Friday, July 29, 2016

Review: 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'

 !!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
     The much talked-about superhero smackdown 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' just made it into home media a short while ago. After watching it, I found that the film was a lot less entertaining than its premise would suggest.
     First off, the character development was very thin in this film. Character development is an important aspect to pretty much every movie's script, even if it is a sequel to a film that has already established the characters. Depending on the way it is written, it can come across as solid and help the viewer understand the motives and backstory of the character, or it can be thin and unsubstantial that fails to show audiences why they should care for the character. Unfortunately, 'BvS''s character development falls more in line with the latter version. For example, the motives for the film's baddie Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) are muddled and unclear, and his overall demeanor come across as cartoonish and cringeworthy. His entire plan is confusing and nonsensical, which makes watching all the more frustrating. Even Wonder Woman's  (Gal Gadot) presence was a bit underwhelming. Lesser newcomers such as Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons) and Senator Finch (Holly Hunter) also fail to spark interest as they seem to be there just to provide exposition or motivation or advance the plot. Because of these missteps, most of the new characters are uninteresting and unlikable (save for Wonder Woman, of course). Bruce Wayne / Batman (Bruce Wayne) was developed decently, and while it could have been better it honestly could have been worse. However, the ones that were already introduced in 2013's 'Man of Steel' were just disappointingly plain and one-dimensional, and there just wasn't any chemistry between Supes and his girlfriend Lois Lane (Amy Adams). Except for Bruce, Alfred, and Wonder Woman, all the characters seem to behave like a five-year-old. Overall, the screenwriters had a lot of potential with the characters they worked with but wasted it on poorly developed characters.
     Along with unimpressive character development, there are more than a few problems with the plot. It is littered from left to right with plot conveniences, ex machinas, that-guy-should-have-died-from-that-thing, you name it. For example, after the first bizarre dream sequences Bruce is seen high-tailing it to Metropolis to try to...oh wait, the film doesn't explain why he even thought of coming there in the first place. I mean, yeah, his building was right there in the line of fire, but Bruce did call of his employees to tell him and everyone else to get out of the building (which presents another problem: why hasn't everyone evacuated yet when there's a giant spaceship wrecking the city?), so he could have just called him from his mansion or somewhere actually safe. However, if he did have a good reason to go there he still should have got killed when that fighter jet crashed and burned on the street inches away from his car. Even more confusing is when he pulls up into he a huge crowd of people standing in the street and watching the destruction instead of, oh, I don't know, running for their lives! They eventually do, but only after a huge death cloud that came from the destroyed Wayne Enterprises building races towards them. And then, after walking through the smoke, walking by a horse (?), and saving a little girl from falling debris, he begins to grow hate for Superman after he killed countless civilians. All those problems were from just the opening scene (or at least part of it). Just to name a few more so you don't have to listen to any more of my rambling (at least for this section), some other questionable moments (and believe me, there are many) include Superman flying at Doomsday with a Kryptonite spear after it weakened him when he was retrieving it from water (no need to explain that one), a jar full of Luthor's pee that wasn't confiscated before the Senator discovered it at her podium right when the room blew up and all but Superman died, the piece of Kryptonite found somewhere in the Indian Ocean that somehow wasn't chased down by the U.S. government, General Zod's body that Luthor somehow got his hands on without government permission before he asks for permission from a government official, and people suddenly caring about Superman after he died after they were all worried about him destroying the planet. Ex machinas include Wonder Woman suddenly joining the climactic fight, Superman showing up when Lois Lane is taken hostage by an African warlord, and Lois Lane preventing Batman from killing Superman even though she had no idea where they were (or was it that the two superheroes' mothers happen to share the same first name that saved the day?). To sum it all up, 'BvS' has a script that doesn't do a lot of justice to its source material, with overused plot devices, ex machinas, and cliches. It isn't the worst script out there, but it definitely isn't the best.
     The acting in the film is probably one of the only upsides to watching it. 'BvS' stars Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and Holly Hunter as Senator Finch. I'd say that Affleck, Gadot, and Irons were the strongest performers in the entire film (even though Gadot had very little screen time). Affleck delivered the expected seriousness to the Batman character while still making it fun to watch after various actors took the mantle. Gadot showed a lot of promise in her role as Wonder Woman, and with a full-time role in her own solo film next March she will definitely have the chance to break out even further. Irons, as small as a role he had, continued the respectable and likable line of portrayals of the famous butler and servant to the Caped Crusader. Irons successfully portrayed the wise, helpful man and his performance alone is enough to give the film a bit of respect. Cavill was still decent as Superman; he didn't get better from 'Man of Steel' but he certainly didn't get worse from it. Same for Adams, who didn't deliver anything particularly special to the film but also didn't really make the character unlikable (the screenwriters did that). Hunter was actually pretty good in her role as a senator, though unfortunately we won't be seeing her in any future films. Eisenberg's performance is what really bugged me. The actual actor is pretty good in other films, but he just didn't fit this role. Lex Luthor is supposed to be a smart, cunning, unpredictable man who imposes an intimidating image. Eisenberg's version is smart and arguably unpredictable, but he lacks the kind of impact and intimidation the character should have. It also didn't help that this Lex Luthor acted more like a weird, cartoon-like Joker than the actual businessman/scientist Lex is in the comics. The acting in 'BvS' is one of the film's strongest attributes, even if some of the actors fail to impress with their roles.
     Finally, I'm going to talk about the visuals and action sequences: what this movie is mostly about (except for setting up the 'Justice League' film). Some of the special effects look pretty cool, but most of the time the CGI coupled with the messy sound mixing/editing make the action scenes loud, noisy, and pointless. I have to admit that the Batmobile chase scene and the Batman-takes-down-Luthor's-thugs scene are pretty awesome to watch, though Batman actually killed several guys (what's up with that, Zack Snyder?). The other action scenes, however, are tasteless and confusing: the punches sound like someone's hitting a cardboard box, the CGI either looks obviously animated or that it came from a video game, and the sequences have no impact at all. The climactic battle was a huge mess filled with unimpressive visuals and noisy fighting. It's hard to tell what is happening throughout the whole sequence as it all just looks like a bunch of characters fighting each other in a giant landscape of special effects. Up until Doomsday is killed (which itself was a hugely confusing finale), it's just a big mess of superheroes and a big bad living rock trying to kill everyone. But that isn't even the worst of it. The most disappointing fight scene was when the titular heroes duked it out...for a pretty short amount of time. The fight that got everyone so hyped about ended up being a huge letdown, with boring kicks and punches and jumping and charges. The two throw each other through walls and smash heads with a sink. And then, as previously mentioned, just when Batman is about to kill Superman the latter says "Save Martha" since Luthor and his thugs are holding her hostage, and Bruce yells, Lois Lane somehow finds them, Bruce yells some more, Lois explains Martha is Superman's mother's name, Bruce finds a connection (whatever it is), and they suddenly become besties because their mothers have the same name. One of the most hyped fights in cinematic history, and it all ends because the opponents' mothers' names are the same. I don't need to say anymore. So yeah, the action and special effects were definitely disappointing, and if the fights were better choreographed and visualized they wouldn't have been so boring and pointless.
     Well, that's it. My official review of one of the most hyped films of the decade, but also one of the most disappointing (though there's a difference between being a disappointment and being one of the worst films ever made). With a strong premise and talented, hard-working cast, 'BvS' should have done much better, but instead fell victim to a rushed, forced script, thinly written character development, and stale action scenes paired with messy visuals.

Character Development: C
Plot: C-
Acting: A-
Action: C-
Visuals: C+
                                                                                                                                               

Overall Rating: C+

    

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