7/10
Very Flawed But Highly Underrated
21 June 2016
The movie I anticipated highly and over the already formulated and tired Marvel factory, I sadly never thought I'd have the patience to watch Batman V Superman a second time!

Name your own reasons, but:

-Jesse Eisenberg's terrible Lex Luthor. -That silly Flash post-dream sequence, which should have led to more. -A bloated and unnecessary run time of two and a half hours featuring scenes the film didn't need. -Awful dialogue unfitting of key characters. -Key characters who don't even seem to fit in. -Zack Snyder's Michael Bay-esque love of pointless slow motion. -Scenes with potential completely wasted (Robin's vandalised armour). -Hans Zimmer's uninspired soundtrack and Junkie XL's seeming absence.

You'd almost think Snyder was trying to mimic Joss Whedon!

But rather than throw my comics out of the pram, I felt that there was just too much to take on board in one sitting, as has always been the case with Snyder.

Despite the darkness and pessimism - Batman now having no qualms about putting gun toting henchmen out of his misery, and Superman using the fact that he killed Zod to offer fair warning - I see where Snyder is going and I'm alright with it.

Justice League is set to go up against world-destroying enemies. Their own personal enemies have all been murderous psychopaths, too, so maybe it's time to get real and to put more of a permanent solution to saving the world. Why the hell not?

And it's pretty clear at this point that as the meta-humans rise to the occasion, many key characters are set to fall by the wayside.

You also may not agree with deconstructing main characters, but this is the age we live in where everyone's a critic. BVS's pessimism teaches this lesson. These are dangerous times and all we can do is turn on each other through anger and helplessness; when our best is not good enough by the standards of others.

BVS's strongest points therefore are its analogies of present day terrorism, social justice and political correctness putting power into the wrong hands; and then the sheer effort put into action, brawling and some really tasty effects to get your teeth into.

Batman/Bruce Wayne rightly carries most of it until even he realises how out of his depth he really is, despite being able to go toe to toe with the Son of Krypton. And even though he's pretty helpless himself in some scenes, this serves to show the true power of meta-humans and monsters.

Again, the fight scenes are befitting of the kind of DC video game cinematics that led the way for the past half a decade (DC Universe Online & Injustice) and this is the perfect vision to rival Marvel's more cartoony Transformers feel.

In all, yes, there are lots of reasons to criticise BVS. But as time goes by you may find that you greatly appreciate where it does succeed and without being held back by bias or bitterness.
1 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed