Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - SPOILER Review

Right, I’ve been waiting three years for this film so I’m not going to waste time on an introduction, neither am I waiting a week to talk details, so expect big fat SPOILERS ahead. 

Forget Star Wars Episode 7, Deadpool fans can crawl back into the woodwork and Marvelites go watch your Saturday morning cartoons (nah, you’re fine too): it’s time for the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world... 

1.       Protagonist(s)

First and foremost, let’s hope this puts to bed the notion that Michael Keaton is the best on-screen Batman. Even if you somehow rate him above Christian Bale (despite his horribly oversized mask that you could literally slide your hands in while he’s wearing it), Batfleck makes Keaton look like Adam West’s mopey cousin. And before you whinge about this new Batman killing, bear in mind that every live-action Batman kills multiple people except for George Clooney – and I’ll be damned if I’m letting his be considered the most comic-accurate depiction of the character.

When Batman is in costume – best Batsuit ever by the way – he’s terrifying. His first scene is like something out of a horror film; with the creepy, rising, screeching score and the way he moves like a demon hanging from and scuttling across the ceiling. Ben Affleck’s Batman is more ‘creature of the night’ than ‘cop in a costume’, like Bale’s.

Likewise, his Bruce ‘James Bond’ Wayne is a much more accurate representation of a character dubbed ‘the world’s greatest detective’ – he gets business done just as well out of the cowl as in it, and it makes sense that this iteration of the character could go toe to toe with Superman, thanks to his experience and intelligence.

As for Superman himself, I continue to appreciate the very conflicted portrayal Henry Cavill is giving us. You really feel the weight of the S on Clark; his every action is not only scrutinised (as it probably should be, as someone with so much power and no-one to answer to), but is unfairly nit-picked and scanned over for seemingly any possible negative.

I feel this reflects many reviews of this film; no other comic book franchise has been held to such impossible standards as the DC films since The Dark Knight set the bar so high back in 2008. Slap a Marvel logo on this and people will be happy with a few one-liners and some colourful action. For some reason, a DC logo means having to justify the more serious approach and attempting to make more than a popcorn movie.

With many people, both in the film’s world and our own, not deeming this Superman worthy of the ‘hero’ title after the destructive climax of Man of Steel, it’s easy to sympathise with his conclusion that “no-one stays good in this world” until he proves himself wrong in the gut-wrenching finale. Again, spoilers, but he literally sacrifices his life twice in the span of fifteen minutes for the sake of this world. More on that under Plot.

1 mark

2.       Antagonist(s)

Easily the most divisive aspect of the film, Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is, erm, different. I personally was hoping for a Brian Azzarello style Luthor who hates Superman because he feels the hero’s existence represents the end of human achievement; no matter what we do, we can’t ever live up to Superman. Here, his motivation was not absolutely clear – it appears to be a mix of jealousy and fear of Superman, hence the whole ‘if God is total power then he cannot be total good’ speech. He embodies the notion that power corrupts, and while he fears that may drive Superman to destroying humanity eventually, just like comic-book Lex he fails to see (or uses it as an excuse) when his power and influence blends with his paranoia and leads to devastation.  

While he admittedly was too over-the-top at times, he was definitely menacing and manipulative – orchestrating and enhancing the two heroes’ drive to confront each other with mysterious deliveries of evidence of Batman’s brutality, and the devastating effect of the Battle of Metropolis on Wayne employees.

But let’s get one thing straight: he was not Joker-like at all, for those making comparisons. The Joker knows exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing and he’s not a twitching, self-correcting intellectual. If parallels were to be drawn to any Bat-villain, he’s definitely Riddler-esque; with a compulsive need to prove himself superior and a brain working too fast for anyone (even sometimes himself) resulting in eccentric mannerisms and grandiose speeches. Eisenberg’s performance reminds me of the Arkham video games’ portrayal of Edward Nygma.

The other villain of the piece, Doomsday, comes into play when Luthor’s plan for Batman to get rid of Superman fails (as he half-expects it to). I personally didn’t like this aspect of the film for a few reasons: why have Doomsday look like a giant turtle? Why not have it look like it does in the comics with the huge spikes, at least post-evolution? Why hide most of the fight behind explosions and fire? I could go on… and I will under Action.

My real complaint with Doomsday was that it was a bit of a leap to going from relative realism (especially with Man of Steel’s efforts to ground this Superman in our world) to fighting a big CGI monster. Perhaps if Lexcorp had found another ancient Kryptonian ship buried in, say, a desert, and Doomsday was awoken upon being discovered inside, beginning a path of destruction that interrupted the Batman v Superman fight, that would have made for a more natural team-up and finale.

