Months after it’s theatrical release, I finally sat down and watched “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” It was pretty good, but not as amazing as I had hoped. I’m just glad that this time it wasn’t the trailers making the movie seem like it would be one way rather than the actual turnout. I couldn’t follow along with the scene changes and some things just felt overall out of place.
The plot of the movie was confusing. For the majority of it, the scene changes felt choppy and hard to follow. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen the previous movie, “Man of Steel,” in almost two years, but I also think that the introduction and character building of Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) and Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) required too much time and various scenes here and there. There was a turning point, right after the big fight between Batman and Superman (Henry Cavill), that seemed to help pull the film together though, so I can’t say that it was a complete mess.
The cast did a great job, but not all of the characters were written that well in my opinion. Again, the introduction of Batman required a quick backstory and didn’t flesh out the character well enough. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) seemed like too much of a “damsel in distress” which, from what I can tell, is what the character has been like in many cases. However there were points when I expected her to turn around and be the one to save the day, but she almost died. Twice. Without helping much of anything.
Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), on the other hand, seemed to fit right in. This might be due to the fact that she was intentionally shrouded in mystery until halfway through the film along with the already announced “Wonder Woman” solo film set for June 2, 2017 in which her backstory will most likely be explored. Then there was the “introduction” to three more of the heroes in the upcoming films in the series. They only appearred in some video clips that were found by Bruce Wayne, but it definitely made me more excited.
Growing up, I wasn’t really into superheroes. Up until maybe three years ago, I had only watched the Tobey Maguire “Spider-Man” trilogy and “The Dark Knight.” Then I began watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) which features movies like “Iron Man” and “Captain America.” My point in saying this is that I have been much more exposed to the heroes of Marvel Comics, so maybe some of my dislike for the “Dawn of Justice” film is because I am more invested in the “lives” of the Avengers.
So I didn’t really like the majority of “Batman v Superman.” The plot was confusing, the tone was much darker than the stories that I am used to and I am used to watching the Marvel movies. However, I believe that the DC Extended Universe will get better and I am already planning to see “Suicide Squad,” the next installment into the Universe, this August. I am also looking forward to the films that will be released over the next few years, so hopefully they all turn out better than this one.
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is now available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital.
