The Dark Knight Rises You Have My Permission To Lounge - Part 1

[Chip Chipperson]

all of this nonsense has given me a newfound appreciation for Nolan

Forgive me Christopher

 

[Tacit Ronin]

All this is doing is further highlighting the sheer competence of Kevin Feige.

 

[Travesty]

Even Jett thought the film was merely okay.

"Even Jett"? The guy who was staunchly against any kind of team up with Batman in any kind of regard? One who openly admits he only likes Batman in solo movies. The Jett who hates the idea of a JL movie. That Jett?

What's there to understand? Where did you think he was for this? He was openly against this to begin with, lol.

 

[Reek]

Jetts always been a toolbag lol

 

[BatLobster]

all of this nonsense has given me a newfound appreciation for Nolan

Forgive me Christopher

Those who repent shall be met with love and forgiveness, for he is merciful.

Spoiler

 

[Tacit Ronin]

"Even Jett"? The guy who was staunchly against any kind of team up with Batman in any kind of regard? One who openly admits he only likes Batman in solo movies. The Jett who hates the idea of a JL movie. That Jett?

What's there to understand? Where did you think he was for this? He was openly against this to begin with, lol.

Okay, dude. Didn't know all that. Thought he was a DC shill, not merely a Batman one.

 

[BatLobster]

To be honest, I don't write off Jett's review. He didn't hate the movie, anyway. Also, knowing how he feels about "A-hole Batman", I could see how this might not even be his favorite incarnation of the character even without getting into the whole shared universe thing. But he still did not bash the movie, he actually went pretty easy on it despite clearly not loving it.

His buddy Mark Hughes gave it a glowing rave though, unsurprisingly.

 

[Travesty]

He's openly had that opinion for over a decade, now. Jett's an idiot.

 

[BatLobster]

Just so we're clear, I could freakin' care less what Jett thinks of the movie. But I don't write off his review as insincere...I do believe he went into it hoping for the best like we all will.

And to be fair, Mark Hughes also used to be in the "Batman shouldn't exist alongside other superheroes" camp and he came around big time and is now one of BvS's biggest champions.

 

[AnneFan]

Haters be damned.

I'm still excited. I think Batfleck will bring down the house.

 

[titansupes]

Editing, dialogue and cinematography were my nitpicks. I loved the first 20 minutes on Krypton more than the rest.

That was my favourite sequence of the movie too, outside of maybe the Smallville fight. But it's totally redundant and probably shouldn't have been in it in the first place, honestly.

 

[BatLobster]

Welp, this shall be a day long remembered. Been almost 20 years since a Batman film was critically panned. Guess it had to happen eventually.

I'm still kind of shocked tbh. Like I said a few days ago, part of me was waiting for the other shoe to drop after hearing all the positive buzz, but I NEVER expected it to drop this hard.

Despite this, I remain hopeful that I'll walk out of this film having enjoyed it. A RT score doesn't mean all that much to me. It's corny and trite, but it really is true that the only review that truly matters is your own. It's important for me to not be too influenced by what everyone else is saying...even if I end up hating the movie, it's still important to me that I'm reaching my own conclusion and not just subconsciously allowing the criticisms of others to taint my viewing experience. That's why I haven't ready too many of the reviews.

Edit: Just saw Roeper gave it a positive. Interesting, he gave Man of Steel a negative.

 

[JackWhite]

I just got back from seeing 10 Cloverfield Lane and bought me and my buddy tickets to see BvS for Friday.

RT score be damned.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Drew McWeeny and I share the same thoughts on MOS (love it) and he did not like BVS. He tweeted something like "Oh, my. From the studio that brought you Green Lantern."

I'm still seeing it Thursday night. The reaction has taken some of the wind outta my sails, I won't lie.

 

[JackWhite]

BatLobster, what did Roeper say? For some reason I can't read any of the text for the review they put up on RT.

 

[BatLobster]

I'm still excited to see it Thursday. My expectations have been managed, but on a very basic level I am just ready to sit down with some popcorn and see just what the hell they've cooked up here.

@JackWhite here's his review. I'm not sure how spoiler-y it is cause I only quickly skimmed it.

Spoiler

WARNING!! MINOR SPOILER ALERTS TO FOLLOW. RELAX, I’M WITHHOLDING 90 PERCENT OF THE SURPRISES, I PROMISE:

About a half-hour into “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” I was starting to feel this could be one of the best superhero movies of the last 20 years.

Alas, we go from spectacular to solid, from great to good.

That said, Zach Snyder’s hotly anticipated showdown of two great DC Comics icons is hardly a disappointment — and please see it on the biggest IMAX screen within 50 miles of your home if you can.

“Dawn of Justice” is a dark-palette feast for the eyes, with some memorable set pieces, just the right amount of dark humor, strong performances and so many enough inside references and hints of characters and films to come there could be an entire day of Comic-Con panels just about the spoilers and the teasers and the “WHOA!” moments.

In an opening flashback to 1982, young master Wayne and his parents are exiting a movie theater when tragedy strikes. (We must be up to a dozen movies and television shows that have depicted the brutal murders of Bruce’s beloved mother and father.) The scene is filled with some haunting and chilling images, e.g., Bruce’s mother’s pearls getting snagged over the barrel of a gun in her last breathing moments.

Cut to present day and a title card reading:

“MANKIND IS INTRODUCED TO THE SUPERMAN”

I love that. We’re plunged into a breathtaking sequence in which we see the epic final battle between Superman and Gen. Zod in which half of Metropolis was leveled — but it’s from the viewpoint of none other than Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who apparently now has headquarters in Metropolis.

