TeeKay
Avenger
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2013
- Messages
- 14,367
- Reaction score
- 700
- Points
- 73
Today I decided to watch both BvS and CW back to back. What's so fascinating about these films, is how similar they are. One managed to achieve what it set out to do and one fell short. I feel that BvS was one script polish away from being a great film. It's MoS all over again, except doubled down.There are truly great ideas but the execution of some of these ideas was either weak, lazy or even contrived. That's the most frustrating thing about it. There's a great film in there but Snyder is not a strong enough film maker to expand upon on the themes and ideas he introduced. It just became yet again another CGI slugfest that was hard to see the hell what was going on. There are some great scenes and interesting moments in BvS. The whole senate blowing up scene was great, the tension and build up (aside from the stupid jar of piss), the awesome warehouse Batman fight scene,the montage of Superman doing heroic feats. Heck I even dug the Lex Luthor confrontations with Superman. I feel like the best Superman moment was when he blocked DD's punch from Luthor. With that being said, I still cant comprehend some of the creative decisions of BvS.
Thing is, after I finished watching CW, I noticed how much it highlights the problems BvS has downright to the villain. It's not a perfect film but it succeeds on a narrative level. It's a cohesive story. The TC of BvS was incoherent and messy. Sure the UC fixed some of these problems but now we're stuck with a 3+ film. What the Russo's managed to do with 12 characters was simply nothing short of a miracle. CW is one of those movies that shouldn't have worked but it did. When the clash happened between Cap and Iron Man, it was a gut punch. They have history and it works in the movies favour. The conflict was EARNED. Whereas in BvS, the conflict was ill conceived and superficial. It became dumb and idiotic. I was damn well speechless. I just feel Snyder doesn't get these characters at all despite him claiming hes a fan.
Contrast that to the Russo's, that they've done so right by the Steve Rogers that he can say, "I'm no longer Captain America" and still absolutely be, in the deepest sense, "Captain America." The filmmakers embraced the role, played havoc with it, tossed it aside, and still remained completely faithful to the character. This is in opposition to how Snyder has handled Superman, by never embracing the character in the first place then trying to do some descontruction take on Superman. I think another issue is that they needed a proper MoS sequel before this movie. Snyder basically made Superman's spin on Miller's DKR and it has a feel of "the last Superman film" in many ways. I love the idea of having Batman and Lex as villains who represent Clark's own fears and anxieties about himself and his place in the world but that all feels like "end of a trilogy" type stuff a la Nolan's TDKR stuff with Bruce in the pit, Bane, League of Shadows and Talia.
With BvS we're seeing Superman at his lowest point before he goes out like a truly great hero, but it would have been so much stronger if we had seen this superman at his highest point. As it stands even the UC is too reliant on the montage of heroics, Clark's social justice crusade and his personal life stuff to get us on his side when it would have been simpler if they had actually done a bright and happy MoS 2 before getting to Zack Snyder's Excalibur Remake but it's Superman. I've come around a bit on BvS. I enjoyed a bit more on Blu Ray but most of the issues still remain for me. The idea that Superman needs to sacrifice himself in order for the world to embrace him did not work for me. Why do you have to kill a character off for him to go through character development and an arc? This reminded me of TASM movies where 3 people had to die for Peter to finally learn about responsibility. Can it work? Certainly but it has to be well written and well executed.
Anyways, which is the better movie and why? Just keep it civil please. I always look forward to reading other people's thoughts.
Thing is, after I finished watching CW, I noticed how much it highlights the problems BvS has downright to the villain. It's not a perfect film but it succeeds on a narrative level. It's a cohesive story. The TC of BvS was incoherent and messy. Sure the UC fixed some of these problems but now we're stuck with a 3+ film. What the Russo's managed to do with 12 characters was simply nothing short of a miracle. CW is one of those movies that shouldn't have worked but it did. When the clash happened between Cap and Iron Man, it was a gut punch. They have history and it works in the movies favour. The conflict was EARNED. Whereas in BvS, the conflict was ill conceived and superficial. It became dumb and idiotic. I was damn well speechless. I just feel Snyder doesn't get these characters at all despite him claiming hes a fan.
Contrast that to the Russo's, that they've done so right by the Steve Rogers that he can say, "I'm no longer Captain America" and still absolutely be, in the deepest sense, "Captain America." The filmmakers embraced the role, played havoc with it, tossed it aside, and still remained completely faithful to the character. This is in opposition to how Snyder has handled Superman, by never embracing the character in the first place then trying to do some descontruction take on Superman. I think another issue is that they needed a proper MoS sequel before this movie. Snyder basically made Superman's spin on Miller's DKR and it has a feel of "the last Superman film" in many ways. I love the idea of having Batman and Lex as villains who represent Clark's own fears and anxieties about himself and his place in the world but that all feels like "end of a trilogy" type stuff a la Nolan's TDKR stuff with Bruce in the pit, Bane, League of Shadows and Talia.
With BvS we're seeing Superman at his lowest point before he goes out like a truly great hero, but it would have been so much stronger if we had seen this superman at his highest point. As it stands even the UC is too reliant on the montage of heroics, Clark's social justice crusade and his personal life stuff to get us on his side when it would have been simpler if they had actually done a bright and happy MoS 2 before getting to Zack Snyder's Excalibur Remake but it's Superman. I've come around a bit on BvS. I enjoyed a bit more on Blu Ray but most of the issues still remain for me. The idea that Superman needs to sacrifice himself in order for the world to embrace him did not work for me. Why do you have to kill a character off for him to go through character development and an arc? This reminded me of TASM movies where 3 people had to die for Peter to finally learn about responsibility. Can it work? Certainly but it has to be well written and well executed.
Anyways, which is the better movie and why? Just keep it civil please. I always look forward to reading other people's thoughts.
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