Batman v Superman: Some Thoughts…
I’m way too busy for an indepth review of this movie (and since I don’t want to include any spoilers anyway) here’s just a brief few thoughts:
- It does not deserve the hate it’s getting– No, it’s not your enjoyable but cartoonish Marvel movie full of cutsie one liners and popcorn plots, but there is plenty to like about it. These movies dare to examine the way the world would actually react to having super-powered beings among us. It is too heavy handed but not as slit-your-wrists depressing as the haters seem to think.
- I loved Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, Lawrence Fishburne and especially Ben Affleck in their roles– I wish they would have had Batman use more of his big brain in the film, but overall Affleck was terrific.
- Jessie Eisenberg was exactly what I expected– a terrible Lex Luthor. Horrible take on the character and a bad casting choice.
- Too long– It was overwrought with flashbacks, dream sequences and too much set up.
Overall I enjoyed it even if I wish they’d give us a little more joy and wonder and a little less gravitas. Man of Steel was a much more depressing, brooding, and soulless than this was, so it’s a step in the right direction. Superman and Batman demonstrate more of the heroic attributes we should expect from the characters than reviews lead you to think, especially at the end. It gives me hope the solo Wonder Woman (and Gal Gadot kicked ass in this film, as little as she was involved), Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg films will be winners. Like the best of the Marvel character film subjects, these DC characters come with a lot less baggage than Batman and Superman. If they can just stop concentrating on the social issues surrounding metahumans and just pit the heroes against some bad guys in some engaging stories, they’d have better success with critics and the public.
Oh, and fire Zack Synder so he can go direct a reboot of the “Care Bears” where they are vilified and persecuted by villagers because they talk and have pictures on their chests. They’d have muted, dirty colors and big fangs. Have someone with a little more sense of fun take over the franchise.
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One of the major characters from Superman’s history gets a bullet to the head. I can’t forgive that.
If you are referring to the photographer with Lois, what makes you think that was Jimmy Olson? It wasn’t. The character’s name was Wallace Keefe.
Actually, no Wallace Keef was the amputee in the Luthor chair that went BOOM. I don’t think Lois’ photographer in the desert was given a name. Wallace was the guy Wayne gout out from under the girder.
You’re right. That actor was rumored to be playing Jimmy Olson but ended up playing that character. The photog was just an unnamed character.
According to EW, that was Jimmy. F this movie (by which I mean the letter grade F).
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/25/batman-v-superman-jimmy-olsen
Thanks for the spoiler pal!
So you now know some anonymous character gets killed in the film, and you think that’s a spoiler??? Guess what? Batman wears a CAPE in this movie! ?
Unfortunately, everyone who thought the character was Jimmy Olsen, you were correct:
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/batman_vs_superman/zack-snyder-confirms-that-jimmy-olsen-is-in-batman-v-superman-a132611
That was not made clear, which I guess is the larger problem with this movie (and the current run of DC Comics in general): they often show without telling.
Ben Affleck was good? Did not see that one coming.
Me either. I hated the idea when I first heard it, but he did better than just pull it off. He made me stop thinking I was looking at Ben Affleck and believe I was looking at Bruce Wayne. Had the character been handled just a little but better with the script he would have been the best one to date, IMO.
How would you rank him compared to the others since Keaton?
Well said Tom. This was better than the way I was perceiving the movie to be in my head after watching trailers. Lex Luther could have been better casted but I think that even the subpar performance still got a message across about Lex Luther
One critic called it the “greatest superhero slobberknocker ever made.” That’s enough to loosen the knot from the coin sock hanging on my belt.
I agree with everything you said, except I didn’t mind Jesse as Lex. I really liked his one on one with Holly Hunter.
You saying that about Affleck is high praise, knowing your person feeling about the Dark Knight.
Sounds like you and I agreed on just about everything. That was the biggest letdown. Great Batman, awesome Alfred, very good Superman etc…
Lex = fail on all levels and, to remain spoiler free for now, total unnessesry use of an iconic character as a third act throw away for spectacle and no substance.
I’m far from a hater on this film for sure. There’s too much good in it but it was lost in the mud.
Tom, I TOTALLY agree with your mini review on all points…and I also wonder why Holly Hunter was cast in such a blah role as the senator. One of the ways Snyder could’ve shaved another couple of minutes was by excising the scenes of Bruce Wayne’s old-school workout routines, which seemed silly to me.