Snyder films the scene with gritty realism, including some shots that seem deliberately to pay homage to 9/11. Even though WE know Superman was on the side of good and Zod was evil on that fateful day, Bruce Wayne and nearly all of the citizens of Metropolis had no idea what was transpiring.

Now here’s where “Dawn of Justice” gets a little murky. It seems as if Metropolis (home of Clark Kent/Superman, Lois Lane, the Daily Planet, etc.) is practically a twin city with Gotham (home of Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alfred the butler et al). In a scene where Bruce Wayne shows up a party hosted by young Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), Lex says, “You should hop over the harbor more often.”

Some 18 months later, Superman is well established as a good guy. There’s even a Heroes Park (built by Lexcorp!), with a giant statue of Superman. When the Man of Steel performs amazing rescue missions around the globe, some kneel and bow their heads, or reach out to try to touch him, treating him as a deity from the heavens.

Others are expressing concern about Superman’s limitless powers. Look at all the collateral damage that occurs whenever Superman swoops in and saves the day. (Hooray. For years I’ve been wondering why the Avengers and the X-Men and Superman and Batman, not to mention the mortal action heroes of the “Die Hard” and “Fast and Furious” and James Bond movies, almost never even pause to consider how many innocent lives are lost, how many cities are destroyed, as they duke it out with the bad guys.)

Holly Hunter delivers strong, sharp-edged work as a Kentucky senator who wants to hold hearings to see if Superman should be held accountable for deaths that have occurred when he’s swooping in to save the day.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne/Batman is angry, frustrated and exhausted after 20 years of battling criminals in Gotham (and presumably Metropolis). At this point Batman is in full vigilante mode, literally branding criminals with the Batman logo before serving them up to authorities.

Even Bruce’s loyal butler Alfred (the magnificent Jeremy Irons) is in unshaven, deeply cynical mode, spouting out Shakespearean lines about the nature of justice and muttering about his boss never settling down and starting a family.

Snyder and screenwriters Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer raise some interesting questions about humankind’s love/fear/worship/hate relationship with all-powerful beings, whether they are God or Allah or Buddah or Superman. At times the metaphors get a bit heavy-handed, as when protesters in Washington, D.C., hoist signs that read, “SUPERMAN = ILLEGAL ALIEN.” We get it, we get it.

Here’s what rocks. We all know Batman, even with all his fighting skills and his cool toys and his cunning, would be no match one-on-one against Superman. “Dawn of Justice” figures out a way to level the playing field and then some. And though Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince/Wonder Woman sometimes seems crowbarred into the plot, there are a couple of moments guaranteed to get the hardcore geek base, well, geeked.

All the Internet resistance to Affleck being cast as Batman seems silly when you see him sharing the screen with Cavill, as Affleck is easily the superior actor. (Cavill is solid, but there’s not all that much difference in his facial expressions registering anger, fear, pain or love. He winces quite a bit.) There’s not a moment when we don’t believe Affleck as Bruce Wayne or as Batman.

Amy Adams’ Lois Lane is a modern, self-sufficient, strong woman — but she still needs rescuing from Superman every other week. Jesse Eisenberg’s twitchy, self-conscious mannerisms can be irritating in some performances, but he’s a creepy delight here as Lex Luthor. First-rate actors such as Diane Lane and Laurence Fishburne sparkle in small roles.

With a running time of 2 hours, 33 minutes, “Dawn of Justice,” like most superhero movies, just keeps on coming and coming — especially in the climactic battle sequence, which isn’t all that different from the climactic battle sequences in a dozen other superhero movies. And the final surprise will come as a surprise to just about no one.

When it sings, “Dawn of Justice” is a wonder. When it drags, it still looks good and offers hints of a better scene just around the corner.

★★★

 

[AnneFan]

I'm still excited to see it Thursday. My expectations have been managed, but on a very basic level I am just ready to sit down with some popcorn and see just what the hell they've cooked up here.

My mindset too.

 

[JackWhite]

Thanks for hooking me up, BatLobster.

I'm kind of shocked Roeper gave it a positive review, because he did not like MOS.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I knew it, Disney is in the critics pockets. Oh, it's all Snyder's fault.



Am I doing this right?

Corrected.

Probably around MOS score if this trend continues.

Or lower.
That's a shame, I really wanted it to go to the 70s.

From the Rotten Tomatoes thread, thought some in here would find this quite amusing.


A shame this isn't going so well. I can't say I expected this to go great, but I had expected it to go better than this. I do hope though this means that Snyder's not going to be involved moving forward. He can make something look pretty, but his storytelling so far (and it seems BvS continues this) seems to think itself a lot more mature and thought-provoking than it really is.

Isn't that a tweet by Josh Trank?
I doubt this movie will be a terribly received as that one, I mean BvS, it might end up with Age of Extinction in both RT score and box office grossing.

 

[Tequilla]

all of this nonsense has given me a newfound appreciation for Nolan

Forgive me Christopher

 

[Spider-Aziz]

^I like your use of that image.

 

[titansupes]

all of this nonsense has given me a newfound appreciation for Nolan

Forgive me Christopher

 

[AnneFan]

No matter what, we'll always have Chris' trilogy. And what a trilogy it is.

 

[Reek]

except for that damn Anne Hathaway

 

[The Shape]

Roeper's review is pretty spot on, IMO.

"When it sings, “Dawn of Justice” is a wonder. When it drags, it still looks good and offers hints of a better scene just around the corner."