Batman v Superman Review

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Wilycub has been asking for my thoughts on the Batman v Superman movie but after watching, rather than condensing my opinions down for a message I thought I would give it a full review.

So here is my review of Batman v Superman.

What a dull, long, boring, confusing and pandering movie. :frowning:

The good points of the movie:
It’s finally a Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman movie.
The battle between Superman and Batman.
Some nice nods to Dark Knight and Doomsday comic storylines.

The bad points:
The script!
The directing.
Far too long.
Too much going on for one movie.
Bad casting. Not bad actors, but they just really did not suit the parts. Jessie Eisenberg and Amy McAdams especially.
Wonder Woman’s lack of screen time…but at least she got far more than Mark Hamill in The Force Awakens.

Zack Snyder’s directing did not work at all for this movie. It was far to bleak and boring. It actually makes the Nolan movies look more bright and exciting in comparison and that is saying something.
The opening scene is more like a horror movie than a superhero movie.

This script is so dull and lifeless. There is so much going on in it and neither are that great.
This movie tried it’s hardest to incorporate a lot of Frank Miller’s Batman Dark Knight comic and the Death of Superman/Doomsday story. Quite frankly though they should have left it and either done one properly or not bothered at all.

A three hour movie and It doesn’t pick up until around the two hour mark. Then the ending completely dragged out for 25 minutes.

Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is just wrong. Not just from a visual stand point but just his character. Definitely a more emo and Heath Ledger Joker inspired take on the character.

Affleck as Batman was quite good but again let down by an awful script. This Batman is probably the most comic accurate representation of Batman since Adam West’s Batman. The costume and logo is very much inspired by Frank Miller’s Batman.

Gal Gadot is a very attractive woman and has a nice face to play Wonder Woman but her body did not suit the part. She really needs a dozen or more ponds on and some muscle as it looked as though she would have a hard time lifting a grocery bag let alone going into battle against Doomsday.
For all the marketing and exposure Wonder Woman has got, her utter lack of screen time was really disappointing as she was the most interesting character in the movie.

The movie had potential to be good but it just tried to do too much and didn’t really succeed at any of them.
This is without a doubt one of the worst most recent superhero movies.
I really wish DC could get their act together and make some great movies of their iconic characters instead of trying to fit them all into the dull boring lifeless mould of Nolan’s Batman movies.
I was to give this an honest mark out of 10 all I could give it is 3 and that is being generous.

Score: 3/10

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WARNING: May contain spoilers!!!

For the most part, I agree with what you said, Mark. The good and the bad points that you pointed out are pretty much what I had in mind as well. So I won’t repeat them, but I will elaborate a few of those points.

I’ll start with my all-time favorite superhero, Superman. It has become quite clear to me that Zack Snyder does not understand the character at all. When I saw “Superman Returns”, I thought it was really bad. But after watching “Man of Steel”, SR felt like a masterpiece! Sure SR is nothing more than a retread of the Donner Superman movies but its characterization of Superman is accurate. Superman has always stood for hope, but Snyder turned him into a depressed, brooding disappointment.

Batman’s characterization as a cynical and jaded “mature” superhero was very good, as was Affleck’s performance. In order to contrast him, Superman, HAD to be a more “brighter” character. Snyder did not do that and we ended up with two “dark” and unlikeable heroes.

Superman is a superhuman, so if the writers want to exploit his weaknesses or vulnerability and show him as sort of a victim, they have to find a clever way to eliminate of limit his powers. But in BvS, the writers treat Superman pretty much like a normal human being. A case in point is when Luthor blackmails Superman into fight Batman. Take a moment and think about this. Can anyone really blackmail Superman into doing something? The man has super speed and x-ray vision. he could have easily located and rescued Martha in a matter of seconds, before the bad guys even realize what happened.

Don’t even get me started on Eisenberg’s Luthor! :mad:

It is amazing to see Marvel take B-list comic superheroes like “Iron Man”, “Thor”, “Black Widow”, “Hawkeye” and turn them into such a success. Even a movie like “Guardians of the Galaxy”, which was a huge risk considering it’s obscure characters, ended up being such a well made and enjoyable movie. And then we have Batman and Superman, two of the most iconic comic characters ever, and yet DC ended up making such a mess of them.

Even “Schindler’s List” had a few humorous moments. But perhaps Snyder feels that DC superhero movies should be devoid of anything even remotely funny. It is interesting that he is now doing a complete u-turn and is going to make sure that his upcoming “Justice League” movie will be more light-hearted. But for me, the damage has already been done. I’ll just wait for another director to reboot Superman in the way he truly deserves to be done.

