MOVIE REVIEW – Batman (1939) and Superman (1933) are two of the most iconic and ancient DC Comics superheroes, so it’s no wonder they would either team up or go against each other one day or another. Their epic battle was of course already depicted in comics and cartoons, so it was Zack Snyder’s tour to make a movie adaptation of it. This time, it’s Ben Affleck who took the role of the caped crusader while Henry Cavill returns as the iconic Superman. The real question is whether this trio of the two stars and director was up to the challenge?

Following his titanic struggle against General Zod, Metropolis has been razed to the ground, and Superman is the most controversial figure in the world. While for many he is still an emblem of hope, a growing number of people consider him a threat to humanity, seeking justice for the chaos he has brought to Earth. As far as Bruce Wayne is concerned, Superman is clearly a danger to society. He fears for the future of the world with such a reckless power left ungoverned, and so he dons his mask and cape to write Superman’s wrongs.

The rivalry between them is furious, fueled by bitterness and vengeance, and nothing can dissuade them from waging this war. However, a dark new threat arises in the form of a third man: one who has a power greater than either of them to endanger the world and cause destruction!

The universe of Batman and Superman: it goes together that well?

I am not really fond of mixing two universes, which are not that “compatible”. Batman is an unyielding human superhero character, with fantastic gadgets and cool skills living in Gotham City, while Metropolis Superman is an alien superhero, who can only be killed by Kryptonite. Thus, the world of Batman is grounded in reality while Superman is more akin to science-fiction.

There’s the same level of difference regarding their style: Batman nowadays has its own baroque, dark ambiance, while Superman has still a colorful world full of fun characters.

Still the excellent trailers of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice grabbed my attention, and I was eagerly awaiting the movie – especially after the latest trailers, where Ben Affleck’s performance was especially promising…

Affleck nailed it

Yes, to start with a positive aspect: Ben Affleck is perhaps the very best Batman actor so far. While he has a flat, almost emotionless acting as the older Bruce Wayne, if you watch the cartoons and read the comic books, that’s exactly what’s this older character is about.

His dark presence behind the mask is even more convincing. He’s much darker than Bale, and he outweighs every other Batman actors as well. While Bale had perhaps a more complex and more interesting acting as far as the Bruce Wayne character goes, when Affleck is wearing the Batman costume, he’s clearly more in line with the dark, gloomy character.

Henry Cavill is very convincing Superman as well. Because of the scenario, he has more complex, more brooding character and while this approach is perhaps different from the original Superman, still, it makes him more interesting. I am not really an expert in Superman (never liked the comics or the cartoons) but this Superman character is well acted indeed.

I am bit less enthusiastic as far as Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor goes. It’s pretty hard to topple The Dark Knight Heath Ledger’s Joker in his area and Eisenberg has tried and failed while still acting his usual Eisenberg character. To be fair, His Lex Luthor acting is a hit and miss: sometimes he nailed his role, at times I felt like he was playing Mark Zuckerberg all over again.

However, what was actually one of the worst surprise is the acting of one of my favorite actors, Jeremy Irons, who is truly woeful as Alfred: the butler and confidant of Bruce Wayne – especially after Michael Caine’s Alfred in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies. He had zero chemistry with Affleck’s Wayne; it felt like he was really just Wayne’s butler. Since Irons is an excellent actor, I am not sure if it wasn’t the cause of Snyder’s “particular” direction.

Cut! I said: cut!

But the main problem with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice isn’t the acting, but it lies deep in Zack Snyder’s directing and editing. The first half of the movie is a drag without much happening; we just have a broad (and unnecessary) view into the character’s personal life.

Besides the awful editing, there are also lots of amateurish plotholes in the film, like Superman almost drowning while swimming up with a Kryptonite spear (the only material wich can harm him) but happily flying with it a moment later?

Also, I wonder if there’s ANYONE on the planet, who isn’t aware how Bruce Wayne lost his parents? Why retelling this story the very same way, as we already seen in the very first Batman movie in 1989 for example and countless other movies and games later? Yes, it has a purpose later in the story, but still, everybody has grown weary seeing that very same scene – without anything meaningful added to it.

Déja-vu

Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer wrote the script of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which is about a billionaire vigilante who picks a fight with a superpowered alien for accidentally toppling one of his skyscrapers. The movie borrows most heavily from Frank Miller’s seminal 1986 The Dark Knight Returns mini-series, which told of an aged, bitter Batman, who was forced out of retirement by a surge in crime and had to defend his brutal methods against a government-lackey Superman.

But Snyder and his screenwriters have dumbed down Miller’s smarter, more compelling narrative and focused instead on the conflict, which opposes Batman and Superman because of Wayne’s deep hate of Superman. Yes, he hates him, because according to the stupid “revision” of the apocalyptic finale of Man of Steel, in which Superman (Henry Cavill) and the evil General Zod (Michael Shannon) flattened half of Metropolis during their climactic showdown there are thousands of victims now, while according to Man of Steel there supposed to be none. Talking about treating the audience like idiots.

Flawed

Still, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice isn’t a bad movie, and there are tons of well-made scenes in it, like some of the action scenes opposing both Batman and Superman and their enemies, or the very clash of the two titans: Batman and Superman. Their battle is brutal and furious and also extremely well directed and edited.

It’s a pity that Snyder of dragged down so much down those excellent scenes by pointless cameos and a half-baked main story showing clichéd events of the heroes private lives. I wish Snyder would have focus more on the actual title of his movie.

-BadSector-