Three years ago, I just graduated from college earning my bachelor's degree in English. Per some advice, I decided to start a blog where I would write what I want and hopefully gain the attention of some potential employers. While my personal life hasn't really changed that much since then, I believe I've grown to be a more competent writer and reviewer compared to when I first started. I honestly found some inspiration in watching Nostalgia Critic and Linkara review videos, and trying to copy their style; an honest and sometimes funny or brutal approach.
My first ever review on my blog was "Man of Steel", a film that overall had mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. Now here we are, three years later, and I am once again having to defend another installment of what has been established as the DC Extended Universe: "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice". Only this time, there is a disconnect between how the critics and audiences feel about this film, but I'll get more into that later.
Nearly a month after "Man of Steel" first released, the sequel was announced and that it would be the first ever team-up film between Superman and Batman. A month after that, Ben Affleck was cast as the new Dark Knight, and boy was there a fit to say the least. Ever since then, more and more came out about plans to build a DC movie universe to compete with Marvel's, eventually announcing a film slate through 2020. While I was excited about the prospect, I was worried too that they were trying too hard or just playing catch-up with Marvel. But once trailers and footage started coming, a lot of fans' worries were laid to rest. Which brings us to the film itself.
First off, the film is visually stunning. Director Zack Snyder does a brilliant job bringing a comic book to life, evident by the opening scene of Thomas and Martha Wayne's murders. Watching the pearls falling, a significant detail about this moment, was well done. And yeah, if you're not a fan of Zack Snyder's slow motion moments like he used in "300" and "Watchmen", it's in this movie too. But honestly, if you know Zack Snyder's style by now, you should know what to expect. Combined with the visual elements are the fight scenes, which are very well done, especially in the special effects slugfests between Superman and the armored Batman and the Trinity against Doomsday. But even without special effects, one of the shining moments of this film is Batman's mission to rescue Martha Kent. If you've played the Arkham video game series or at least seen footage, it's that Batman's fighting style brought to life. Never before have we seen a live action Batman more agile or more brutal. In my opinion, that was the moment Affleck proved himself to be THE Batman.
In my opinion, the tone of this film compared to "Man of Steel" is actually a lot more light-hearted. And in some ways, I view "Dawn of Justice" to actually redeem "Man of Steel" for those who didn't like it (unless you were overly critical of it; otherwise, it's more of the same). Now don't get me wrong, I still like "Man of Steel", and while "Dawn of Justice" does take it self very seriously and can get pretty dark, despite what some critics say, it definitely knows when to have fun as well, between the action and its character interactions, and yes, it has its share of laughs. When I think back to "Man of Steel", it was just an overall serious tone about Clark growing up and adapting to his powers and the people coming to terms that a being with such power exists, along with major destruction of Metropolis. I think this could be attributed to Christopher Nolan, who was a producer on the film following his success directing the Dark Knight trilogy. He was trying to bring that same feel to Superman, but I think it rubbed people the wrong way. It was probably a good thing he's no longer involved with DC films (as far as I know). Also, there's definitely a lot more color in "Dawn of Justice". I can actually see yellow in Superman's "S", compared to a gray filter seemingly used in "Man of Steel".
Let's move on to the cast, starting with the man who's faced much scrutiny in his casting: Ben Affleck as Batman. Like many, I was flabbergasted when I saw this announcement. But considering Affleck took the role even after saying he would never do a comic book movie again after "Daredevil", there had to be something about this film for him to come on board. As more trailers and footage came out featuring him as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, it seemed more and more people were becoming believers in the "Batfleck".
As I said before, Ben Affleck is the definitive and most accurate cinematic Bruce Wayne and Batman we've seen. It's like the DC Animated Universe Batman come to life.
Bruce goes on a very unique journey in the film. During the World Engine attack in Metropolis seen in "Man of Steel", we see that Bruce goes out of his way to make it to the city and help evacuate his Wayne Enterprises building stationed there, driving there in a mad rush while watching all the destruction unfold. But as Bruce gets to the building, Superman and Zod's battle has begun, and the half the building comes down. Bruce sees firsthand the destruction of Kryptonians, from an employee whose legs are crushed under a beam, and a little girl whose mother was in the building when it came down. Bruce looks up in anger to see Superman and Zod falling to Earth along with satellite debris continuing to destroy the city. This was a brilliant thing to do, showing how much collateral damage occurred in "Man of Steel" (which many people complained about). Hell, even I would be pissed at Superman after everything that happened.
