Over the past year or so, I've watched The Dark Knight Trilogy, Watchmen, Man Of Steel, and the Ultimate BvS Cut multiple times. I've seen all movies probably five times, at least. They are easily my favorite CBMs, with the three Cap movies, DOFP, and maybe Iron Man ranked up there as well.
Gotta say, I've come to appreciate MoS and BvS more and more with each viewing. I really love the story they're telling with Clark's journey to becoming Superman, the public's acceptance of him, and the way they tied all that into Batman's arc of rediscovering his purpose. And the fact they managed to bring Wonder Woman in and begin her arc is pretty impressive.
Superman is supposed to represent Hope, the best in humankind. I think it's great that they showed him struggling with his role, like Jesus weeping in the Garden, struggling to accept his role. I think you need to have that darkness to make Superman's light shine, and the fact that they included Batman within that darkness, to give him a character arc that is integral to the arc of Superman's relationship to humankind, I think was brilliant. One of my favorite things is the way the movie started out in darkness "What falls is fallen", at a funeral that Bruce can't face, falling into the earth, the shells and pearls falling, and they ended the film with Bruce at a funeral, with the imagery of falling shells and falling dirt, and they answer the first statement "What falls is fallen" with a shot of the dirt rising, there is always Hope. It was really brilliantly done, and they also managed to include so much that could be interpreted as referencing the golden age of comics, the characters being our mythological figures (so many literary references to other mythologies, including Jesus and King Arthur, among others), and asking the question if they could still mean something in a world that is so different and morally complex than the one they were created in ("This means something"), not to mention making the film an allegory for how divisive the world is now on every major issue. How can you not give them props for that?
And the film is shot and scored beautifully. Zack Snyder has a real eye for comic book movies, in a way that they look grand, like Kubrick or Coppola directing a serious film (many will disagree, but that is just my opinion, the vibe I get from the film, similar to TDKT, it makes it feel more epic). And it's pretty damn amazing to me, if you search and see all the visual references, not only to comic book panels, but so many other great films throughout the history of cinema. Like a lot of the dialogue (particularly Luthor's), all of these references are meant to evoke our collective mythology as a culture, it's meant to say "These characters were created by us, they are meant to reflect something about us, and inspire something good in us" and ask the question "Can they still inspire us?" Sure, they inspired me when I was a kid, and the world was very simple, but what if they were put into the world I live in now? There was so much thought out into every scene and frame, and all of the themes and arcs come together and fit together.
And the action is fantastic. I love Nolan's trilogy, but the warehouse scene has his films beat in terms of any hand to hand combat scenes. It's great, the choreography and the frenetic energy, the way Batman has to struggle to take on these multiple trained killers, one guy gets a shot off to the head, Bats gets stabbed, it really shows how tough you gotta be to be Batman, that it's no cakewalk engaging multiple opponents.
And the casting of most is spot on, Irons plays a great Alfred much different than any we've seen yet. Fishburn makes for a Perry White I actually care about and am interested in.Cavil is the perfect Superman, Gadot is the perfect Wonder Woman, and Affleck is the perfect Batman, and their looks are better than any live incarnation and spot on accurate to the comics.
I understand not liking the film if it doesn't appeal to your particular tastes or meet your expectations of a CBM or Superman/Batman characterization, but the way so many people are just talking as if it's a fact, the movie is just obviously bad or stupid, or Snyder is a bad director. To me, it's a bit petty and unfair.
Any criticism, really, can be applied to other films in the genre that don't get nearly as scrutinized. For example, Batman's killing by proxy. In Batman Begins, to save the life of a man who is going to be executed, he straight up kills everybody in the place by proxy, including the man who is chained up, only saving the guy who had a speaking role, and he says himself "You're not Ra's Al Hhul, I watched him die." If Affleck had done something like that, it would've got ripped to shreds.
Okay, I do think some of the criticisms are fair, but not nearly to the point people make them out to be when you compare it with other films in the genre.
The Martha moment, to me, the only problem was that it felt unnatural and forced the way Clark said it. But it connects to Batman's story arc andbhis past, and I think it's pretty brilliant to use that connection between both men's mothers, they were both created by their parents, Clark is so innately good because of the influence his parents had on him, and Bruce is so broken because of the absence of his parents, and the way they connected it to Batman's origin (Martha was a trigger word that bought back his PTSD and gave him a moment of clarity, it's not as stupid like "Our mom's have the same name, let's be friends" as people make it out to be.
EisenLex is a criticism I understand, and Superman not being able to explain the situation to Batman, and Alex's plan was a bit out there, fair enough, they could have changed those things. But it's not near as bad as people say, as if it ruins the entire movie. It almost seems like the political arguments you see on social media, people just can't wait to throw stones at any criticism they can find of the other party, but when it's their party, they just ignore or brush it off as not that big a deal, in comparison.
It just irks me to think that all the over the top criticisms could have WB panicking and switching the direction and tone, or making Snyder take a step back. But I know no matter how much I argue, people aren't going to change opinions, and that's fine. We all have different expectations and things we appreciate in a narrative. I find it similar to The Sopranos, in that it makes some unconvential narrative choices, a lot of symbolism, and a lot that leaves things open to interpretation or your imagination. And some people don't like that style, and that's fine. I, for one, having something to chew on, peel back layers, read interpretations and analyses. Love it or not, people are talking about this film after the fact way more than probably any other CBM
I kinda wish they had a different Lex, and maneuvered the conflict between Batman and Superman and the Martha moment a little more digestible, so people wouldn't have as much ammunition. But I think Snyder is a fantastic director, any of the problems I would say came from the writing. I can't wait to see what he does with Justice League. I really hope it goes over well, so we can all get more excited for DCEU's future. Hopefully Wonder Woman can help start that train moving forward. And I can only imagine how great Affleck's Batman solo will be. But, I can't help but feel a lot of folks already have it in their head that they're not gonna like anything with Snyder's name. But I hope I will be proven wrong on that.
Also in definitely not a fanboy or Kool Aid drinker, deluding myself into thinking the film is good. I'm a pretty fair judge of films and I mainly like thoughtful movies, I'm not big on mindless CGI popcorn movies. There's a lot I like about the Marvel and X films, but they don't appeal to me as much as these DC films, I feel like there's not very much beneath the surface, which is fine, but I like the direction DCEU is headed. Sorry for my lengthy post
