Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Spoiler Free Review
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After a long time spent waiting and watching the movie multiple times I have finally brought myself to write my own review of it. The critics panned, the fans loved it and casual viewers were left polarized. The opening screenings are done and most people saw the movie already. Now that the dust has settled, I figured it would be fine to throw in my two cents.
I'll be going over the movie's individual elements and talk about what I did and didn't like. So without any more delaying...
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"Tell me, do you bleed?"
So, first off the story. While it may seem simple on first glance there's a lot more to it than your boy-scout brawl with good ol' bats. Too much for some. As you all know, the story picks off where MoS left and actually consists of multiple plots all intervening for the movie's finale. There's a political drama story about the world being divided when it comes to Superman's existence, there is Wonder Woman's riddled investigation, Lex's evil scheme and ofcourse, our main Bats vs Supes story.
With so much stuff going on, the story is quite complex and you'll have to follow the movie closely to get all that's happening. Another thing to note is that the movie doesn't bother to explain a whole lot. It assumes that you are already familiar with the characters featured in it, atleast in a way that you know who is who. Wonder Woman, for example, won't be adressed by name at all. Those who never saw her before will think she's this random magical warrior who came out of nowhere.
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And this is a problem. For casual viewers atleast. Wonder Woman's role however isn't very important and most of the stuff was left ambiguous on purpose as this movie goes with retrospection. A lot of it. Wonder Woman will become crucial soon though, which is why she's getting her own movie in 2017. so it still works, in a strange and confusing manner, but it does work.
Those familiar with the character, won't face this problem and will enjoy the movie without a question mark above their head, much like I did.
Aside from a few things left unclear, the main story (Batman vs Superman) is very well done. The character's motives and goals are realistic and understandable. The villain has a reason for what he's doing and, while Jesse's Lex is a drastic departure from the character we've seen before, he does a good job at illustrating just how far powerlesness can take a mad man.
Interestingly, for a super-hero movie, the story is very character driven and filled with parables and philosophical quotes. This is something I greatly appreciate as it really gives the movie a serious and mature tone killing the taboo of super-hero movies being for kids. (Or what's left of the taboo anyway)
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Now, I mentioned the characters so I might as well go into it some more. Superman, in this movie, is pretty similar to what we've seen in MoS, but here he seems to be at a hot spot. Much like the world around him, he doesn't know what to make of his existence. While daily romance with Louis is nice and all, he is facing an existencial crisis and at certain points in the movie, really starts doubting himself.
Batman, is the new-old, player here and this version... oh boy this version... Here we are shown a Batman that has already been active for a long time, has faced countless tragedies and is really depressed with the world around him. After witnessing the destruction of MoS first-hand, this Batman is driven to the edge. Now, an angry bat is the toughest bat. This Batman is absolutely savage. He brands criminals, he breaks them bad and if necessarry, he kills them. The most drastic thing about this Batman is that he doesn't seem to hesitate on pulling the trigger. Now, don't get me wrong. He doesn't go around murdering people, and we didn't really see him kill anyone directly, however there are a few scenes in which he sends criminals to their doom without mercy.
Blowing up cars, throwing heavy objects, stabbing, etc. This Batman will get you killed. This isn't necesarrily a bad thing tho since we already had Batman who kills in Tim Burton movies and even Nolan's Batman caused quite a few deaths. It's a different version of Batman and it should be treated as such. I myself, absolutely loved him and quickly got over his "no-kill" rule (which got stepped over frequently in previous films anyway).
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As I talked about the first 2 members I might as well go for the third and final of Trinity - Wonder Woman. First time ever on big-screen, Wonder Women is definitely a fresh and great thing to see. While we don't know much about it, she is interesting and seems very faithful to her comic counter-part, so one can't be coldhearted while waiting for her solo movie. She doesn't take too much screen-time here, but when she does, she steals the show, in a good way.
Now moving on to the final and baddest, Lex Luthor. The most drastic change of the character. Jesse's performance polarized viewers. What we see here isn't the calm and calculated business man Lex we saw before. It's a sociopath that will leave you "wtf" with his speeches, being nice and calm one second and then vicious the other. I myself found this version quite amusing as you really never know what to expect and some of the most shocking scenes in this movie were because of him. While the audience is divided on just how good he is as Luthor, I think we can all agree that he plays a pretty good villain.
Speaking of plays, the acting in this movie is great. The quality goes from good to great, and never below. Everyone does a damn good job. Henry Cavill got more natural with the role and pulls off a good Superman, Gal Gadot owns the character, Jesse is... uh weird? The side characters are well done and the new Alfred definitelly looks great. Amy Adams I don't even have to mention, she looks good everywhere.
The biggest star of the movie however is definitelly Ben Affleck. This may be a big statement, but Ben Affleck is by far the best Batman we've ever seen on film. And that's saying something. The way he talks, the way he movies, the way he acts... Oh my God he's the real deal. Seriously, literally every scene he comes in the movie lives up. Besides the great Batman portrayal, he's a damn good Bruce Wayne. The face, the build, the height, he's perfect!
Really just a great cast overall.
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Now, we come to the movie's strongest point - visuals. Much like other Snyder's movies, this movie uses slow-motion and gray tone to emphasize certain things. Some may not like it, but I myself am a fan of his distinct visual style and it fits the movie really well. As it my have been obvious from the trailers, this is a very dark and gloomy movie.
The coolest thing tho, is the coreography. The fights in this movie were awesome. Batman vs Superman fight, while it was a bit short, looked bloody amazing. You could really see the pain on their faces when they take a hit, and the way they fight? Oh boy... this ain't your fast-paced, painless brawl that we regularly get from Marvel movies. The moves used here were just brutal. Really dark and gritty, which works great for a serious world the movie tries to build.
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The other big fight in this movie, the Doomsday fight, was your standard heroes vs monster with tons of destruction (not as much as MoS but still a lot) and plenty of CGI (to some a bad thing to others awesome). It had a lot of fun moments and a few original things, plus the ending was very unexpected.
Packed up with amazing Hans Zimmer soundtrack, it's a real treat.
Now, with all this praise I'm giving the movie, one may think the movie is perfect. Sadly, no it's not. While the acting, soundtrack and visuals were great, the story is the movie's weak point. Don't get me wrong, the story is complex and intriguing, however, it does feel unfocused and at times it's too slow and then kicks off to become too fast. A lot of things could have been improved and arguably the most shocking part of the movie felt totally rushed and unemotional - the exact opposite of what it should be.
Also, plenty of the stuff shown in the movie will go by unappreciated as most of it is either unexplained (left to be touched on in further movies) or dependant on prior knowledge of certain things and characters. These things, while they may seem meh at first, actually drag the movie down quite a lot and overshadow the good parts in many cases. While Dawn of Justice was interesting and in no way a bad movie, it left a lot of potential unused and could've been a lot better in terms of story-telling.
Conclusion:
While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a good movie, it will leave a lot of people confused as it's story-telling isn't friendly to everyone, and the dark tone will leave those who were looking for a Marvel-like experience disappointed. The concept of the film and the visual presentation is marvelous, but lack of focus on things that mattered the most leave the movie unappreciated as it does pull of some great things.
Pros:
- Great acting
- Great visuals
- Interesting and complex setting
Cons:
- Unused potential
- Confusing to those who aren't familiar with the source material
SCORE: 3.8 / 5