Considering that Bruce in his time as Batman has only fought ordinary criminals, knowing that someone with as much power as Superman exists deals a great blow to him. It makes him feel like what he does doesn't make a difference anymore, and it results in even more brutal treatment of criminals like branding them with a bat symbol, something Alfred is even surprised by. By the end of the film though, Bruce, inspired by Superman, seems to realize that he needs to be better than he has been.
Wherever you have Batman though, Alfred is close behind, played now by Jeremy Irons. Ever since he was cast, I thought Irons was perfect for the role. He delivers the same wit you'd expect from the character and offers guidance to Bruce. Not only that, but he has a much more hands-on approach in Bruce's crusade, helping develop upgrades to his tech and even taking control of the Batwing via drone. I just wish he was in the film more than he was.
Moving on the Superman characters. Back in "Man of Steel", many complained about Henry Cavill's "wooden" performance. Well this time, I could tell that Cavill was delivering a much more profound performance as both Clark and Superman. It wasn't until my second viewing that I realized there was a bit more of a difference in Clark and Superman's looks. Not only does Clark have glasses, but his hair is a little more messy compared to Superman's slicked back look. I was wondering before how they would handle Clark's dual identities, and I was pleased with what I saw, especially since he doesn't act like such a goof like in the Reeves films. Come to think of it, this is another case where it's a DC animated universe version of a character brought to life.
Clark's arc in this movie is him acting like the Superman we know and is loved by a majority of people, but is still facing scrutiny from the public and politicians about his actions and what results from them. In a way, this makes Clark feel inadequate to the ideal his father(s) believed he could represent, and I feel like he projects some of this onto Batman, another hero who apparently just does as he pleases. But I think near the end, he realizes he can't do everything on his own, and this is going to play out further in future movies.
Since the last film, Clark has moved in with Lois Lane, played again by Amy Adams. First off, I really enjoyed watching the two together in a real relationship. Actually makes me miss the relationship in the comics. I have one more comment on that subject, but I'm saving that for later. Her character is just as involved as before, doing what she can to get to the bottom of a story and usually getting into trouble and needing to be rescued by Superman. You know, the usual shtick. But she's not just a damsel in distress, actually getting involved and trying to help in both the Batman/Superman and Doomsday fights.
Laurence Fishburne returns again as Daily Planet editor Perry White, and delivers a good, if not better performance than before. This ties in to what I said about the overall seriousness of "Man of Steel". Perry in "Dawn of Justice" feels more like the guy in charge of a newspaper. He kind of reminded me of J. Jonah Jameson. Take that how you will, but I see it as a positive.
And now we move onto the main villain of the movie, Lex Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg. When he was first cast, I was pretty skeptical. He just seemed pretty young, but it turns out he's actually the same age as Henry Cavill. Plus, he already showed he could play the CEO type as Mark Zuckerburg in "The Social Network". Eisenberg's Lex is very different from what we're used to. He's definitely a lot more eccentric, and while I assumed from the trailers that this would be more of a public facade, much like how Bruce acts like a party boy, some of his eccentricities translate over to his private side. Trust me though, this Lex is just as sadistic as we can expect, even going so far as to plant a bomb in a wheelchair he provided to the Wayne employee whose legs were crushed and amputated from before and blowing up a senate hearing attended by Superman. And much like Lois knowing Clark's identity in the first movie, I really like that Lex is able to figure out both Superman and Batman's identities and is able to manipulate them into fighting each other. Eisenberg's performance may split people down the middle, but you can't deny his presence is felt in every scene he's in.
And then we have the show stealer: Gal Gadot as Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman. Gadot's role is more of a glorified cameo similar to Black Widow in "Iron Man 2", but she's definitely interesting to watch both in and out of her armor. She first catches Bruce's eye at Lex's fundraiser, and the two meet up again later and have good interaction. My fingers are crossed that we saw the first signs of a "flirtationship" between two like in the Justice League animated series. When Wonder Woman arrives to the battle with Doomsday, my word does she make an impact, between her war cry and a smirk after taking a hit from the monster, it's very clear she's a born warrior. And people worried that Gal Gadot wouldn't be good in the role because she was "too skinny". It's got me even more pumped up for her solo movie next year.
