March 31st in Las Vegas. When the trailer for this picture first came out, I was very excited like everyone else. To be honest though, my interest starting waning as the release date approached. When the film was released over a week ago, the reviews were bad. Reviews aside, people are seeing the film. As of April 1st the film has grossed over $261 million ($167 million opening weekend) and will probably make twice that in the overseas market.
The picture is far from awful but it's not good. Which I find strange because there are very good performances. Ben Affleck is great as an aged Bruce Wayne/Batman. I liked Henry Cavill in Man of Steel and he does a nice job as Clark Kent/Superman. I like the way he's conflicted about himself, wanted to do good and help people but not understanding why people are afraid of him (the death toll in the battle of Metropolis might have something to do with it but we Americans have problems seeing the big picture sometimes). The reviews about Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor were mixed. I thought Eisenberg did a fine job but I don't agree with the direction of where the character was taken. Gal Gadot was breathtaking as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. Gadot had great screen presence and held her own with Affleck and was every bit as badass as the men. After this film, I am looking to see her in the Wonder Woman film in 2017.
Check out this article about some dumb stuff from the film. Also, I watch a lot of Cinema Sins videos and they gang over there said some things about this picture that I wish I could say they "stole my thunder." But I'm not smart enough to come up with some of the stuff they have...
Director Zack Snyder is known for being able to make scenes look like they came from a comic book panel. That's fine. He stayed so close to the source material, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, he completely steals dialogue form the graphic novel. That's not homage, that's lazy. In fact there is not a lot of originality in the film at all. There's a scene where Lois throws Kryptonite down a flooded stairwell. That scene was lifted from the original Superman film. Remember inSuperman Returns when Luthor gets access to the Kryptonian crystals? In this film Snyder has Luthor get access to the mainframe of the damaged Kryptonian ship from Man of Steel.
Then there's the stuff that just doesn't make any sense. Luthor hates Superman. I mean really hates his guts. First he wants a Superman deterrent. He gets denied that then he comes up with the idea to create Doomsday. He's going to destroy a peaceful Kryptonian with a Kryptonian deformity that he has NO WAY of controlling. This of course leads to more destruction when Superman and Doomsday battle. Then, Batman leads Doomsday back into Gotham, thereby doing the same thing he's pissed at Superman for! Oh by the way, Doomsday looks a awful lot like Abomination from 2008's Incredible Hulk...
Abomination, meet Doomsday.
Both share a relation to another hulking grey creature from a different franchise...
A troll from Middle Earth. There's definitely a family resemblance.
Then there was, for me anyway, a laugh out loud, guffaw moment when we get treated to a training montage of Batman getting ready to fight Superman. Bruce Wayne lifting weights and working out to prepare for a fistfight with an indestructible foe...
Trust me, the actual footage is hilarious. Despite this, Affleck is a great Batman/Bruce Wayne.
Here's the thing, Batman has no chance of defeating Superman. None. In The Dark Knight Returns, Batman is able to last as long as he did because Superman was not at full strength after having a nuclear warhead detonate in front of him and he had Green Arrow use an arrow with Kryptonite gas to weaken him further. Snyder pretty much used the same plan in this film. Again laziness. Oh and Superman being on the wrong end of the nuclear blast, that happened in the film as well. I thought to myself, "they went to the nuclear option rather quickly."
The story itself is all over the place. The end game is in the title but it takes over 2 hours to get there for some reason. Essentially, this is a 150 minute teaser trailer for the upcoming, over a decade in development Justice League film. The real purpose of the film is to lay the groundwork for the the DC Cinematic Universe. In closing, this film wasn't good. There are moments but that's it. Nothing original and a lot of wasted talent. If you see this film, avoid paying extra for 3D. It may not be as bad as some of the reviews but it's not even mediocre. It was a somewhat enjoyable disappointment for me anyway.
1 comment:
The training was for stamina...for wearing an iron lung as a combat suit, dude.
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