Alrighty guys, I haven't said much about Batman v Superman, but I haven't posted much anyway because of a successful two week long commercial I was working on. That's over with, and I now have a few days to relax before my next production I'll be working on. It seems like I'm going to channel much of the reaction in this forum, which it seems to be "entertaining, but overall not very good."
Batman hates Superman because of what happened in Metropolis in Man of Steel which he saw first hand (and was one of the best moments in the film), and he feels like he has to be stopped. Superman hates Batman because he doesn't like Batman's view on justice, and he feels like he has to be stopped. Their alter egos meeting at Lex's party was great. I loved that Superman figured out who Batman was because he's Superman can hear Alfred in Batman's earpiece. Throw in mystery Gal Gadot, who had the best subplot in the entire movie, you got the beginnings of a great Superhero movie. So what the hell went wrong?
Let me first talk about Zack Snyder, who has directed the first two installments of the DC Universe. Snyder is a brilliant visual artist. He can set up shots like the best of them in business. The scale he brings, and the interesting angles he chooses are just pleasing to the eye. When he comes up with his own storytelling ideas, however, he falls short. Herein lies the biggest problem with Batman v Superman. He has these great ideas to tell a story, but doesn't know how to use them, and we end up with a final product that is everywhere. There's too much going on, and we lose focus on the main plot because we have these subplots that were just expanded too much. If Man of Steel felt like three movies going on at the same time, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice felt like 10 films going on. We didn't need that incident in Africa as a tool to further the tale of the cause and effect of Superman's actions. That was already set up by revisiting the fight with Zod in Metropolis. We didn't need The Daily Planet investigating LexCorp. That takes away from what Lex is doing in the movie (I did not hate Eisenberg BTW. I'll explain further). It all takes away from why Batman and Superman were feuding, which in hindsight was set up well.
With all that going on, it affected the editing, pacing, and overall enjoyment of the film. Less can be more, especially with all the ideas presented.
Ben Affleck is one of the best Batman's ever to hit on the big screen. He is Frank Millers Batman. He is older, grizzled, and he just doesn't care. He plummels the bad guys with brutality. You can see in his eyes that he has had 20 years of experience "of freaks dressed like clowns." That sequence where he goes to rescue Martha Kent is the single best Batman action ever filmed for the big screen. "I believe you." THAT'S STRAIGHT OUTTA THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS! GREAT GEEK MOMENT!
Gal Gadot is my future wife. She's also perfect as Wonder Woman. In fact, she's so great, the only time the audience in my theater ever cheered was when she flew out of no where and saved Batman's ass from Doomsday.
I did not hate Jesse Eisenberg. I just hate how they treated the character, and that's just me wanting to see Lex done right on film. Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville is still the pinnacle Lex Luthor. Anyway, Jesse did the whole psychopath thing well. Too well. So well that he could have been The Riddler. So I didn't hate his performance. I just didn't like they made Lex into a young rich millennial with religious issues. What makes Lex a great character in the comics is that he reminds us that it is hard being human, and how some people have a hard time dealing with certain aspects of life. Superman shows us there is way to overcome.
Which is Snyder's mind is to sacrificing himself, which fits Synder's Jesus Christ illustration of Superman. However, next time we see Superman, it will be in a Justice League movie after being resurrected. Superman is supposed to be the leader of the JL, not Batman. It's concerning to me that Synder set up Cavill to be the leader of the Justice League the way Brian Singer set up James Marsden's Cyclops to be the leader of the X-Men: Broken. It worked for Man of Steel in my opinion, but Batman v Superman should have set up the character to be strong minded. Even with sacrificing himself to defeat Doomsday, which I guess will get the people of Metropolis to love him now, I just can't picture this Superman to be the leader of the original superhero team up.
I wish there was better cameo appearances from the other JL members. Showing them in a computer file seems like a cop out. First of all, The Flash's big cameo appearance should never have been part of a dream. It should have been in real time. The Flash capability to go back in time makes him one of the most important characters in DC. I thought it was cool they dressed him in his Injustice armor. Aquaman should have appeared when Lois Lane decided to head back for the Kryptonite spear, and saved her from drowning. That would have made the fans cheer, not the capture footage of him swimming away. I guess you could have had Cyborg's appearance in a computer file to show his father capturing his experiments trying to Cyborg's life.
The good things about BvS were awesome. The bad things about BvS were bad. Same feelings I had with Man of Steel, but I liked Batman v Superman a little bit more. I am looking forward to Snyder-less DC movies in Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman. I think we're going to see a big difference creatively, and one I think will be better.