But the Wonder Woman film isn't the only thing that's been built up here. The seeds have been laid out for the Justice League film, featuring cameos from Aquaman (in full costume), Cyborg, and Flash (who actually has two cameos). Now people are gonna be split on the necessity of these appearances. Personally, I don't think they were particularly necessary, but it was nice to get some teases. And while there may be some people who won't know who these characters are yet or what it's leading up to, I would like to think that if they're interested enough, they'll do their research.
Now I've been overwhelmingly praising this film, but I did however have some problems. Four to be exact.
- Mercy Graves, played by Tao Okamoto (who some may recognize from "The Wolverine"), is a waste of a character. She had like three lines and was killed in the bomb that destroyed the Senate.
- Bruce has some pretty weird dreams and hallucinations. It starts with him as a kid falling into a cave and he gets swarmed by bats, but it gets strange when the bats apparently lift him up. Later, he's visiting his parents in the mausoleum, but blood starts coming out his mother's crypt and then a giant bat bursts through a grabs him. And then we have the big "Knightmare" scene of a post-apocalyptic wasteland taken over by Superman. The strange thing about this dream is that it gets pretty prophetic, especially since we see Parademons, even though Bruce shouldn't know what they are yet. Oh, and these weird hallucinations even spill over to Clark, who after going off on his own after the Senate bombing, sees his father on the top of a mountain and even talks with him. It's actually a pretty good talk about how a special person can make help you through the bad things happening in your life, but the circumstances are still weird.
- I've mentioned before how this is a more brutal Batman than we've seen before. Well I'll be honest, sometimes I did get a little uncomfortable, because in some cases, he is kind of killing criminals in this movie. After doing some thinking about this, I've come to the conclusion that while he may be responsible, he did not directly kill anyone. Think of the Arkham games. Some of the things he does while fighting and in the Batmobile look like they could kill people, but we're supposed to take it at face value that no one's dead. I can't really say the same thing about this Batman, but I don't believe that it's his intent to kill anyone. I mean, people cut the Michael Keaton Batman slack for straight up killing people (please try to justify the moment in "Batman Returns" where he gleefully straps a bomb to a guy). I'm willing to bet that the next time we see Affleck as Batman, he may be a little more restrained.
- This is the big one. Much like in the comics, Superman and Doomsday do indeed die battling each other. While I admire they had the guys to do this, 1) Maybe it's a little too soon considering this is only the second movie of the franchise; and 2) it doesn't have much impact considering that not only does he come back in the comics, but we know he's coming back for the Justice League movie. But I think my biggest gripe about this move is that they're really kind of hammering in the Jesus metaphor. Think about it. We're introduced to this man with incredible power who will change the world ("Man of Steel") but is criticized because of this, and he ends up being killed, mourned by millions ("Dawn of Justice"), but he will soon rise again to save us from a coming evil ("Justice League"). (Wonder if it's a coincidence this came out on Easter weekend.) It was a little more subtle in "Man of Steel", but watching everything unfold in "Dawn of Justice", it did seem pretty obvious. And if Darkseid is the coming threat in "Justice League", Superman coming back to help defeat the God of Evil...well, I think I made my point. But on the positive front on this, we found out after his death that Clark was planning to propose to Lois (which is similar to the comics with the two being engaged before his death). In addition, director Zack Snyder says his reasoning for Superman's death was so that it would be Batman forming the Justice League, which would make it even more difficult, especially when they have to work together to defeat a powerful threat and that they'll need Superman. In my opinion, this is actually pretty damn brilliant.
Most of the fan reaction I've seen is very positive. Outside the internet, friends I've talked to who have seen the movie have said they loved it. Even one of my friends, who is more of a Marvel fan, has become a believer in Affleck's Batman and is excited for what DC has coming up.
My point is, it's crazy how polarizing this film is.
Now I address anyone at Warner Bros. who might read this: Stay the course. Don't let Zack Snyder go; he knows what he's doing. Don't postpone Justice League's filming start date in a few weeks. The characters you've given us and the actors cast to play them so far are perfect. Don't give in to the so called "critics" while the audiences these movies are made for are right behind you. $170 million in the U.S. $424 million worldwide. A 73% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. And Ben, stand tall. This isn't Daredevil again. You ARE the Batman.
To wrap this up, in my opinion, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is just short of a masterpiece and much like "The Avengers", this is a film I recommend everyone to see.
RATING: 9.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment