Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Year: 2016
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg & Gal Gadot
Runtime: 152 mins (Theatrical) 183 mins (Ultimate Edition)
BBFC: 12
Published: 17/08/21
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg & Gal Gadot
Runtime: 152 mins (Theatrical) 183 mins (Ultimate Edition)
BBFC: 12
Published: 17/08/21
Following the financial success of Man of Steel, a shared universe of films was hastily rushed into production to allow Warner Bros. and DC to compete with Disney and Marvel’s MCU. The DC Extended Universe, or DCEU, promised to be darker in tone and grander in scale than Marvel’s output and 2016 was to be the year it kicked into high gear with the first set of sequels to Man of Steel due to drop. But unlike Marvel who had already been crafting the MCU for eight years at that point, Warner Bros. wanted to dive in at the deep end and get their first team up film out of the door as quickly as possible. So how do you introduce the Justice League into a world where only Superman currently exists using only one film? By forcing it to happen obviously.
Eighteen months after the destruction of Metropolis in Man of Steel, Superman (Henry Cavill) is revered as a god by many as he saves lives every single day. Having been Batman for twenty years, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) sees Superman as a threat to humanity because of the divide in public opinion that his very existence causes.
Businessman Lex Luthor (Jessie Eisenberg) sees Superman and his race as a threat to humanity because of their insurmountable power and works with U.S. government officials to create weapons using Kryptonite, the only substance known to weaken Superman’s powers.
During his day job at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent becomes interested in the Gotham vigilante, Batman, and his unique form of justice, that over the years has become progressively more brutal.
When Lex introduces Bruce and Clark the two become interested in each other, immediately suspecting the other. Having successfully distracted the world’s two most powerful men, Lex hatches a plan to destroy Batman and discredit Superman so he can continue his shady operations without fear of being stopped by either one of them.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is, much like the title, horrendously bloated, overly long, and more concerned about setting up the Justice League than it is about actually delivering a good sequel to Man of Steel and introducing Batman naturally into that world. Clocking in at three hours for the ‘Ultimate Cut’ (which is the only version worth watching), Batman v Superman has nothing but contempt and a lack of respect for its audience’s time and intelligence.
I’m tempted to end the review right there and not allow this film to consume any more of my life than it already has, but I suppose I should explain why I believe this film to be one of the most tedious and insulting superhero films ever made.
Eighteen months after the destruction of Metropolis in Man of Steel, Superman (Henry Cavill) is revered as a god by many as he saves lives every single day. Having been Batman for twenty years, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) sees Superman as a threat to humanity because of the divide in public opinion that his very existence causes.
Businessman Lex Luthor (Jessie Eisenberg) sees Superman and his race as a threat to humanity because of their insurmountable power and works with U.S. government officials to create weapons using Kryptonite, the only substance known to weaken Superman’s powers.
During his day job at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent becomes interested in the Gotham vigilante, Batman, and his unique form of justice, that over the years has become progressively more brutal.
When Lex introduces Bruce and Clark the two become interested in each other, immediately suspecting the other. Having successfully distracted the world’s two most powerful men, Lex hatches a plan to destroy Batman and discredit Superman so he can continue his shady operations without fear of being stopped by either one of them.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is, much like the title, horrendously bloated, overly long, and more concerned about setting up the Justice League than it is about actually delivering a good sequel to Man of Steel and introducing Batman naturally into that world. Clocking in at three hours for the ‘Ultimate Cut’ (which is the only version worth watching), Batman v Superman has nothing but contempt and a lack of respect for its audience’s time and intelligence.
I’m tempted to end the review right there and not allow this film to consume any more of my life than it already has, but I suppose I should explain why I believe this film to be one of the most tedious and insulting superhero films ever made.
The film starts strongly by giving us a quick recap of who Bruce Wayne is, an orphan turned billionaire who turned to vigilantism when he felt as though Gotham was a city on the brink of collapse from crime. It then shows us an older Bruce Wayne in Metropolis as Superman is fighting Zod at the end of Man of Steel, frantically trying to save Wayne Corp. employees from the chaos.
Bruce Wayne in general in this film is a good character, and mostly because of how this opening sequence frames him and his stance on what justice is. He wants Superman gone because he believes he’s causing more harm than good, whilst also unable to see that his own actions are far from solving Gotham’s issues anymore. He’s an older, broken Batman who has begun to lose faith in what he does; but believes that getting rid of Superman will help.
Lois Lane (Amy Adams) makes a strong return in this film, spending the majority of it tracking down LexCorp arms deals involving Kryptonite. She is arguably the only character that keeps the story of this film going because she’s always feeding information back to Clark, which allows him to connect the dots between Batman and Lex.
Clark however feels like a shell of his former self. He doesn’t have much character in this film and the majority of the time we see him is in fight scenes.