My rating: 4/10

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GOTG was indeed a risk but it was a huge success as the casting was good, a fun script and good directing. Personally speaking though I am not a huge fan of the ending of GOTG.
My dislike of Batman v Superman is not because I like Marvel more, it’s just it is a bad movie. Marvel laid good foundations with Ironman, Captain America and Thor’s solo films making them likeable characters building up to the Avengers. However Superman, Batman and even Wonder Woman in this movie were not very likeable at all.
I hope he can salvage Justice League as it would be cool to see them on screen done right.
I read that Wonder Woman’s solo film is already being altered to be more bright and colourful lol. Again like Superman she has to be.
I agree with what you said about Superman Returns. :slight_smile: Superman is an icon and one of the first couple Superheroes I ever seen. In fact also one of the first comics I ever got. I really hope Superman is the bright charismatic hero he is Justice League.
I hate this Nolan mentality that super hero films have to be dark and gritty and ‘real’ As far as real goes there are so many plot holes in the Nolan movies that going on about them being real is really laughable. I know Batman is supposed to be dark and gritty but I honestly feel the Nolan movies lacked the dark horror fantasy element that gave the Batman characters so much mystique.

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I actually watched Batman vs Super a 2nd time last night and here is my 2 cents:

Mostly I agree with you guys and overall I am also not a huge fan of this movie, so I am not going to repeat your comments.
The movie for me is way too dark and serious, I grew up with Christopher Reeve as my Superman and even though they are not the best movies around, I feel that Superman as a character is better resembled in these. I think Superman is suppose to be a much lighter more approachable character, and I feel that my son can’t watch this movie until he is very mature!! and that is sad … because I will show him Superman as I got to know him and hopefully he will love him as much as I do …
I know the market for these movies are more adult orientated, but compared to the Marvel movies these DC characters that we love are just not coming across as superheroes for our kids to love!!
I also feel that Doomsday could have been more Cartoon accurate … don’t really look like the Doomsday we know.
Also seems like we can never have a sexy Lois Lane … why ??

I will give it a 4/10

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So I will be the odd one out here. I read reviews of the film before hand and decided not to go see in the cinemas and rather wait for the extended edition, which I have to say, I can’t see anywhere they could have cut to get to the theatrical version (though I haven’t seen it!) since it felt like a complete movie. Is it better than Man of Steel? No - it’s more or less the same for me. But did I like it? Yes I certainly did. I actually can see why they originally wanted to include more cameos from other characters. The idea behind the movie tends to go in that direction. I also think if people aren’t familiar with the franchise, that they won’t always catch the hints. Everybody I watched it with didn’t even pick up on the joker reference on the Robin (was it Robin?) costume.
I have to give it to Ben Affleck - he made a MUCH better Batman than the CB Batman from the Nolan trilogy (which I despised!). The only highlight from that trilogy was the Joker’s performance. Ben’s Batman reminds me somewhat of Batman from Batman Returns. The same vibe. (that was the best Batman movie for me!)
Personally - I didn’t view this as a Superman sequel. It felt more like a Justice League prequel. Which it looks like even more when you watch the trailer to Justice League. This could just as well have been the first Justice League film. Perhaps that’s why they named it BvsS DOJ.
I’ll give it a 6.5 / 10 or if pushing it a 7/10. Not a bad movie. Then again, it’s based purely on the Ultimate edition. Feel free to disagree.
btw - JE didn’t really feel like a Lex Luthor to me - in fact, he reminded me of a crazy version of Edward Nigma aka The Riddler.

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I 100% completely agree with this. :smiley: The Nolan movies were terrible…maybe even worse than Batman and Robin.

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If there were a dislike button I would hit it. :wink:

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Yes Batman & Robin was the worst of the lot, but still, the Nolan movies really ruined Batman for me!

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Batman and Robin was really bad, but it’s one of those movies that is so bad you can laugh at how bad it is. The Nolan movies are just three bad boring movies.

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Batman Begins is the best of them for me. Extremely quotable and rewatchable, one of my favourite films. There is no was no could sit through Batman and Robin in one go, it goes through being so bad it’s good to just being woeful, and I’m a big Arnie fan. I do quite like Batman Forever though.

