I am a big fan of this film. It was what I wanted it to be. Did it leave me wanting more, absolutely, but I am happy with what Zack Snyder and the gang delivered. Most of my complaints about the film deal with the marketing and decision makers above the movie. They did some things that took away from the film. If you liked Man of Steel then, like me, you will be a big fan of this film. Like it or not, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) will be a darker than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, until Captain America: Civil War comes out and Kills off Cap and a couple of others. Although this DC Universe is separate than the Batman universe created by Christopher Nolan, the style and feeling of that universe will live in spirit of the new universe.
****Spoilers ahead****
The story of Dawn of Justice bounces around a little bit in the beginning but the premise stays constant I feel throughout the entire movie. Bruce Wayne, played by Ben Affleck (Daredevil,) is in Metropolis and witnesses the devastation of the city during the battle between Superman, played by Henry Cavill (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,) and General Zod, played by Michael Shannon (Man of Steel.) Eighteen Months after the battle both Bruce and Clark Kent (Superman) are adjusting to the world post alien invasion and as they investigate each other’s alter ego, it becomes apparent that someone is pulling some strings forcing a show down between the two. That person manipulating them both, Lex Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland,) is also devising a plan using alien technology and the dead body of General Zod to create something that will destroy Superman.
So as I said this is a darker universe than the Marvel universe. This Batman is the judge, jury, and executioner of the bad guys in that, unlike the Christopher Nolan Batman, this Batman kills if he has too. I did not see him needlessly kill anyone but when push came to shove, when henchman were throwing knives, grenades, Batman would make sure that the bad guys would get a knife or a grenade thrown back at them. Superman has to deal with backlash by some of the people he was protecting during the battle with Zod who lost love ones in the city. Should he continue to help people or should he succumb to the pressure and stop? Can he still be Superman and love Lois Lane, again played by Amy Adams (Man of Steel,) and therefore come and save her whenever she puts herself in harm’s way?
Critics seem to be complaining that there is too much in the film and it slows the story down. The movie is long, 2 ½ hours long, but I didn’t feel the story was too slow. The movie was introducing the main two heroes in the DC universe and creating the background heading into its super hero team movie, Justice League. I heard one critic say that Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot (Furious 7,) was unnecessary for the film. He must have missed the last 15 minutes of the film when Wonder Woman saved Batman at least twice and kept Doomsday occupied while Superman looked for the Kryptonite spear. In many ways she was the star of the movie in that she was stealing scenes from the guys when she was in them. I am not taking anything away from the guys, but I thought she was that good.
Another critic had said that the introduction of the other members of the Justice League was clumsy and again unnecessary and slowed the movie down. It left me the impression that the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg all had wandered into the movie at some point and wandered out. That would be incorrect. All three of these were in a file created by Lex Luthor that Wonder Woman was emailed and she was looking at the file. Nothing awkward about it and again, since we are setting up the Justice League movie, a minor footnote in the movie is fine. I guess the critics were used to the Marvel way of setting up The Avengers movie by having small teaser trailers at the end of all of the individual member movies. That’s one way to do it. This way is another.
I would like to take this time to apologize to Ben Affleck. I thought he did a splendid job as the older, brooding, nearly burned out, Bruce Wayne. My concern with him as Batman was that he was, for me, the poster child 90’s action hero that would cry after killing someone or something. I mean he cried in Pearl Harbor, he cried in Armageddon, all I remember him doing is crying in movies. I get it, that’s what 90’s women wanted back then. They were tired of Stallone and Schwarzenegger and their alpha maleness. 90’s women wanted a metro sexual and Affleck was their guy. However, Affleck was the Batman that we have come to know and love, if you love Christian Bale or Michael Keaton Batman. I should have known that he was going to do a fine Batman since Christopher Nolan is an Executive Producer on this film. He gave us the Heath Ledger Joker and I should have believed in his choice for Batman.
The things I don’t like about this film really have nothing to do with the film. Way back in November or December of 2015 I was looking at yet another trailer that had been released and this was around the time that the newest Star Wars was coming out. I remembered that the few trailers for Star Wars showed nothing really in terms of the plot and left lots of things out there to be seen. However, with the Batman v Superman marketing we got to see three or four different trailers all showing important scenes in the movie. Things that would have made the movie a lot more cool to see if we weren’t already shown it in the trailers the six months leading up to the film. My guess as to why they did this is because the higher ups at Warner Bros. didn’t believe in its product because while Man of Steel mad money, lots of it, many critics didn’t like the dark turn. Then there is the whole Batman – Ben Affleck issue. So the execs continued to pump out trailers showing good material and that left the movie with everything tying the good stuff together. Now there is more good stuff in the film, but they should have given us one maybe two trailers ala Star Wars and let us enjoy the rest. Hopefully they will learn their lesson and stop giving us trailers for Suicide Squad, only give us a few for Wonder Woman and the rest going forward. There are good actors and directors and writers, people will come and see the product with the right amount of teaser for the movie.
Quickly I will address what critics always go to when they don’t like an action movie; the movie was driven too much by special effects. I hate this because it seems like movie studios can’t win because if you don’t do a good enough job on the special effects, Green Lantern, critics said they didn’t spend enough time on them. But if it’s got too much special effects and they didn’t get the story they wanted, the movie gets bogged down or slowed down due to too much special effects. That’s crap. The special effects in this film were great and I thought there was just enough for what was needed to tell the story that sets up a super team.
One of the last things I will mention in terms of a critics complaint is that one of them said that in this movie there is actually enough material in it for a second Superman movie, a Batman movie, a Wonder Woman movie, and a Lex Luthor movie. While I will agree to a certain extent that there is lots of material, I can’t help but think that the critic is also referring to the MCU and the fact that before The Avengers, there were five movies before it that introduced a multitude of characters. But Warner Brothers is introducing the DCEU a little bit differently and different is ok. Not better and certainly not worse. There will be a total of 4 movies before Justice League comes out. Plus there is one big difference between the MCU and the DCEU. When Iron Man came out in 2008, there was really nothing to compare that Iron Man to any other Iron man movie or TV show. In fact with the exception of the Incredible Hulk, all of the members of the Avengers did not have their own movies to compare to when these new ones were started after 2008. What I am saying is that there was no risk and lots of reward for the Marvel Universe because there was nothing to compare them too. X-Men and Spider-Man, while Marvel characters, had nothing to do with what was eventually created. The DC universe already had high quality movies come before them with which to compare. Some, like my movie review cohort, Benn Farrell, think Superman 2 with Christopher Reeve is the best super hero movie, while I continue to say that The Dark Knight is the beginning of any Super hero list. So Warner Bros couldn’t create new movies with DC’s biggest stars without comparison to the ones before it. To some degree that is one of the things that affected the movie Man of Steel because you read and heard the phrase, “This isn’t your Christopher Reeve Superman.” So I get why Warner Bros is taking a cautious approach to the DCEU, I just wish they would show a little more faith in what they have started because it is very good.
Lots of stuff in this review and I will finish by saying what I have already said. I am a big fan of this movie and of all of the actors in it. I am looking forward to Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman and I hope that this movie makes so much money that Warner Bros will back off and let the people creating the universe go do their thing. It can be just as special as the Marvel Universe, very different, but just as good. If I was to redo my Top 5 Super hero list which you can find here, I would make this film #3 ahead of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The official BBMC Blog for Brian "The Naked Gun" Felts 