-★☆☆☆☆
NOTE: Spoilers ahead.
Son of Krypton versus the Bat of Gotham. God versus man. The greatest gladiator battle humankind will ever see… as catchy and intense those one-liners from the movie are: the film Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice didn’t give an entertainment justice and was a major EPIC FAIL performance.
Two years after the devastating events of Man of Steel where Superman (Henry Cavill) outed himself to protect the public from the alien threat of his co-Kryptonian, General Zod: the whole world was changed. People are angered and fearful of Superman including the genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist (but not cool), Batman who is willing to take down The Man of Steel because he fears his power. Underneath Batman’s personal vendetta against the life-saver Superman was Lex Luthor who plays them both to pursue his own crusade to whatever lunacy he’s planning for the world.
Here’s the thing about the film: I don’t even know what the point is. Although, the plot was clear as a day, and you know how everything will go: the problem is you can’t really feel the threat or the conundrum everyone in the movie was feeling because the build-up of the story was confusing and unintellectual.
The confusing part is about Batman’s personal vendetta that he draws from the devastation Kryptonians caused at Metropolis. He saw what happened with his own eyes and realized what great power Superman has! So, Batman wants to put an end to Superman because he fears Supe might one day lose his shit and kill everyone. Let’s give them that argument. But haven’t the government and the people thought about how Superman has been out there saving everyone’s asses? And for Batman who still hasn’t been killed by Superman in his Dark Knight duties in the evening yet? The problem was the shallow reason for the fear and vendetta is. It felt like the story was forced just so everyone can see a showdown between Batman and Superman. Even when the movie revealed that Lex Luthor was behind everything that’s happening: it still didn’t make an impact.
What made it unintellectual is how Batman turned to Superman’s side just because he hears Superman says his mother’s name ‘Martha’ which happens to be Batman’s mother’s name is too. He’s like, “OH, SHIT, YOUR MOTHER’S NAME IS MARTHA TOO? FUCK, BRO, LET’S BE BFFS!” I mean, that’s the catalyst? C’mon, Zac Snyder, that’s moronic. When I’d be angry at someone and that someone says my mother’s name, I’d be like, “Oh, you wanna talk about mothers?!” and then I kill that someone (or start a ‘Yo Mama’ battle). It was that decision-changing moment for Bruce Wayne where my friends and I are like, “Whut?”
Speaking of Bruce Wayne: with people claiming that Ben Affleck is the best Batman yet… I don’t know. Was it the confusing goal or his confusing role? All I know is it just didn’t work.
Also, another problem I found in the film was the tone. It felt like a 300 film times two. Although Zac Snyder has done it in The Man of Steel which I liked because it wasn’t overwhelming, but this time it didn’t quite match up to the noir spirit this comic has. The HDR-esque bothered me a lot.
Truth is, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy set the standard to how a DC comic film should run and feel like, and I cannot see it in a newbie perspective anymore because The Dark Knight films are already out there. But even Christopher Nolan as a producer in Batman V Superman didn’t help. I even wonder what he’s doing there… the entire film has no touch of Christopher Nolan in it. He’s the producer; he should have a lot of say on what’s going to happen in the film.
On the brighter side, the film did a pretty good job in setting up Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman to which the film drew the fun and cool part, especially when she showed up in costume. Her action scenes were intense and EPIC, and her espionage moments were sophisticated and sexy.
Gal Gadot as the most awesome person in the movie.
The action scenes, although heavy and exhausting, were okay.
Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as Lex Luthor, as a Superman fan perspective felt weird because it’s something new… but weird in a good sense. His lunacy drew the fear in the film which was a success. Also, his dialogues are the best in the film.
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor who clearly needs Jesus.
But then I come to figure out that the excitement of the film drew from teasers of the ‘Meta-humans’ or the Justice League. Therefore, the entire film was just a total set-up for the forthcoming Justice League movie.
In totality, the film was mundane and pointless. But if I were a kid whose only reason for watching a film is because it’s Batman or Superman and the action, it would be my favorite movie of all time. I didn’t even watch it on the first day because I know, just like the title itself: it would suck.
But even though Ben Affleck totally zoned out in an interview after hearing that the film had more negative reviews from film critics (29% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes): still Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has the biggest superhero opening in history (according to Forbes.com), biggest opening in the Philippines beating out Avengers: Age of Ultron, and had a 7.5/10 rating in IMDB and a 72% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
I will not even compare DC Cinematic universe to the Marvel Cinematic Universe anymore because it’ll be like putting salt and pepper to the wound.
1 star out of 5.
One Setting Travels 