I also have an issue with the performance Eisenberg gives as Lex. Whilst a lot of people complained that he doesn’t look like Lex, my real issue is that he isn’t particularly threatening in the role. He comes across more of a deranged comic book fan than a maniacal supervillain.
I do like the overall tone of the film. It’s very gloomy, nobody trusts anyone, and it gives a big post-9/11 vibe where America saw anyone that wasn’t them as the enemy. The social paranoia present in Batman v Superman is arguably the strongest aspect to the film, but the actual story is just rubbish.
As I stated earlier, the ‘Ultimate Cut’ of the film is the only version worth watching. It adds around thirty minutes worth of content, and it’s meaningful too, giving the story some actual depth. When it released theatrically, Batman v Superman’s story made almost no sense at all, and the Ultimate Cut does a lot to fix that…but it doesn’t make it good. Around the one hour mark I began to lose my patience, at the ninety-minute mark I was downright frustrated, at two hours I was losing the will to live, and at two and a half hours I was begging to be put out of my misery. The films pace moves with all the urgency of a snail, and definitely doesn’t need to be anywhere near as long as it is.
Bruce Wayne in general in this film is a good character, and mostly because of how this opening sequence frames him and his stance on what justice is. He wants Superman gone because he believes he’s causing more harm than good, whilst also unable to see that his own actions are far from solving Gotham’s issues anymore. He’s an older, broken Batman who has begun to lose faith in what he does; but believes that getting rid of Superman will help.
Lois Lane (Amy Adams) makes a strong return in this film, spending the majority of it tracking down LexCorp arms deals involving Kryptonite. She is arguably the only character that keeps the story of this film going because she’s always feeding information back to Clark, which allows him to connect the dots between Batman and Lex.
Clark however feels like a shell of his former self. He doesn’t have much character in this film and the majority of the time we see him is in fight scenes.
I also have an issue with the performance Eisenberg gives as Lex. Whilst a lot of people complained that he doesn’t look like Lex, my real issue is that he isn’t particularly threatening in the role. He comes across more of a deranged comic book fan than a maniacal supervillain.
I do like the overall tone of the film. It’s very gloomy, nobody trusts anyone, and it gives a big post-9/11 vibe where America saw anyone that wasn’t them as the enemy. The social paranoia present in Batman v Superman is arguably the strongest aspect to the film, but the actual story is just rubbish.
As I stated earlier, the ‘Ultimate Cut’ of the film is the only version worth watching. It adds around thirty minutes worth of content, and it’s meaningful too, giving the story some actual depth. When it released theatrically, Batman v Superman’s story made almost no sense at all, and the Ultimate Cut does a lot to fix that…but it doesn’t make it good. Around the one hour mark I began to lose my patience, at the ninety-minute mark I was downright frustrated, at two hours I was losing the will to live, and at two and a half hours I was begging to be put out of my misery. The films pace moves with all the urgency of a snail, and definitely doesn’t need to be anywhere near as long as it is.
But it’s a superhero film so at least it has good action sequences, right? Wrong. Batman v Superman has much the same problem Man of Steel did where the combat has no weight or impact. It just happens. People are being flung through buildings and they’re levelling entire blocks of cities without consequence for it. Which strikes a weird tonal shift from the whole setup of the film being that Superman should be held accountable for the deaths of every innocent life he allowed to die in his many battles.
Even the titular battle between our two heroes is just dull to watch. Batman moves with all the grace of a dump truck and Cavill is doing his best impression of what an injured Superman looks like, and it’s not convincing in the slightest.
I’m actually done trying to explain why I dislike this film so much. It was a clusterfuck from the moment of conception with a hastily cobbled together story to introduce Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) into the mix alongside Batman so that they could shuffle the Justice League film out the following year in a desperate attempt to catch up to the endless money train that is the MCU.
I can’t imagine why anyone would find Batman v Superman entertaining, and I would recommend avoiding it like the plague if at all possible. Whilst there definitely are worse superhero films out there (and the next DCEU film can prove that), Batman v Superman is just an overblown and directionless with no sense of self-worth or creativity.
Even the titular battle between our two heroes is just dull to watch. Batman moves with all the grace of a dump truck and Cavill is doing his best impression of what an injured Superman looks like, and it’s not convincing in the slightest.
I’m actually done trying to explain why I dislike this film so much. It was a clusterfuck from the moment of conception with a hastily cobbled together story to introduce Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) into the mix alongside Batman so that they could shuffle the Justice League film out the following year in a desperate attempt to catch up to the endless money train that is the MCU.
I can’t imagine why anyone would find Batman v Superman entertaining, and I would recommend avoiding it like the plague if at all possible. Whilst there definitely are worse superhero films out there (and the next DCEU film can prove that), Batman v Superman is just an overblown and directionless with no sense of self-worth or creativity.