(If you have not seen Batman v Superman yet, be warned of the spoilers ahead)
After four years of waiting, I finally saw the greatest
"Batman v Superman" came out this past weekend and sure, the reviews by the so-called critics are not good... But what do they know? I was in line to watch "Batman v Superman" on Thursday with hundreds of other Batman, Superman, and even Wonder Woman fans, and guess what, we didn't care that Rotten Tomatoes had given the film a 29 percent ranking.
The critics all said that "Batman v Superman" is "dark," "not fun," "gloomy," but I'm here to tell you that's exactly what DC Comics is about. DC is dark, it's not all rainbows and butterflies, and the good guys aren't always winning without losing something as well.
As of writing this, "Batman v Superman" broke every single record held by any comic book movie with a whomping $424 million on opening weekend, which is better than the opening weekend for every single film Marvel has ever put out.
Upon further reading the reviews by the "experts" I came to the realization that the critics have been force-fed those terrible Marvel plot-lines and two-dimensional characters that when they see something that doesn't fit the "Marvel Way," they tend do get scared and say it's bad.
Marvel films usually go like this: Guy has "issue," guy finds out he can do super cool stuff, guy fights the bad guy, good guy wins and they live happily ever after. Add a few one-liners to make the crowd laugh and viola! You got yourself a Marvel film.
DC Comics is dark, compelling and thought-provoking.
"Batman v Superman" is largely a straightforward drama with some sleuthing sequences, and is more engaging on a cerebral level than as a fanboy-friendly adrenaline rush. Those expecting "Batman v Superman" to be DC's answer to Marvel's "Avengers" will be disappointed, which is why I believe many reviewers gave it such negative reviews as they expected this to rival "The Avengers."
This film hits on many real life issues like soul searching, politics and even idol worshiping.
Another issue critics had with "Batman v Superman" is that the film is "too crowded" with too many superheroes. Well, I hope they say the same thing when Marvel introduces Spider-Man (for the third time), and Black Panther, alongside nearly every single Marvel character for the new "Captain America: Civil War" movie.
Now, as much as I loved this film, I will admit it wasn't perfect. There were slow parts, and there were parts that were poorly executed. The introductions of Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg were fine, but felt a little rushed and random, it would have been better if one was a post-credit scene and the others in the film.
We meet them after Wonder Woman opens a file link sent to her email by Bruce Wayne that he stole from Luthor's computer. The file, named "Metas," have four different folders, each with the logo corresponding to the hero, which is odd. It's said earlier in the film about Luthor's obsession with meta-humans, but him having files on the heroes make absolutely no sense and that's one of the main issues I had with the film. Luthor knew too much, from the alter-egos of both Batman and Superman all the way to knowing who the rest of the Justice League was, which makes no sense.
There was also some slow parts, mainly the love scenes between Louis Lane and Superman, or pretty much any time Louis Lane was on screen. However, when the action picked up, there was no stopping this train.
The film was based off two very successful comic books, "The Dark Knight Returns," and "Death of Superman," which is where the doomsday fight and Superman's ultimate death in the film comes from.
For a comic book buff, this film was everything you expected and hoped for. For a casual moviegoer, this film was bad because it wasn't as funny and light as Marvel movies.
One thing everyone can agree on though has to be the amazing job by both Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, and Bruce Wayne/Batman. Both were phenomenal despite all the criticism they both received when they were announced for the roles. Jesse Eisenberg's performance as Lex Luthor, though, was inconsistent. His worldview and motives are quite interesting and heady, with a more theological bent than moviegoers are accustomed to seeing Lex have. His Lex is crazy, and clearly suffering from a psychological disorder rather than just being greedy, evil or driven by ego. He was too much like Heath Ledger's Joker, if you ask me.
The negative reviews by Rotten Tomatoes didn't do anything to halt the momentum of the DC Comics Extended Universe, if anything, it made it stronger among the hardcore fans and the casual ones alike. There will always be the ones whom dislike the film no matter what happens, and with the amount of money this film has made so far, I don't think Warner Bros is worried that their Extended Universe will not mature into what every DC Comics fan has been waiting for since Marvel released "The Avengers."
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