Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - Movie Review
I wanted to do this post before but I wanted to see the movie one more time before I did. I thought that maybe watching it again I might have some second thoughts but nope...pretty much the same...
SPOILER ALERT
if you haven't seen it but come on...honestly?
First, I made a bet with my friend that this movie would have the bigger opening weekend, make more money than Captain America: Civil War but Civil War would be the better movie. In a way I was right, I'm sure anyone you ask will say Civil War was the better film and it also grossed more at the box office on the opening weekend and domestically, therefore I was wrong on that part.
First I was really excited for this movie when I saw the first trailer and it grew more when I saw I believe it was the second one. The music, the voice overs, not showing too much of the movie and yeah it had the line in the first trailer "...Do you bleed? You will" I wasn't sold on it, thought it was kinda cheesy but got other fans out there pumped.I think what I liked about it was the fact that we already had a Superman movie and yeah the Batman movies were Nolan's but I already felt that I "knew" Batman if that makes sense. The other trailer that revealed Doomsday and the final last one I regretted watching because I was already sold.
NOW! The first 10 mins of the movie was great! I don't care how much I see the origin story of comic book characters I know, I love seeing different directors take on them and I loved the way Synder handled Batman's! I thought the music fit in well, the choice of font (I'm weird) I thought the voice over was unnecessary and kid Bruce being lifted from the cave by the bats I thought was cheesy, I don't know why but I was thinking an animated movie or TV show doing the same thing would have done it better
BUT
The moment the scene went white and faded to the climax of Man of Steel! I was done! I was sold! I was so excited! I was like I saw that! BRILLIANT, AWESOME, EPIC, GENUIS! I was so hoping for more but it felt just right and just enough. I do like that they did that in both this movie and in Civil War, where our hero/s has to come face to face with the consequences with "saving the day" (as put by the Civil War HISHE). It hurt me in this movie and even more in Civil War BUT ANYWHO. To me that scene was better than the fight between Batman and Superman and it was longer (well only by a few mins give or take)
After that the movie seemed kinda like a group project where it was film in different parts ( I know realistically it was but hear me out) but then put together to create one full film that didn't flow together and when people ask if I liked the film my response always is always the same, I liked parts of it but not together as a whole film. The music you could tell wasn't really well done. You could tell that Zimmer wasn't very inspired for this movie. ALOT of re-used tracks from Man of Steel which don't get me wrong I love the soundtrack to Man of Steel (I have the deluxe steel discs) but honestly they didn't sound any different, like they weren't tuned to sound different like what Zimmer did for Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. From what I heard he isn't doing any more Comic book movie soundtracks and I don't blame him, he's done plenty. I say take a break, do other projects, get inspired and make an amazing comeback in a what will hopefully be a good DC movie.
Now I believe the big flaw, one of the biggest anyway was Lex Luthor Jr's plan. I didn't like Jesse's version of Lex at all, some of his lines were interesting but I wasn't sold and wasn't convinced and what made it worse was this "master plan" of his, to make Batman hate Superman and make them fight until he was able to get a hold of General Zod's body and make Doomsday to kill Superman if Batman didn't work out but then if that does work and Doomsday is still standing than their all screwed but heck...he went with it anyways. I guess in a way maybe he was hoping that they would both kill each other which is what happened in the comic where they both delivered a final blow that "killed" each other (I put in " because eventually they both came back, go figure) but how would he know that. It's a lot more complicated and stupid and I refuse to go through it because that would take up and another half of this post which is already so long. If you wanna read all about it, Screen Junkies was kind enough to write it down in their honest trailer that you can watch here:
Another let down was the reveal of the rest of the justice league team members, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg. They were revealed in an email attachment sent to Wonder Woman by Bruce. A lot of people thought it was lazy, I did too really. I thought we could find out more about them in the screenplay like the characters in the movie making references to them (like Bruce did at the party where he said he had a bad history of freaks dressed like clowns = Joker = I'm dead!) or maybe see a small snip it on the news or in the newspaper, something. The email at the last minute seemed kinda lazy and even with nothing at the bottom after the attachment from Bruce saying anything but yet he keep asking questions after he found Wonder Woman's photo...