Batman Begins and Back to the Future in one week. If you say you don’t like Superman the Movie we may fall out. :tongue

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I should point out I haven’t seen Batman and Robin since 98 or so. Since then I’ve only seen bits and pieces of it on TV. Maybe I should re-watch it some day.
I like the Superman movie. In fact I also really like Superman 3. Maybe I need to re-watch Back to the Future. I was just never keen on time travel stories. I prefer Teen Wolf to BTTF lol.
I agree Begins is the best of the Nolan movies.
Speaking of Batman I got The Killing Joke movie to watch. PM me you or anyone else on here wants to know a site to download and watch it.

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I can’t say that I am a big fan of the Nolan Batman movies, but there were definitely certain aspects of them that I really liked. However, Christian Bale wasn’t one of them! :biggrin I just didn’t like his take on the character, especially his voice.

I very much liked the Tim Burton Batman movies and “Batman Forever” as well. I only wished that that villains in the latter hadn’t been THAT over-the-top. I can understand the Riddler being all hyper (and after all he was played by Jim Carrey! ;)), but I feel that Two-Face should have been made a bit more serious, to contrast with the Riddler’s craziness. “Batman and Robin” was a bit too much for me to take in too. I don’t think I ever watched it again intentionally. Just like Mark, I often catch glimpses of it when it’s on TV.

I LOVED Superman 1 and 2! :slight_smile: And I think I might be the only person on the planet who actually prefers Superman 4 to Superman 3! LOL! :laugh

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I have still never seen Superman 4 fully. I remember getting the Superman 3 VHS when I was about 7. In fact I am pretty sure it was the first Superman movie I ever seen. Richard Pryor is great in it. I enjoyed his movies with Gene Wilder. :smiley:

Burton’s Batman movies were great. Visually anyway and the casting for the villains was excellent. I only seen Forever once back when the VHS came out and I haven’t seen it since aside from a few clips on TV.

I agree about Bale. He is a good actor but I think Ben Affleck is probably better as Bruce Wayne and Batman.
My biggest problem with the Nolan movies is that they just don’t seem like Batman movies.

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I’m a huge Ben Affleck fan and think his portrayal was the best of batman thus far. Apart from Reeves I think Henry Cavill is doing a decent job as Superman. The worst movie to me was Superman returns. I own Superman 1-4 and actually when i have some time want to watch it. Haven’t watch it in a very long time so the memory is a bit hazy.

Like most of you I disliked this version of Lex Luthor. It was as if they melted Lex and the Joker into one. I also think they shold have casted a bit older guy to play the part.

There was quite a bit going on in the movie and I think some things did drag out a bit. I watched it on Blu Ray Saturday night so it was something to do. I will give it a 5 maybe a 6

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I found this nice little article about why the DC Animated shows are so good.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/what-was-so-great-about-dc-animated-universe-just-about-everything/view=all

The analysis is pretty spot on and one line that I totally agree with is: “If Batman’s the darkness, then the Man of Steel is the light, the yin to his yang … and the Superman series managed to capture those differences while leaving no doubt that these stories took place in the same universe”.

This is the one fundamental thing that Zack Snyder completely failed to understand in both “Man of Steel” and “Batman vs Superman”.

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The other cool thing with those shows was they expanded and celebrated the characters. The Nolan and Snyder movies toned the characters down and made them so dull, uninteresting and unlikeable and robbed them of the character.
I will admit Henry Cavill looks the part what’s the point of looking like the character if the personality is nothing like the character.

The DC Animated shows are amazing. :smiley: Batman Superman: Worlds Finest is the real Batman Superman movie. :slight_smile:

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[SIZE=4]“Batman vs Superman” with Michael Keaton and Christopher Reeve![/SIZE]
This fan-made trailer cleverly uses clips from the old Batman and Superman movies to create something amazing! I personally think this trailer alone is a million times better than BvS. Hell, the guy even made Nuclear Man look cool! WB should hire this guy to direct their next movie! :slight_smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jlK3NPa0vo

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Nice editing but no way Phyllis Thaxter’s Martha Kent would coming out with that Diane Lane dialogue.

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I seen Captain America Civil War lar last night and what a vast difference it is compared to Batman Vs Superman. Very fun, interesting story, likeable characters and plenty of action…unlike the latter.

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I enjoyed Captain America Civil War too, I just didn’t think it was worthy of that subtitle - Civil War.
You know, those pesky wars that usually involve large numbers of casualties, both soldiers AND civilians, within the family i.e. city, state, or country.