Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice picks up where 2013’s Man
of Steel left off. Man of Steel’s
finale was a battle between Superman and General Zod, with an army of
spaceships and futuristic drilling machines (or something), smashing their way
through Metropolis for what felt like an hour. Batman v Superman, in a bit of revisionist history, puts Bruce
Wayne on the streets of Metropolis while all that smashing was going on,
scrambling through the rubble, driving through and around and on top of it, and
rushing into the debris of a crumbling building in a (very likely, offensive)
homage to 9-11 imagery. It’s not totally clear why he’s there – I thought Wayne
was a Gotham guy, but whatever. It’s an interesting scene by itself and sets up
the whole point of the movie, or at least its title. A lot of people died and
were injured and some of them even worked for one of Wayne’s companies. So
Wayne blames Superman and wants him gone. It works as a way to set things up
(for a while). But the problem is this is revisionist history outside of the
movies as well. Director Zack Snyder was widely criticized for that climactic
battle in Man of Steel. It was so
over-the-top, so long, and so illogical – no spoilers, but the way it ends could
have happened before it began – and Superman fans were outraged: their hero
would never have been so careless with innocent lives. Batman v Superman tries to claim that the whole mess was intended,
when everyone knows such smashing and chaos is just Snyder’s style. The scene
works and he redeems himself for a while, but then outs himself again with all
the unnecessary chaos and interminable smashing in the climax of this movie. He
even shoehorns in an awkward explanation that this time the battle is in an “uninhabited”
area. You’re not fooling us, Zack.
So Batman is mad (and dark and brooding and serious) and as
he mentions in the trailer, “He [Superman] has the power to wipe out the human
race. And if we think that there’s even a one percent chance that he’s our
enemy, we have to treat it as an absolute certainty.” This has to be
some of the worst logic and one of the shakiest foundations on which to set two
characters against each other (I’m pretty sure that if there’s a 1% chance he’s
your enemy that means it’s almost an absolute certainty he’s not). Batman wants
to kill Superman because he is powerful and because he smashed up a city in his
last fight. It doesn’t matter to him that the city smashing was done to prevent
the destruction of the Earth by a supervillain – Superman is the enemy and that’s
just that.
Superman, on the other hand, doesn’t even get an explanation
for his dislike of the Batman. There’s mention that he doesn’t like vigilante
justice, but he doesn’t seem to be able to reflect on himself. They just have to
fight, because that would be cool, I guess. It is unclear why anyone is doing
anything they do in this movie. Lex Luthor is in it, played by Jesse Eisenberg
who is just outrageous, and not in a good way. He’s up to something and he’s
bad because, well, Lex Luthor is the bad guy in the Superman stories. Wonder
Woman shows up. Lois Lane is running all over the place, needing to be rescued.
There’s a big monster to take care of. Other DC heroes are awkwardly introduced
for future movies (there’s also a very long dream sequence that makes absolutely
no sense unless it’s setting up future movies as well). Parents get involved. It’s
almost incomprehensible.
Things play out that way for a while, and then the movie takes
a turn for one of the dumbest reasons I’ve ever seen in a serious movie. And
make no mistake, this movie goes out of its way to tell you how serious it is.
There are repeated ramblings about gods and devils and the forces of good and
evil and life and death and the purpose of existence, and it’s all so dark and
ominous, desperately craving importance. It’s like reading the poetry of a
15-year-old boy.
But there’s a ton of superhero action, fighting, smashing,
flying, explosions, and everything else you would expect from a movie with that
title. And if you’ve seen Man of Steel or
any of Snyder’s other films (300,
Watchmen, Sucker Punch) you know what to expect. With such low
expectations, it really isn’t that bad (what a compliment). There are a few
interesting scenes, some powerful imagery, and some intriguing ideas. Ben Affleck as an aging Batman could
work (though for a much better treatment of older Batman, check out the
animated Dark Knight Returns movies).
Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies ushered in an age of dark and serious
superhero movies. The problem is that this works for Batman, but it doesn’t
work for Superman. Superman is a goofy and uninterestingly powerful hero
conceived in the 1930s as a messianic Jesus-type savior who served the popular
imagination as a response to the terrors of Fascism and Communism. He’s a mild-mannered
clean-cut super Boy Scout. He doesn’t brood. But Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2-and-a-half hour orgy of self-serious
brooding.
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