 |
| "Do you under-deliver? You will." |
Directed by Zack Snyder
Produced by Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder
Written by Chris Terrio, David S. Goyer
Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg
Budget: $250M
Superheroes are played out.
Gee, you're saying that's a predictable start now one of these posts? Well shit, considering this movie starts off with the exact same scene we've already seen about half a dozen times it makes sense.
Odds are you were at least familiar with this movie, considering the insane marketing blitz and long production development it went through prior to release. Originally envisioned as Man of Steel 2 back in 2013, the pitch included Batman showing up for the first time in DC's attempt to ape the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As it neared release rumors circled that it would serve more as a Justice League: Year Zero with a whole mess of characters appearing, because we can't have self-contained narratives anymore.
The movie starts with the obligatory Batman origin flashback, then cuts into the best sequence in the film, when Bruce Wayne (Affleck) runs through Metropolis as the events of Man of Steel play out around him. Wayne, in his trusty Jeep Renegade © goes along and we see the ground-level destruction that played out over the course of that final action scene and serves as Wayne's motivation for disliking Superman.
Cut to Lois Lane and CIA Jimmy Olsen (what?) doing some sort of reporting on mean military guys in the Middle East when Superman comes flying in and involves himself in world politics. There's some nonsense about Lex Luthor designing an evil Krpyonian, some high-minded religious symbolism which fails to hold any weight, and multiple references to locations being evacuated, because it feels like parts of this were written specifically to mock criticisms leveled against Man of Steel.
Now, I don't have much of an issue with what DC is attempting as far as tone. Marvel does a fair job oversaturating the market with snarky one-liners and human-level heroics. I think DC had an opportunity to capitalize on the super aspect of the superhero, but in hiring Zack Snyder to direct they sacrificed any chance of it evolving into anything other than a special effects explosion across the screen. While I think turning Superman into a morose, screaming, neck-snapping alien probably wasn't the best choice, it's the direction WB has apparently decided is best.
However, I don't have a problem with a bitter Batman, I don't have a problem with young Lex Luthor, and I don't have a problem with exploring how a world would react to the appearance of a super man. What I do have a problem with is how each of these ideas is explored at the most shallow of levels throughout, and any attempts to actually discuss the effects of these individuals is delivered with over-written monologues regarding gods versus men.
Good lord there's so much wrong here. I'm just talking about what stuck out on this rewatch.
The Batman
Like I said above, there are certain things I think the movie covers well. The ground-level stuff is kind of neat, but I fully admit that's because I'm a little weird and I like my superhero stuff with real-world consequence and thought processes included. Now, there are absolutely better ways of doing this than as an attempt to add another explosion to the mix, but at least there was an effort made, right?
And personally, I liked Affleck as Batman. Not only does the movie go to lengths to show us that Batman can fight bad guys, but we see Batman doing investigative things. Something the Nolan movies really dropped the ball on was Batman's title as the World's Greatest Detective.
The Superman
Of course, Affleck can't make up for the rest of the miscasting. Amy Adams as Lois Lane was not only a poor choice, she was a waste. The character is a plot device used to shovel exposition at the audience, when she's not serving as a UPS agent to deliver plot devices to Superman. Alongside this is Eisenberg's delivery as Luthor, who seems to have thought he was playing the Riddler. Gal Gadot actually does a fine job, but the writing for her is so bland and on-the-nose it feels, understandably, like she was shoehorned in.
As with most Snyder movies (though he didn't write it...supposedly) is that the plot is slave to the logic of the moment. We've gotta have Superman and Batman meet at a soiree! Well, we could do it organically, or we could pretend that Clark Kent, ace reporter, doesn't know who Bruce Wayne is. We need Clark to do a story on Batman, but there needs to be drama, so let's have Perry White micromanage his staff to the point where he dictates headlines to reporters. We want Lex Luthor to show that he's clever, so during his first encounter with Clark Kent let's have him joke about the movie title. These moments occur throughout with such startling regularity it's a shock there are only two writers credited. To list all of them would be to essentially summarize every character choice.
The MAAAARTHA THEY'RE GOING TO KILL MAAAAARTHAAAA
Enough has been said about this.
Verdict
Now, I haven't watched the Ultimate Edition, because I'm not a masochist. It apparently includes roughly 30 minutes of extra footage, but that's not the version that was released in theaters. First impressions are important, especially with movies like this which were released with bizarre dream sequences and montages at random spots (including, at one point, a time traveler sequel bait sequence in the middle of a dream sequence).
What a mess.
No comments:
Post a Comment