Last Wednesday we went to watch the Premier for Batman v Superman. It was pretty excited as we got into the mood to watch the movie. We had some great food and drinks courtesy of Capital FM and Qatar Airways. We had a chance to network as we waited for the movie and spent time psyching up for one of the most hyped movies for 2016.
“Fearing the actions of Superman are left unchecked, Batman takes on the man of steel, while the world wrestles with what kind of a hero it really needs. With Batman and Superman fighting each other, a new threat, Doomsday, is created by Lex Luthor. It’s up to Superman and Batman to set aside their differences along with Wonder Woman to stop Lex Luthor and Doomsday from destroying Metropolis.”
Then we got down to watching the movie and I have to say I was disappointed. Okay let me be honest. I have taken my time writing this review because I was confused. For a superhero fan girl this movie got my mental faculties in overdrive trying to figure out how I felt about it. Believe me when I say this review probably hurts me more than it hurts you.
I knew it had already come out in the West a day or two previously so I checked the IMDB ratings, and it was given a frikin 9.6! That is literally the highest rating of any movie I have seen on IMDB. The movies that are rated in the 6-8 range are usually pretty good, so my expectations were sky high.
I felt like for the first time ever IMDB lied to me. Rotten Tomatoes got it closer to the truth by rating it 29%.
The movie began with Bruce Wayne having a dream (the first of many confusing ones) about his parents being gunned down outside a cinema. It then went on to showing him falling into a cave surrounded by bats which somehow carried him off the ground in a floating ascension manner. The next scene is a recap of the last fight scene in “Man of Steel” where Superman ends up destroying a bunch of stuff, which superheroes tend to do when they are fighting the bad guy.
So here are all my issues with this movie.
1. Batman. Remember how I mentioned the movie recaps a scene from Man of Steel, well one of the buildings that Superman accidentally destroys while fighting the bad guy is a building owned by Bruce Wayne industries. This leads to the grudge Batman began to hold against superman. Now, I am biased because Lord knows I love Ben Affleck and to be honest I think he works in the role of Batman. What I don’t agree with is the role of Batman itself. Batman, the character, kind of reminded me of a three year old who is throwing a tantrum because someone ate his cake. His hate or utter dislike for superman was petty, and there was no legitimate reason to hold a personal vendetta against his life. This is probably a disgrace to die hard Batman fans who love the ominous, intense batman from the comics and previous batman movies.
2. Let’s move on to the Story line. Honestly, as a writer, reader, avid movie and series watcher and lover of a good story. The story line was a mess. The cinematography was excellent and it was like they tried to distract you from the story line like a child being told “Forget the dirty ground which it’s on and look at the coin, pretty pretty, shiny shiny.” There are too many jump scenes. First Batman and Superman don’t like each other, and then the world hates Superman, and then Superman goes into hiding, then batman trains to kill Superman … Then Batman at the end decides to look for the other superhuman together with Wonder Woman and then, you get my point… If you’re not willing to give it a chance it is very easy to get confused.
3. The Fight Scene. Okay here is the thing, Batman cheated. This is just my opinion but you can’t be fair about the whole Batman fighting Superman thing and allow Batman to have a spear filled with a truckload of Kryptonite. I saw a meme that was humorously accurate recently. It basically painted a picture of Superman injecting Batman with polio so that he couldn’t move before the fight. In essence it is the same thing. Secondly the title of the movie was a rip off. The actual fight between Batman and Superman was barely a tenth of the movie and like I mentioned in point one the reason behind the fight was extremely petty. It’s almost like they thought of the name before they thought of the story line and began looking for any possible reason that Superman would have to fight Batman no matter how flimsy.
4. Character Development. I’ve already mentioned my disappointment in the character batman. Lex Luther was another character that just confused me. Growing up with Small-vile and other Superman telling and retellings, Lex Luther was a pretty put together guy. Yeah, he was bad but he wasn’t psycho or anything. The Lex Luther in this movie reminded me more of The Joker than anyone else. Another character I loved but was a bit too random was Wonder Woman. It’s like she was only there for formalities’ sake, and for the sake of appearances. Louise Lane, will she ever be more than a damsel in distress? Does she hold no value apart from that?
5. Time. For a movie that already had a number of disappointing factors it dragged on a bit too long, and you could even feel the atmosphere in the cinema was one of, “It’s not yet over?”
I did enjoy a few things. When Superman is cooking something for Louise Lane in the kitchen, shirtless… or watching Batman bulk up and workout for his fight with Superman… uhh, a girl’s got to give praise where praise is due. As mentioned above the cinematography was also on point and the directing. The actors had tough shoes to fill so I feel like considering what they had to work with they did well. But lastly, for me, the trailer was honestly better than the movie, itself.
Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action throughout, and some sensuality)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Zack Snyder
Stars : Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams
Written By: David S. Goyer, Chris Terrio
Runtime: 2 hr. 31 min.
Warner Bros. Pictures – Official Site
