Ever since Warner Bros. announced that they would be launching a DC Cinematic Universe with Man of Steel as it's foundation, questions began to surface regarding the potential success of that plan. Would the heavier tone of director Zack Snyder's Superman debut be able to persist without eventually overwhelming the audience? Would any approach to Batman be able to stand up against the excellent Dark Knight trilogy completed just a few years earlier by Christopher Nolan? And - perhaps most importantly - would DC be able to catch up to Marvel without falling into the trap of shoehorning loads of extra characters into their first few films?
Batman v Superman arrives today as the answer to those questions. And, quite surprisingly, the answer is "yes", albeit a very tentative one.
The film picks up right with the ending of Man of Steel, actually overlapping slightly to show that Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) was present in Metropolis during the destruction reigned down by Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod. After Wayne's own office building is destroyed in the rampant destruction - killing a valued adviser and paralyzing an employee in the process - Wayne recognizes that Superman's power ought to be feared and opposed, not welcomed with open arms. The conflict between these two escalates, spurred on by the meddling of Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). What follows is, as the title suggests, the clash between these two titans of comic lore (with A LOT of extra content thrown in).
+ "Bat" Wayne
When Ben Affleck was first cast as the embodiment of the Caped Crusader for this go round, the announcement was met with a huge amount of doubt and rejection across the internet. With the film now in theaters, fans can rest assured that the choice was a good one. Certainly, Affleck's Bruce Wayne is a different sort than audiences have grown accustomed to - the playboy billionaire has all but disappeared behind a damaged and vindictive man - and many have criticized this more brooding turn. However, this is a character who has faced unrelenting crime for years by the time we meet him, and as a result he is understandably jaded. Thus he carries with him all the weight of being Batman, even while hiding behind his secret identity. I will say that his vindictive nature goes a bit too far in one of the final confrontations, leading to some very un-Batman-like actions, but this can be forgiven in light of the generally favorable performance.
+ Wonderful Woman
Gal Gadot joins the cast of BvS as a mysterious figure floating in and out of both Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent's lives. Perhaps unfortunately, it is well-known that her character is Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman. While some might wish that promotional material had not ruined this revelation, it does not ultimately detract from the fact that her presence adds a welcome sense of intrigue to the proceedings. Additionally, her limited presence serves as the anchor that connects the rest of the potential Justice League to the film, allowing them to be included without overwhelming the film with three additional characters.
+ The World's Greatest Detective
Without a doubt, the strongest portions of this film are those that focus on Bruce Wayne as he attempts to solve a mystery involving a deadly weapon being smuggled into Gotham by an international terrorist. With the help of Alfred - portrayed by Jeremy Irons in a much more grizzled style than his last incarnation - Batman tracks criminals, uses thermal vision, hacks mainframes, and beats up thugs. In other words, he does a lot of classic Batman things. Eventually, of course, this plot is woven into the overarching story, but it provides a tantalizing taste of what a standalone Batman film with these characters could be. And it is beautiful.
- Incomprehensible Plot
Unfortunately, aside from those standalone moments featuring Batman, the first two-thirds of BvS is nigh unintelligible. Snyder is a director known for his work on graphic novel adaptations like Watchmen and 300 and he certainly demonstrates his unique sense of style with aplomb. That being said, BvS falls victim to a terrible problem of style over substance. Simply put, no amount of epic camera movement and operatic slow-motion can make up for the fact that the story feels almost completely illogical at times. Events happen with no back story or connective explanation, resulting in a film that feels more like a patchwork of epic set-pieces than it does a cohesive story. Compound that with the fact that it includes at least five flashbacks or dream sequences (and maybe even a few flashforwards), and the narrative almost falls apart. Once the endgame begins, and character motivations - especially those of Lex Luthor - are made clear, the pieces start to make sense, but that is much too little too late.
- Crazy, crazy Lex
It's no secret to those who follow film news that Jesse Eisenberg is portraying a decidedly different version of Lex Luthor than fans have grown accustomed to. Gone is the bald-headed, middle-aged, ruthlessly cunning technological genius. In his place stands a long-haired, Jolly Rancher-loving, Millennial at the head of a Fortune 500 company. Oh, and he's insane. Like absolutely, completely crazy. He at one point force feeds a Jolly Rancher to some sort of government official (his role is never explained, like many things in the film) while requesting access to the crashed ship and dead body of General Zod. I must say, I have no inherent opposition to this kind of character; I in fact think it's a fascinating take on the role, and it fits perfectly with the background revealed later in the film (no spoilers). My complaint is that people actually go along with him, despite the fact that he is so obviously insane. No Fortune 500 company would allow such an unstable person to remain in charge, nor would the government acquiesce to the mad-science desires of such a man. But in BvS they do, and that's absurd.
*****SPOILERS AHEAD*****
You have been warned. Though the trailers spoiled most of this already.
- Doomsday
In the final half hour of the film, after Batman and Superman have resolved their dispute and Wonder Woman has been fully revealed, Lex Luthor unleashes Doomsday as one final attempt to bring down Superman (you'll have to watch the movie to find out why he's so intent on this). In a nutshell, Doomsday is awful. First of all, the means of his creation is nonsensical. Using machinery found on-board a crashed Kryptonian ship, Lex is able to turn General Zod's dead body into a giant, indestructible monster...somehow. The only thing we see is Lex dripping some of his own blood on the body, before the ship takes over the "metamorphosis". This is made more ridiculous by the fact that all Lex has to do to access the ship is use Zod's copied fingerprints. That such advanced technology is secured in such an inane way must be a criticism of either the Kryptonians who built it or the filmmakers. My money is on the filmmakers. Doomsday is made even worse by generic character design (he's a big gray humanoid), some overly-plastic CGI, and a power set that is in no way explained. All this combines to create an antagonist that seems like he was included solely to move the plot forward by forcing Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to team up.
*****SPOILERS END*****
* Enter the Justice League
It deserves special mention that the hints toward the Justice League included in this film are generally well done. Rest assured, BvS does not suffer from Spiderman 3 levels of character saturation. Instead, like Diana Prince, the other "metahumans" are teased as parts of a mystery that Bruce Wayne researches. This allows the film to introduce the idea that there are other superheroes in existence, without forcing the viewer to interact with each and every one of them. In fact, the weakest moment featuring the League occurs when Diana Prince views a set of video files that explicitly demonstrate the powers of the Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman. This moment feels out of place, as though the filmmakers just wanted to make absolutely sure that audiences know the Justice League is coming, and the film would be better without that moment.
* Dystopia Batman is AWESOME
This is perhaps a mild spoiler, but it has been shown multiple times in trailers. I am referring to the scene where Superman, complete with his own military force, seems to be holding Batman prisoner. In the film, this takes place in a longer sequence (which could be a dream or a flashforward - it's ambiguous) where Batman fights against the authority of this dystopian world. I LOVED this sequence, and would gladly watch a film depicting this alternate-reality batman.
Wrapping it Up
At a point during one of the final confrontations, Batman pontificates, "The world only makes sense if you force it to." Unfortunately, this description applies equally well to Batman v Superman as a film. There are the roots of a really awesome story here, and some really interesting characters as well. Unfortunately, they are brought together so haphazardly that the whole is very much less than the sum of its parts. I still enjoyed the film, and the standalone moments featuring Batman have me optimistic for the future of the DC Cinematic Universe. I just wish that they could have created a better foundation to build upon.
