Batman vs. Superman...it's a long one

Batman vs. Superman Review

So…all the hype…and the movie has now come and gone.  If we bottom line this, i think everyone is asking, is the movie any good?  Well, in my humble opinion, it is an average film that wants and tries to do more.  For what its worth, no, it is not the Avengers.  The Avengers seemed to have fun.  This film is not sure what it is, who the main focus should be on, and what it is trying to say.  With the Avengers, Joss Whedon kept things simple:  Have a solid bad guy, but just enjoy watching these classic characters fight together.  With Batman vs. Superman, Zach Synder seems unsure as to what he wants the film to be about because he has so many “teasers” for future movies, as well as confusing motives that i’m unsure of what the film is trying to be.  If it is a film about Batman fighting Superman, there is very little of that after a lot of build up.  If it is a film that is setting up a huge battle against a foe casual moviegoers will not recognize, it does this, but is very vague, which leaves the original question:  what is this film?

The basic plot everyone will recognize from the trailers that show up on countless websites:  Batman does not trust the power of Superman, since he can wipe out all of humanity, so Bruce Wayne decides that the safest thing he can do is steal some Kryptonite and kill Superman.  What he doesn’t know, along with Superman, is that he is a pawn in the schemes of Lex Luther.  Eventually, these two powerful comic characters battle head to head, but ultimately team up to stop a weird alien known as Doomsday.  The actors are solid, but truly, the script doesn’t give any of them much meat.  Most movie-goers were very concerned about Ben Affleck taking on the role as Batman in light of the masterpieces that Christian Bale got to star in, but he does okay as an older, aging Bat.  Henry Cavil, i’m convinced, has the right body, look and feel for the “new generation” of Superman fans, but just doesn’t get to do much other than look forelorn, as if he is trying to make us feel the burden of being a superhero.  This kind of acting may be difficult, I don’t know, but Chris Evans, Christian Bale and even Robert Downey Jr. seem able to carry this weight more effectively.   The actor who is having fun, or trying to make the film fun is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, who many know from the fun film “Now you See Me.”  Many critics have panned his performance and i’m confused as to why, as he is the only one that has any ideas about the world and is willing to try and speak about things.  What Lex is missing is motive.  Yes, comic book fans will know his motives, but in the film he just wants to destroy two hero’s and we don’t know why, other than veiled discussions about his father’s physical abuse towards him when he was a child.  That is pretty thin, but Jesse gives it his all, seems to know, wrestle with and argue about what or who is God;  and if there is a God, do we know if he can be all good and just?  As a casual fan, i find it interesting that as Lex wrestles with these complexities, unsure of what is truth, he heads more towards evil, sin or the “darkside,” the truly cool part about the film.  Darkseid will be the next villain in this film franchise, but for casual moviegoers, after the film you may expect the villain to be Satan himself, but that is part of the conundrum of this film:  Is it a fight between two great hero’s OR merely a vehicle that Warner Bros. is using to set up a parallel universe that will “marvel” Marvel?  Because Zach Synder is unsure or is trying to do too much, the film feels bloated and leaves the actors grasping at air in a lot of places.  All of them truly are wrestling with deep things, but they either don’t know where to go with them or aren’t sure what their role is.  Again, is this the fault of the actor, director, or the script they are given?

It is well known that Zach Synder is a comic book devotee and die-hard when it comes to bringing “visual flair” to his projects (no matter one’s thoughts on Watchmen, it had flair), but he truly seems unable to write decent dialogue in any capacity.  From “Dawn of the Dead,” to “300,” it’s as if all of his projects have dialogue that can only be used in the trailers.  After watching Batman vs. Superman, i truly felt that i had “seen” all the important conversations watching the trailer and not the actual movie.  And this isn’t a one time thing.  His other films have the same vibe to them: “This is Sparta!!!”  Under certain circumstances, this may not be a problem, just look at Michael Bay and all the money he can bring in with the Transformer films.  But he also brings in a ton of action and different style for the action, while Synder has yet to show any growth as a filmmaker, especially when it comes to dialogue and actual conversations.  When Superman meets up with Batman, it is slightly painful, instead of awe-inspiring:  “Next time your light shines, don’t go to it.”   “Tell me…do you bleed?”   Wow.  Real page turning stuff here.  (Sarcastic voice) I can’t understand why Leonardo got his Oscar for the Revenant.
Bottom line:  it is a long film that should have been edited by 10-15 minutes, and will leave many questioning what took place or where the franchise is headed.  The only thing that is certain with this movie is the fact that it made enough money  ($168 mil opening weekend) to justify the hype and ensure more films with these characters.  For some movie goers that’s enough and that’s what going to the movies is all about.  For others, “of all the words of paper and pen, the worst, what might have been.”
2.5 out of 5