So, you've probably seen the other reviews. You've probably seen the rotten tomatoes score. But you haven't heard this particular nerd talk about the movie yet. So buckle in and get ready for some definitely non-repetitive complaints about this movie!
I want this to be spoiler free, by the way, so if you're looking for how I really feel, go to the companion post: WTF, DC!?!: Batman V Superman Spoiler Filled Discussion! (will be updated with link once I write it, for now just read this and wait, trust me, you can do it. Be strong!)
For now, we'll stick with the spoiler free version.
Where do I begin?
I will start with what I liked. By far and away my favorite character was Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. He had a good amount of evil mixed with crazy, and most of his scenes landed fairly well. He did a great job making the character his own and it matched the movie well (and although that isn't necessarily a good thing in this case, I also think it would have matched other, better movies well too).
Hmm...I see you used a low quality image, Ryan. Almost as if it came from a low quality movie...[2]
I also loved the relationship between Alfred and Bruce. Their chemistry was very pleasing, and while I'll get to some annoyances with this Batman later, Ben Affleck did a great job acting the part. All of my complaints about Batman are with story and writing. Ben did a great job. And Jeremy Irons has an awesome voice, which is basically the most important part about being Alfred.
I also liked some of the action. Without spoiler-izing this post, I won't really describe too much, but there was some quality stuff in the middle of the movie that had me pretty entertained and on the edge of my seat. It delivered well.
And that actually brings me to what I think works in the film overall: cinematography. I've always thought Zack Snyder does a good job with the look and feel of a movie. Now, you can argue that this movie doesn't feel like it should (you may say that, for example, if you wanted a lighter movie (in more ways than one, boom joke parenthesis)), but lots of the establishing shots and angles were gorgeous during the fights. There were definitely missteps during the shooting, but in general I thought it managed well.
So, onto the stuff that didn't work quite as well, or at all. Clark and Lois interacting was a nightmare to watch. I found myself cringing during almost any scene Lois was in. And I actually usually like Amy Adams, so it was probably a result of poor scripting and editing more than acting talent. The same could be said of Henry Cavill, who blew me away in Man from UNCLE, but seemed very wooden in this role (similar to MoS).
For reference [3]
Perry White had some good one liners, but they were all pretty campy, and you will have heard most of them in the trailers already.
Overall, the plot was just bad. It made some sense in places, but it was very scattered. And the heavy handed nods to future films in the franchise were bewildering. Anyone who isn't a huge DC fan would probably have no clue about those scenes, and even a moderately big fan like me had to look a few things up after the film to get some clarity. And even when the plot stuck to the movie at hand, it didn't do justice to the various source material it was referencing and it seemed to leave out large chunks of explanation for a few key scenes and characters.
If you've read this far in, you're probably wondering if the movie is worth your time and money (or why you've wasted several minutes of your life reading this crap). The movie clocks in at 166 minutes, and if you'll recall from the previous paragraph, I mentioned that somehow it felt like things were missing. This was over two and a half hours of pretty shaky plot, and it didn't really deliver well. I think a casual movie goer would be sorely disappointed.
So, if you're a big DC fan AND you're open to some pretty broad interpretations of the characters, then this is probably a movie you need to see. Or if you're a big enough DC fan that you're seeing it anyway, why are you even reading this?
But, on the other, much larger, hand, if you're a DC fan who wants to see the characters as you know and love them from the comics, this is a pretty big stretch. Or if you're not a huge DC fan, this will make you pretty damn confused and/or bored for large swaths of time.
If you have the time and money to kill, feel free to see it. But for most of you, I think you'd be better served going out and buying/renting some of the animated DC movies, such as The Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 and 2), and enjoying those. They're really much better.
Seriously.
So...you wanna get register for the AARP after this? [4]
Until next time,
Ryan
Images as sourced
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