (like me!), which looks cool but makes no sense, and then Batman has another prophetic vision of a man screaming about Lois Lane. This is when the film temporarily loses the plot.
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| Is it a nightmare, a vision or the future? Wo the hell knows? |
Then, for the finale, Batman v Superman really does lose the plot, as a giant monster wreaks havoc on Metropolis. The two male heroes leave Wonder Woman to battle the beast by herself, as Batman runs and hides and Superman disappears to save Lois (for the twentieth time).
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| Wonder Woman saves the day- kind of. |
This is probably because they are too tired to fight the monster after bashing each other’s brains in.
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| Another example of Herny Cavill Frown Number 1. |
The ending is dreadful, as we know it ain’t all over, and it makes you just wish that Superman won’t come back for the Justice League movie, although he inevitably will.
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| Henry Cavill not frowning. |
Even though most of the people paying to see this film only want to see fight sequences, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman’s breasts or Ben Affleck and/or Henry Cavill’s torsos, the movie tries to ‘get deep’ by adding some very clunky (and vomit inducing) allusions to Superman as a Messianic figure.
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| Herny Cavill Frown Number 2. |
Don’t try it Zack- your forte is flesh and blood- there’s no point in trying to prove you’re ‘that kind’ of director.
Although it ain’t the best superhero movie ever, and it does steal a Batmobile car chase from The Dark Knight, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is an enjoyable, compelling watch- for every single scene that Superman isn’t in.
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| Batman's newest incarnation is great! |
The first two thirds are, on the whole, really good, and the battle between Batman and Superman is pretty damn cool, but the film is let down by a monster madness Hulk rip-off finale fight and a stupid ending that is a complete waste of everyone’s time.
The film may have been critically panned, but audiences seemed to like it, and it has made a lot of money at the box office. As I have said before in other reviews, a true test of whether or not a movie is really any good is if you would ever watch it again.
Would I watch Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for a second time? Yes, I would, so it just proves that it’s a pretty decent- even for two and a half stars.
I honestly think that the critics wanted to hate it, and that’s why they did. I too thought it would be dreadful, but unlike Man of Steel, I was proved wrong.
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