0.25 of a mark

3.       Secondary Characters

Even though she had little screen-time, Gal Gadot was spot on as Wonder Woman. Weaving in and out of the story tantalisingly yet organically, she certainly wasn’t jammed into the film like some had feared just to set up future instalments. As a result of Lex Luthor stepping up research into metahumans post-Battle of Metropolis, Diana Prince is one of the people being observed by his company and shows up here to prevent stolen photographic evidence of her existence leading to further intrusion. She has a few interactions with Bruce Wayne which both fit her motivations and convince her to pick back up the sword and shield when Doomsday is unleashed, after Bruce shows her there are others out there with powers. I’m very much looking forward to the Wonder Woman solo film.

Amy Adams returns as Lois Lane and is much more integral to the story than I thought she’d be – I was afraid she’d be lost in the caped-mist, but a considerable amount of key plot points are put in motion by her actions. I also thought Lois was a very humanising presence in the film, watching the burden of power weigh down Clark and trying to help without being able to. My only complaint about this character is more suited to discussion under the Romance section of the review and so will be discussed there.

With a new Batman must also follow a new Alfred, and this one is the snarkiest yet. Jeremy Irons – or Scar to his friends… well, to me – was much more hands-on than previous versions. He essentially performs the role of ‘Oracle’, for those familiar with the Arkham games; guiding Batman through missions over the Bat- Computer and offering technical support when needed, such as taking control of the Batwing or mapping an environment. He also brought timely moments of levity when appropriate and there was a tangible familial bond between him and Bruce, which added to the feel of an established, experience crime-fighting career where maybe Alfred enjoys and believes in The Mission moreso than Bruce.

1 mark

4.       Plot

I feel much of the apparent disappointment with this film comes because it’s focus is very much on the plot, rather than the action. The entire purpose of the movie is to examine how the world would react to Superman – a question posed midway through Man of Steel by Perry White. The characters in the film are all written in a way that puts a face to those reactions; some would irrationally hate him (Lex), some would fear him (Bruce), some would question him (Senator Finch) and some would love him (Lois).

Like I said earlier, this is more than just a popcorn movie with a big-money punch-up – but I’ll discuss the themes a bit more under Drama.

Some have complained about this film being depressing, but to them I’d ask: have you seen the Dark Knight? The bad guy won in that movie – Harvey Dent was corrupted beyond redemption and Batman broke his one rule and was forced to retire. And yet this film, where Superman is not only heavily implied to have survived the fight with Doomsday, but also has resurrected Batman’s faith in humanity (“Men are still good”) to the point where he’s going to assemble a team of heroes to honour Superman, is depressing?

For those I’ve seen asking why/how Lois knew to go back for the Kryptonite spear, it’s pretty simple: she was at the Daily Planet when the wreckage of the Kryptonian ship started going crazy pre-Batman vs Superman fight, so it was obvious to her that whatever Luthor had unleashed was Kryptonian in it’s biology and therefore vulnerable to Kryptonite.

The final nit-pick I’ll address is how fast Batman agreed to help Superman, after being on the verge of killing him. It’s like people forgot that Bruce was investigating Lex Luthor for literally the entire film between the flashback opening and the final fight. All it took was for Clark’s humanity to shine through and Bruce to see him as an actual person, rather than some dangerous ‘other’ (more on that under Drama), for all the pieces to fall into place in the mind of The World’s Greatest Detective and bring about the realisation he had been manipulated into the fight to begin with.

To the ending of the film, some might say it’s too early to kill Superman off, but the fact is that he needed to die. For the Justice League to form, there has to be reason more than a conveniently timed alien invasion – especially seeing the backlash Superman received for every action he takes, other metahumans would have been scared to reveal themselves. But now, as a result of his sacrifice and recognition as a hero, they will be open to forming a team to make up for Superman’s absence. Especially with Batman and Wonder Woman being the ones to bring them together.

1 mark

5.       Action

Now, for what most people came to see. Right off the bat, every time Batman was in costume, it was excellent stuff. I’ve already discussed his horror-movie style introduction, but that is followed up by the best Batmobile chase-scene ever put to film. If you’re solely interested in the ‘no guns, no killing’ Batman, then this sequence might make you hurl because a whole bunch of guys get absolutely pancaked. I was a little disappointed there was only one ‘Batman vs some goons’ fight scene (the warehouse one from the trailer), and that’s a point I’ll address under Pacing, but when it arrived it was everything I wanted; even on the ground Batman dwarfs the bad guys and his costume is a lot more protective than it appears. There’s also a fun nod to The Dark Knight Returns in the way it ends.

