I was going to wait to do a spoiler free review of Batman v Superman until I see it Thursday (I ended up getting into an early screening today!). But I felt I should put a few comments down because some people will want to take their children to this movie and might hope I could give them some guidance in that regard. This review is spoiler free so I can’t say what happens but something happens that I think could seriously upset small kids. Just trust me.
Now let’s get on with my initial thoughts.
First I will remind you guys I’m not that rabid a Batman fan to begin with. The movies tend to focus too much on villains and Batman is usually a bore. I like my superhero movies to be about heroes rather than villains.
That said, I went to Batman v Superman optimistic and hopeful it would be a fun comic book movie. And for about an hour in I was enjoying it on that level and then unfortunately it takes a turn I did not like at all.
I will also say that my brother who is a huge Batman fan hated the movie, so take that for what you will. He was very upset and not in a good way.
It’s hard because one of the things that didn’t work at all is highly spoilery but suffice it to say that Zack Snyder thinks we are all stupid. He somehow thinks he can make a movie with a million hints at the Justice League Movie coming in 2017 and yet expect us to buy the ending…Come on? When you guys see it you will know what I mean. There is no way the ending is legitimate and it is all done to squeeze phony emotion out of fans and leave you in a phony cliffhanger for those dumb enough to buy it.
Ok. Off soapbox. There were things that worked quite well. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was actually quite good. If you had told me going into it that one of my favorite things about Batman v Superman would be Wonder Woman I would have said you were crazy but there it is.
Also, I liked some of the character development we got in the first hour of Batman and Superman. Ben Affleck was good as Batman although he is manipulated rather easily. But I thought the building off of the destruction of Man of Steel and questioning Superman’s powers was pretty good. Cavill is fine in the film but I still don’t see any chemistry between him and Amy Adams’ Lois Lane.
Jeremy Irons is good as Alfred although underused and Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White had a few moments of comic relief. Holly Hunter as a senator was kind of wasted.
Jesse Eisenberg didn’t work for me as Lex Luthor’s son but it’s not entirely his fault. The screenplay makes some leaps that I found hard to believe. He is granted clearance to things he really shouldn’t be. He’s places that don’t make sense for him to be at and he seems to know Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne’s alter-egos when he is first being introduced to both of them. He also manipulates Bruce very easily.
Let’s talk about the action. There’s really only one extended fight scene and then 2 dream sequences. The dreams were kind of annoying. The long fight scene is ok but the way it ends does not make sense for either character.
We all knew they would go from being enemies to friends within the movie. It’s in the title so I don’t think that is a spoiler but how that happens did not feel authentic or believable at all. Batman makes such a drastic shift and for a reason that I didn’t buy.
Boy it sounds like I really hated it. I guess the charisma of the stars provided enough marginal enjoyment for me to give it a ‘meh’ rating. I can totally see why my brother hated it.
I think a lot of fans will phantom menace this movie. It has a very low rotten tomatoes score and already I’m hearing defenses and ( if you liked it that’s awesome) but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people come down on this movie once the novelty has faded and they look at it more objectively. We will see.
Oh and Doomsday looks terrible. I couldn’t believe how bad the CG was on him. Usually Zack Snyder at least gets that kind of thing right.
I just don’t know how anyone defends that ending. Zack Snyder tried to trick me and it’s not going to work! I may not be a huge Batman fan but I’m not stupid either.
Overall Grade- C-
I also don’t think Man of Steel fans will like this movie. It doesn’t have any of the sci-fi or edgier elements of that film. It’s a lot of people talking about Gods and God-like powers and not much of the showing like in Man of Steel.
My youtube review. A bit rambling but say what I needed to say.
The ending that you hint at is probably mostly for fans of the comic books. I don’t think Snyder knows how people will read the film, but wanted to give a nod back to the source material. Of course, that was just my read.
Always nice to hear your thoughts.
It may be in the comic books but it defies belief that a certain someone wont be in Justice League. Give me a break. It annoyed me.
Right. I guess I just don’t think Snyder expected anyone to believe that. And I would argue that the final scene makes that clear.
