Anyone who knows me knows that I adore Superhero movies. When "Captain America: Civil War" came out, I was there opening weekend, excitedly sitting in the theater, my 3D glasses on, ready for the next "Avengers" adventure. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, I went to go see "Batman v Superman," and it greatly disappointed. This has nothing to do with my preference to Marvel over DC -- it has everything to do with the story telling of each film.
If you have not seen either or one of these films and do not want to be spoiled, this is your warning, this article will contain spoilers for both "Captain America: Civil War" and "Batman v Superman."
It is not a secret that DC probably saw what Marvel was doing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and thought that it was a great idea and is currently releasing a similar line of movies around The Justice League. This is not the issue -- if DC wants to make a group of superhero movies, I'm not complaining. My favorite comic book character will be making an appearance in the upcoming movie, "Suicide Squad," and I couldn't be more excited.
However, the release of "BvS" was a bit too close to "Civil War" for comfort. "Civil War" has been a part of the MCU plan for a while, a plan that is freely available for anyone to view. "BvS" seems to have popped up out of nowhere all of a sudden, and I don't think it was the smartest move for DC.
With the exception of Black Panther and Spider-Man, all of the characters in "Civil War" have already been established. The main plot of "Civil" is Steve Rogers and Bucky Barns against Tony Stark. All three of these characters have already been well established in the MCU, and the friendships that Steve has with Bucky and Tony have been major plot points of different movies leading up to "Civil War." Bucky played a huge part of both "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Captain America: The Winter Solider" while the first half of the first "Avengers" movie is Tony and Steve learning to work with each other.
Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne had never interacted with each other before "BvS" in a movie. Now, this isn't a deal breaker -- lots of times in superhero movies the hero and the villain haven't ever interacted before. It is simply something that makes "Civil War" more compelling.
There is a distinct reason the two sides are fighting in "Civil War." This reason, that the world wants to have control over what superheroes can and can't do, is clearly stated within the first 20 minutes of the film. This is the most basic reason, later on, more personal reasons pop up, such as Black Panther believing that The Winter Solider (Bucky) created the cause of his father's dead and Tony learning that The Winter Solider killed his mother, however, the main focus of the film revolves around the idea of government control.
"BvS" was confusing. It took me until about halfway through the film before I even knew why Bruce Wayne disliked Superman and why Clark disliked Batman. The ultimate reason the two fight (Lex Luther Jr. has kidnapped Clark's mother and will kill her if Superman does not kill Batman) seemed cliché and did not have a lot of build up. The entire movie is building up to Bruce and Clark disliking the other's hero identity, but they ultimately fight because Luther Jr. wants to taint Superman's image to the public.
The ultimate end of the fighting in "Civil War" comes when Steve comes dangerously close to killing Tony, a moment that had me gasping and at the edge of my seat. He does not kill Tony, but there is the terrifying moment when he almost does. It was an intense moment given Tony and Steve's history as well as Steve's established character of being a good person who is always looking to do the right thing. The whole moment was really powerful.
The fighting in "BvS" stops with Batman holding a kryptonite scepter of sorts against Superman before Superman tells Batman that "you're letting them kill Martha," his mother. This causes Batman to freak out because his mother's name was also Martha. It was an extremely overdramatic moment that almost got a giggle out of me because Bruce's overly dramatic reaction to the name. Bruce, did you know that your mother isn't the only woman in the world with that name? This itself doesn't even stop the fight, it takes Lois running in to explain to Batman that Martha is Clark's mother.
This brings up the next point. Marvel has always been good with providing laughs to break the tension in their films. There is dramatic fighting going on, and characters becoming paralyzed, but there is always a bit of brilliantly placed humor so the audience doesn't get caught up in the dramatics of everything. Whatever it is they're doing, Marvel is doing it right and it's used throughout "Civil War."
From all the DC movies I've seen, there is not a lot of comic relief. I don't remember one moment in "BvS" that I laughed or thought anything was funny. This creates the movie to come across as melodramatic in my opinion. It's just one bad thing after another, nothing happy or funny happens. Halfway through the movie I was bored because it was just one dramatic event after dramatic event.
I think that "BvS" had a lot of potential, but DC pushed it out too fast (probably in an effort to complete with the MCU) and fell short. The storytelling of "Civil War" was clearer, better, and more enjoyable.
