Batman v Superman disappoints
BY PRESTON WALTER
The movie which all comic fans had been waiting for finally hit theaters on March 24 – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The story follows Batman, played by Ben Affleck, and Superman, played by Henry Cavill. The two and a half hour long movie is directed by Zack Snyder.
Director of Man of Steel Zack Snyder is going to direct the upcoming Justice League films, just didn’t quite deliver what the longtime fans hoped for in this film.
The movie details the new public reverence for Superman after his actions in the events of Man of Steel. Batman, on the other hand, has a grudge with the caped crusader because of the damage he caused from his fight with Zod. This feud leads to a fight between the bat of Gotham and son of Krypton, with a little push from Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor and the discovery of Kryptonite.
Eisenberg, plays a good villain, but he was just playing the wrong one. He felt more like a Riddler/Joker than a Lex Luthor. Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston would have mre effectively captured the character.
Also returning to reprise her role as Lois Lane was Amy Adams. The love interest serves as a rock for the conflicted and rather mopey interpretation of Superman.
The action of this movie was very well done and entertaining but other aspects in the film – like the poor editing and a clustered storyline –take away from its potential.
However, there are a few high points in the film. For example, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Ben Affleck’s Batman provide some of the best and most interesting scenes in the film. Also Snyder’s beautiful cinematography are something that we quite don’t see in a Marvel film.
Something else that the film tried to highlight in the cluttered plot was the introduction of Justice League which is suppose to come out next year to rival Marvel’s avengers franchise. The film set it up poorly though by simply having the characters shown in a “metahuman” folder that Lex Luthor had on his company computer drive.
I was excited to see the Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman for the first time on screen. But we only saw Cyborg and Aquaman briefly with Flash making a longer appearance, but I’m not going to spoil why.
I did not like the casting of Ezra Miller as the Flash because there is already a Flash in the DC Entertainment Universe played by Grant Gustin on the television series The Flash (which is phenomenal by the way). It just doesn’t make sense to me to use a different actor considering the fact that I enjoy Gustin’s portrayal of The Flash on the TV show.
Overall, I thought this film was good, but not great. There are a few points that made me leave the theater happy and a lot of moments that made me geek-out, like the fact that Batman was a complete badass and that Ben Affleck actually played the role way better than I expected.
I’m also excited for the Wonder Woman film coming soon and the Justice League. Unfortunately, poor editing, slow movement at times and a cluttered storyline hurt the film. Hopefully Snyder’s three hour R-rated cut of the film – soon to be released on DVD – will help the film’s quality.