Hmmmm. Interesting take on it. So you liked the film? My brother who is big Batman fan hated it. I think opinions will run the gambit on this one! 🙂
I did like the movie. I think it has some silly moments (as most films like this do), and Batman is awfully dark. There are also parts that feel rushed, and I agree that Doomsday could have been better produced. That said, I thought it was fun.
Cool. I’m glad. I was surprised how much I liked Wonder Woman so that’s a plus!
I’ll just say Martha, Martha, Martha has a whole new meaning. 😉
I admit, I am kind of surprised. Knowing how little I like Snyder’s style of film making, I never expected to like the movie myself, but after all the positive buzz which was created beforehand, I thought that it would eventually end up somewhere in man of Steel territory, a movie a lot of people won’t like, but would be still good enough that you could consider it serviceable. I didn’t expect it to hover around 40% at Rotten Tomatoes. Granted, those are the critic reviews, and there is no consensus reached yet but…yikes!!! I am glad that I haven’t bought into the hype in the first place.
Yeah I was surprised too. It’s certainly not the beginning of their cinematic universe DC wanted criticwise and fanwise (at least if my brother is any indication)
Well, this just makes me more not excited for the movie.
Yep. I feel bad for all the Batman fans that will be disappointed by this film.
I was thinking of going to see the movie next week just because, but now I’m definitely saving my money till it comes to my library on DVD.
Good plan.
Just curious. Is your brother most troubled by the way Batman was written. I agree that this particular version is a departure. But the more I think about the portrayal, the more I think “most” of it works for the arc that the film takes.
He didnt like the fight scenes, the way Batman is manipulated by Lex so easily, and he didnt like the ending too. He has a long list. I will have him on a video or something where he can vent it out. He was very upset.
Thanks. I thought it might have been something else. My kids and I talked about the fact that he operates differently than virtually every other Batman we’ve seen before. Of course, I tend to like departures since I’ve seen the character portrayed so many different ways. The manipulation didn’t bother me much because I read that as Lex giving himself too much credit. But so much of movies is interpretation.
For sure. I didn’t mind a new Batman. In fact I thought it had so much potential which is why it is frustrating. Didnt you think the changing over to friends because of a name was lame? I didnt buy that.
But all would have been forgiven if they had ended it well. It just really irritated me they trying to wring emotion out of something I know is fake
Nice review! 🙂 Ugh…. I just really have no interest in even bothering with this one. The hubby might drag me to it but I hated Man of Steel. The negative reviews are certainly putting me off even more! :-/
Yeah dont bother. Save your money. The more I think about it the more annoyed I feel
I was that way about Man of Steel – the more I thought about it afterwards, the more I hated it!
Despite the reviews, I’ll be seeing this one on Saturday – I’m still interested enough in the characters to check it out. I think I know what you’re referring to with the ending, as I inadvertently saw a comment on Twitter that I wasn’t sure was real or not – but even if it’s true, I’m not as bothered about being spoiled as I would be for an MCU movie.
Cool. I would recommend seeing it to be part of the conversation and to have your own opinion. Sorry you got spoiled. That’s lame when people do that
Good review. Thanks for letting me know ahead of time. I plan on seeing it this weekend (I don’t have high hopes for it) and will write my review soon after.
I look forward to hearing what you think
I watched this film today and I agree 100% with everything you said about this film. Especially with the ending. The ending was absolutely insulting.
Thank you! I feel like even in the bad reviews nobody mentions the ending which was the worst part by far to me. Sigh…
Not only is the ending an insult to the viewer’s intelligence, but it’s also too long. Just end it already. We spend so much time dealing with formalities that are just a charade. I would’ve cut at least 30 minutes out of this bloated depressing film. Some judicious edits would have made a much more efficient picture.
Agreed. The longer it is makes you realize how stupid it is
I really don’t know why everything has to be over 2 hours these days. Isn’t brevity the soul of wit? Especially Guardians of the Galaxy. Even if you liked it, why did that movie need to be 2 hours long? At least Superman IV was short….
Agree with you there
Guess what! I just watched 2001: Space Odyssey. Loved it!! I haven’t seen it since college and I liked it so much better this time. It’s not only visually awe inspiring and uses music so well but it is a mystery and thriller at same time. Great film. I can see why it is your favorite.
