• Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,313

Topic: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

So I just got back.  I'm gonna write down a ton of my thoughts but I'm not going to post it until the movie is officially out.  Zack Snyder came on before our screening (pre-filmed) and told us not to, and there's some pretty good stuff that I don't want to spoil.

So here's a non-spoiler review, and we can have some non-spoiler discussion.  It's probably gonna make the board all cluttered, but I think it'll be okay smile

General thoughts:

- What you all came to see - what did I think?  Well, I went in with low expectations, and I thought it was pretty good.  Better than I expected, better than I feared.

- It's way too long.  Just way too long.  I think they got excited about the sandbox they were getting to play in, and while it shows (positively), there's just way too much material.  I could see cutting a full half-hour, and it'd be so much sharper.

- Affleck has grown as an actor, and you can tell that he really wanted to sell this.  You can tell that he's really trying to be "Bruce Wayne" and not "Ben Affleck" - and he really sells the role.

- Wonder Woman really works too.  This is a good tease for her solo movie.

- Lex works.  He's not nearly as annoying as the trailers make him out to be. 

- One bit really bothered me, regarding the connection between this movie and Man of Steel.  I'll elaborate in the spoiler review later.

- Still don't love the way Superman is portrayed.  He's probably the worst part of the movie.

- They definitely sold this as a launching pad.  Even if the movie doesn't do well critically or commercially, there's enough to work with.

- No reason to sit through the credits.  Nothing there, mates.

  • Registered: 2015-06-23
  • Posts: 2,054

Re: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

Interesting thoughts. I can't really discuss much of them right now, but I'm glad that you enjoyed it more than you thought you would.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.
  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,313

Re: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

I'm making an effort to not read any of the negative reviews.  The only one I listened to was a non-spoiler review by Mr. Sunday Movies, who's quickly becoming one of my favorite comic book genre voices.  I actually listened to their entire Man of Steel commentary yesterday, despite not watching Man of Steel with them.  But that's an aside.

Mr. Sunday gave the movie his "Best Movie Ever" rating, but he complained about some of the character motivations.  I thought about it, and I do think a few of the key motivations don't make a ton of sense.  It's really hard to say without going into spoilers, but it does go along with one of my concerns I had regarding creative choices.

Also, another non-spoiler note.  They go way out of their way to address the issues of the death count in Man of Steel.  Just like in Avengers 2, where the Avengers spend half the third act saving civilians, BvS has its own brand of that.  And, eventually, it got distracting.

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 1

Re: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

I went into this moving thinking I wasn't going to like it... I wasn't a huge fan of Man Of Steel but I think in general I am not much of a Superman fan.  He is just too strong.   I actually thought it was a pretty good super hero movie and it didn't deserve the power critic ratings it got.  I like that it was a more serious movie than what Marvel puts out.  Not to say I don't like the Marvel movies because I really do but they did a good job.

5 Reply by DieselMickyDolenz (edited by DieselMickyDolenz 2016-03-28 12:22:07)

  • From: Florida
  • Registered: 2015-07-06
  • Posts: 46

Re: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

I thought it was an excellent example of how not to make a superhero film. Not the only example, mind you. Green Lantern was awful in its own way. Attempts to turn serious superheroes into zany comedy are another way.

This film was just dull and joyless, and it didn't have to be. You can do serious without being grim and lifeless (see CA:The Winter Soldier or the Nolan Bat-verse). With this film, they've turned being a superhero into an incredible burden, rather than a gift. They turned one of fiction's greatest detectives into an imbecile. The references to the rest of the Justice League felt even more shoehorned in than the expanded (and since aborted) Spidey-verse was in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. They didn't even get the DCU geography right.

You could easily shave 45-minutes off of this film and lose nothing. A Batman origin story? AGAIN? Oh, right, if they hadn't filmed it then that other thing would have made even less sense. This is a non-spoiler post, but if you've seen the film, you should know to which other ridiculous thing I'm referring.

DieselMickyDolenz's Website

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,313

Re: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

DieselMickyDolenz wrote:

You could easily shave 45-minutes off of this film and lose nothing.

Yeah.  I do think they did a decent job of tying most things back (whether they were tied well, like your example, is another matter).  There were times when I was watching and wondering if we had time for Batman to take down a Russian mobster or if we had time for a Lois investigation.  Or if we had to meet Wallace, the Wayne employee.  And all those things ended up playing a role in the story.  And I was never really bored with the movie - I just felt like it thought it was more important than it actually was.  And these days, important = long (see The Revenant)

And like I said in one of my posts, this movie desperately needed a Superman Returns - like scene where Superman saves the day in some thrilling, extraordinary way.  It would've injected some fun into what ended up being a somber story.

There's a moment in the end where Wonder Woman is fighting, and she smiles because she's facing an enemy she respects.  Even though it's a dangerous situation, she's having fun with it because she probably hasn't had to fight like that in decades.  And she shows more personality in that three seconds than Superman shows in the whole film.

For some reason, they've been showing Superman III on SyFy recently, and I watched about three minutes of it the other day.  It was the scene where Clark and Lana are out with her kid bowling.  And it's a stupid, ridiculous scene because Clark ends up using a super-sneeze to knock down all the pins for Lana's kid, and the pins explode and everyone has a laugh even though it's an insanely over-the-top scene.  And while I agree with Info that the Reeve movies aren't the golden level that everyone says they are, I think they captured the spirit of Superman there.  A kid was getting bullied, and Clark used his powers to make the kid feel like a superhero.  He inspired the kid and made him feel like Superman for a second.  That's something I associate with Superman...making people feel better....that Snyder's Superman doesn't have any of.  I see no reason to love Snyder's Superman.  I'd be terrified of him.

  • From: Florida
  • Registered: 2015-07-06
  • Posts: 46

Re: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

This spoiler-filled "Batman v Superman FAQ" nearly perfectly sums up my feeling on the film. Warning: it is a long, snarky, typo-laden read.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/batman-v-superma … 1767720335

An excerpt:

Hey, Zack Snyder is no Michael Bay.

You’re right. Zack Snyder is much worse. Michael Bay thinks explosions are awesome and stories are dumb. Zack Snyder actually hates you.

What do you mean?

This is a movie made out of disdain. Disdain for the nerds. Disdain for the audiences. Disdain for the kids whose parents might accidentally take them to see a movie starring their favorite superheroes. Disdain for the source material. He thinks he knows better than all of us what Batman and Superman should be, even if fans, critics, and mass audiences tell him otherwise...

DieselMickyDolenz's Website

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,313

Re: Batman v Superman: No Spoiler Post

Yeah I read that too.  I didn't hate it as much as he did, but he does point out most of the film's flaws.