What I found kinda funny about this though was because I work at the theatre when I was at my other location and only on floor cleaning the theatres. The amount of people that stayed back thinking there was something after the credits. I was like "guys! This is not a marvel film and you already got your tease, it was in the email!" It was so funny and sometimes frustrating to see guests staying until the screen went blue only to come down saying "oh they shoulda had something, etc" This one even said "you shoulda told me there was nothing after" It's not my job to say, that ruins the experience.
And this movie was basically suppose to give us an epic battle between Batman and Superman and sorry but it fell short. The opening scene, the final battle were all longer than the actually fight we were waiting for. In this case, Superman is not like the Hulk were fans wanna see him go up against someone/thing of equal strength. No we got that in the first one basically and with Doomsday in this movie. We wanna see someone with no powers hold their own against the Man of Steel like Batman and Luthor. Batman only lasted about 8 mins before he was totally distracted by the name Martha...(his "kryptonite" I guess) and Luthor...ugh...who made a monster and got put in jail for it. BASICALLY the fight was very disappointing, it could have been longer and more intense. I feel it was lacking. And I get I'm not like a die-hard comic book fan (I hope to get to that ranking one day) so seeing these two match up wasn't like peeing in my dreams kinda thing but I was still excited as the next guy but it didn't get me excited like it was to see Wonder Woman join battle in the end (I got MAD chills for that! The set-up, the music, the way she held her own and fought back after entry, I was like YES!!)
Basically in total it was very disappointing.
Now for DOOMSDAY! As much as Doomsday is a brainless killing machine, I'm a fan and loved the animated movie. I was so mad when I saw him in the trailer, hoping it wasn't him cause he looked like a big joke! He looked like the abomination from Hulk! I wanted to keep an open mind and when I heard that he would evolve, honestly wondered how but when I saw the film and saw he did evolve overtime when he reached max level of energy and was starting to look more like the Doomsday fans know I just wished they battle him longer so we could have seen what he would have looked like when fully evloved (feel like I'm talking about a pokemon). It didn't really surprise me that they both died at the same time Doomsday and Superman, throw back to the comic but to have Superman died in this movie kinda makes me wonder which direction and what role he'll have in the Justice League.
I did notice a re-used shot from Man of Steel, don't know if people remember this but when Superman was first fighting General Zod on earth and he hit him into a gas station (7/11 for product placement) when Superman was thrown across the road he's on his side skidding. The same shot is used when he's kicked by Doomsday but in a more close shot. Trust me it's there! Watch and see!
Okay this post is already WAY too long and I didn't get to talk about Lois or the dream sequence with flash or how much Superman in this movie reminds of this guy at my church or how my family reacted to it and more Wonder Woman, how watching this movie reminded so much of Injustice: Gods Among Us, and the cheesy writing and the no shirt frying fake eggs, or the death of Superman! or the other weird dream sequence with his dead earth dad, or more about Doomsday and how it reminded me of the X-men Origins version of Deadpool...
THERE'S JUST SO MUCH! My post is turning into the movie! There's at least 3 - 5 different posts in this one post if I made it as long as it should be!
I will say this though, I again loved the visual effects! I thought the way Wonder Woman moved when she was thrown against a solid cylinder was weird, seemed more like a Flash thing. But the fight sequences with Batman and the finale battle was awesome, I really did like that. Oh! and as always Superman's cape, I was just so IN LOVE!
THAT'S IT! I'M DONE! I either have to cut down on the typing or just do a video cause I know I lost a few people after the second paragraph. I haven't watched the Extended Cut cause it's Rated R and I can't watch it with my parents around...so that's why I didn't mention it on this post.
I have seen Captain America: Civil War (twice) in the theatre which should be good enough for me to do a review but I rather wait. To get things right and see if I missed anything. It comes out in September so I will definitely be doing another post before then. Probably on photography because I've been doing more of that lately and also I'm giving Vancouver another shot! It's hard to explain so wait for that post!
Stay Blessed!
