There’s been so much hubbub surrounding the release of
Batman Versus Superman: Dawn of Justice that I was hesitant to say anything
about it. After all, how much attention does a 250 million dollar blockbuster
need? Most people decided whether they were going to see it long before it came
to theaters. Plus, as much as I try to avoid review of a movie I might want to
talk about here, it was impossible to not hear what a huge, confusing
disappointment the film was. Headlines everywhere practically crowed about how
this gigantic movie was a gigantic failure. Did I really want to spend my time
and money seeing a movie that was so widely panned?
Well, I’m one of those who knew he was going long before the
movie came out. I have nerd blood coursing through my veins, and I can’t ignore
a film that borrows so heavily from comics I read as a kid. I was going – the
only question was how much of a waste of time was it going to be?
I am happy to report that Batman V. Superman: Dawn of
Justice isn’t nearly as bad as you’ve heard. Or maybe because of what you’ve
heard, it’s not so bad. I had the lowest expectations possible. I fully planned
on being miserable for the movie’s entire 2 hour 40 minute run time. But I
wasn’t. In the end, the movie is pretty good and I think it has everything to
do with expectations.
I didn’t expect a ton of narrative sense. First of all, it’s
a comic book movie and it’s one intended to start no fewer than five other
franchises of other heroes introduced in the film. Many comic book stories,
especially the ones this film is based on, don’t always make sense. Loyalties
shift in moments, random villains show up just in time for the climactic battle
simply because it would be more awesome if they were there, and storylines are
dragged on through many issues. All of these things are simply the nature of
the beast. So while some viewers may have been bothered by the film’s long running
time and confused by how arbitrary Batman and Superman’s sudden decision to
work together is, to me it seemed perfectly appropriate. Honestly, when I hear
people complaining about the lack of realism in a comic book movie, I want to
ask them how many flying men or pointy-eared billionaires they’ve seen trolling
around in high speed tanks lately. Comic books and comic book movies are not
realistic and never will be. So why complain?
The other element that affected my expectations was the
director Zach Snyder. Snyder is a hack who thinks he’s a genius. He tries to
make operatic, epic films but can’t hide his inner 14 year old who just likes
to blow stuff up. He’s actually Michael Bay but he thinks he’s Terrence Malick.
Snyder got his start making commercials and that says a lot about his inability
to effectively tell a story. He’s a terrific visualist but doesn’t understand
how to structure a story to save his life. I think that’s a big part of why he
keeps slavishly adapting other people’s work. Maybe he thinks if he just stays
close enough to his source material, no one will notice that he doesn’t know
what he’s doing.
Anyway, Batman Versus Superman: Dawn of Justice is long and
a little nonsensical at times, but at the same time, it’s pretty good. The visuals
are great, the action is exciting, Ben Affleck does just fine as Batman, and
Henry Cavill still looks like Superman. And though her screen time is
relatively scarce, Gal Godot is a fiery revelation as Wonder Woman. Which is
exactly what I expected.
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