I’m happy to hear that. I haven’t seen it for a while but am going to re-watch it. I agree with what you said. It’s mostly the fact that I’m an introvert and it accomplishes so much without words.
Recently my English teacher was telling the class about how you need dialogue to tell a good story because people want to see character interactions to be invested. I asked “What about 2001: A Space Odyssey?” and while he admitted it was a good movie, he said it was also “a weird movie” and “most films aren’t like that”.
Now the only thing that could make Confused Matthew more angry is if you come back saying that Moulin Rouge! is still vulgar and horrible. XD
Hahaha! My ultimate goal in life is to confuse Matthew even more. Ha.
I waited until seeing the film for myself and the whirlwind of reviews died down before stopping by your page. Perhaps going in with lowered expectations was a blessing in disguise because I was able to pay more attention to the stuff that I actually enjoyed. Ben Affleck is now my favourite live action Batman, Gal Gadot shows promise as Wonder Woman, I really liked seeing the Trinity fight Doomsday, and it was cool to see this darker cinematic universe slowly unfold: honestly I was never bored throughout. But there were of course serious problems that a lot of people have brought up and will no doubt affect the film’s perception in the long term. If you’re curious, you can read my full thoughts here:
http://letterboxd.com/o_stainton92/film/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice/
I will say the whole Zack Snyder trying to “trick us” (us being the audience) with the ending and him thinking we’re stupid is taking things way too far – and definitely not the intention of the director and writers. I’ll address the ending in the spoiler part of the review and how I felt about it. For me, the biggest surprise from reading this review was that it actually did score a “meh” rating of C- because I was expecting something lower than that!
I will totally check out your review. All I can say about the ending is if you are going to kill that guy expect some people to be upset. And since I know it isn’t real all the funeral and mourning really annoyed me. I did feel like they were trying to trick us and give a cliffhanger that isn’t real. That may be strong words but it is how I felt.
As far as the meh grade. I’m not that big on Batman to begin with so I guess a mediocre Batman movie didn’t really upset me like it did my brother. I thought Wonder Woman was pretty cool and some of the visuals looked nice. I liked the beginning of the film with the bump off of Man of Steel. In fact, I was feeling pretty positive for the first hour or so and then it got very messy. The Martha end to the fight was ridiculous and Lex Luthor felt like he belonged in a Schumacher movie not this dark, gritty version. I’d agree with you about Ben Affleck but doesn’t it bother you he is so completely played by Lex? I mean Lex manipulates him into almost killing Superman. That’s not good. Did you see my spoiler review? I go into things more there.
This was a movie the more I thought about it the more annoyed I was because there was so much potential. Still, a C- is probably still my grade because of the good stuff.
Anyway, thanks for your comment. I will read your review. Glad you enjoyed it and weren’t upset like my brother and many other fans.
Also the more I think about it the more it bothers me we have reached a point where a major terrorist attack can happen in a movie on the capitol building and the movie never talks about it again. That kind of bugs me.
The biggest problem for me, as you’ve highlighted, is the over-complicated plot. Even the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels were more straightforward than this! I can’t figure Lex Luthor out; Eisenberg has his moments of diabolical sadism and egotism that befit the character, but on the whole he went overboard with the eccentricity of it all. And you’re right, I’m not at all sure what he was trying to accomplish: I know he wants Superman either dead or disgraced how he went about it is a real stretch. Eisenberg could have worked as the cold and calculating Lex from the animated series, and it bugs me why they didn’t go that way.
I agree with that. There was such potential and then some of the choices they made were baffling.
I just read your review. Great job. The editing was something I noticed more I thought about it but yeah the structure was a mess and even scenes that work well like the party when you think about them in connection with what Lex, Bruce and Clark all know it doesn’t really make sense.
Anyway, it’s never my intention to upset fans or trash a movie. It just didn’t really work for me and that ending left me feeling emotionally manipulated (maybe that’s better way to describe it than tricked). What you saw as bold I saw as a cheap way to get me to cry when the movie hadn’t earned it and I know it isn’t real.
Anyway, I hope they get rid of Snyder and learn from their mistakes on the next film.