Batman V Superman Feature

Everyone and their mother had been waiting for this movie. What movie?!? BatmanVSuperman with Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, and Jesse Eisenberg. This movie has been in the making since the 1930’s when Superman and Batman were introduced to the American people. From “campy” to “gritty realism”, we have been trying to find the perfect combo of moodiness and childlike wonder that will result in the perfect superhero film. Did this epic event of a movie achieve this almost once in a lifetime goal?!?!? Sorta; I mean not REALLY, but kinda.

Look Batman V Superman is a fantastic popcorn action movie with way too many plot devices crammed into the story at once. It’s a Man of Steel sequel, a Batman solo intro movie, a Lex Luthor intro movie, a Justice League prequel, and a high noon western all at once. Now that should be awesome, technically. On paper it sounds like, if handled correctly, BVS could be one of the greatest comic book movies ever.

Too bad the story wasn’t streamlined more. It jumped from story to story to side action to side action to….. It was like the film Cloud Atlas, in a bad way. Too much story, not enough time to tell it. Too much introduction to characters that the whole world knows. Batman is the American James Bond: a character we love so much, donning that cowl is an honor. Ben Affleck took that role seriously. Played a much more suave Wayne than we have seen before. Also a much meaner Batman; cruel almost in his judgements. And the hints at upcoming films from Flash, Cyborg, Aqua Man, and Wonder Woman were frankly forced into the story as best they could manage, I assume.

A huge plot point of the movie, which they went on about for an hour and a half, never got resolved, on any level. At all. The way the fight between both Titans comes about makes sense from Batman’s side, as the trailer shows; but from Superman’s side… His reasons for fighting are as logical as they are campy. The visuals are compelling. The fight scenes are epic. The actual conversations between the heroes and villains is worth the price of admission. Watching Bruce Wayne be a true badass, and not some cardboard cut out of a man was a fantastic change of pace. I just hate the pacing of this movie. It’s clustered. It’s messy. It’s a sloppy/rushed execution of one of the most important team ups in comic book history.

This movie is as good as it is… not good. I loved seeing this in IMAX. I’m gonna go see it again. I’m gonna complain about how things could be better, like a true fan does of these movies; because no matter how many times “Hollywood”(Warner and Disney) botch up some authentic comic book moment tea fearing to the big screen, I’ll still be there to support the misrepresentation of my childhood entertainment as an adult. I mean, dude, they made it for us.

 

DELUX Magazine
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