The title bout was a little shorter than I expected, and I would have preferred some time being shaved off the Doomsday battle to extend the Batman v Superman fight, considering the build-up. But, no-one can deny that the fight delivered; we got to see how Batman’s experience and tactics steered the fight in his direction, how much of an affect Kryptonite has on this Superman and for how long, and the part of the fight where the gas wore off while Batman was punching Superman was both funny and made sure it was an even match – even if Batman had to win to justify the fight existing in the first place. We also saw Batman’s planning in action by staging the fight in an abandoned part of Gotham near the bay and keeping the fight mainly within one building.

I personally didn’t like the final Doomsday fight. A lot of the action was difficult to see, as mentioned under the Doomsday part of the Antagonist(s) section. Wonder Woman was the best part of that whole fight sequence, which is for the best considering she’s the warrior in DC’s Trinity. Batman acted more as a distraction and as the brains, leading the monster to an abandoned part of Gotham within reach of the Kryptonite spear.

I also felt it was smart to show Superman attempt to take the fight to space – a common complaint in Man of Steel was how he didn’t put enough effort into taking the fight to somewhere more remote (even though the whole point was General Zod made it his new mission to kill as many humans as possible, so he wasn’t exactly going to follow Superman into a desert) – but now we see it’s not a solution. Again, we saw this film’s efforts to address the destructive end of Man of Steel by having the Doomsday battle take place mostly on an empty island, resulting in very low (if any) civilian casualties.

0.75 of a mark

6.       Drama

Most of the drama is centred around Superman and how the world perceives him. From the opening flashback to Man of Steel’s final fight, which had a very 9/11 feel to it, to the look on Superman’s face in the aftermath of the courtroom scene, it’s clear this film is about who Superman is – something neither he nor the rest of the world truly understand until the ending.

Clark felt like an alien right through Man of Steel to the very end of this film, and even kept referring to Krypton as ‘his world’. It wasn’t until he picked up the Kryptonite spear and flew at Doomsday that he realised, “This is my world”, which was a massively uplifting moment.

On the Batman side of things, parallels can be drawn to real life attitudes on topics such as immigration and terrorism. Post-9/11 and right through to today (especially in the aftermath of a terrorist attack), you can hear very similar sentiments to Bruce Wayne’s almost xenophobic view of Superman being echoed: “if there’s even a one per-cent chance that he is our enemy, we have to take it as an absolute certainty”.

I feel the dramatic aspects of the story may have been too thought-provoking for an audience looking just for some cool action and a bit of entertainment, but if you’re prepared to really dig into the implications a being like Superman would have – politically for the world and personally for the being in question – the film is a fascinating watch as well as a visual spectacle.

1 mark

7.       Comedy

The DC films aren’t as comedy focussed as the Marvel films, but they don’t need to be; it’s good to have different studios taking different approaches because it stops oversaturation of the market. If all superhero films had the same tone, they’d all blend into one and people would get bored.

In terms of this film, much of the levity is provided by supporting characters like Alfred and Perry White. They offer enough to break up the serious moments without ever stealing focus or feeling out of place. Funnily enough, the most fun moments were involving Bruce Wayne’s investigation of Lex Luthor. With Alfred guiding him through Luthor’s house to install a hacking device and infiltrating an underground fighting ring, Bruce’s scenes definitely had a James Bond feel to them, as I mentioned earlier.

However, there wasn’t really enough to justify awarding more than half a mark here, so…

Half a mark

8.       Romance

The problem that I mentioned earlier when discussing Lois Lane, is that there’s no real development of Clark and Lois relationship. They get together at end of Man of Steel after each finding in the other something they’d never found before, and at beginning of this film they’re 18 months in and living together.

We don’t see it develop – it’s just skipped over in that 18 month period and it’s as if they’re together because they’re Clark Kent and Lois Lane and just have to be. Why does Lois love Clark, other than because he’s Superman? It’s never shown beyond the fact he’s a super-handsome superhero.

That said, it’s clear to see how they feel about each other and the sense of loss at the end of the film is palpable. I just wish the relationship was more fleshed out in terms of the ‘why’.

Half a mark

9.       Pacing

After a hard hitting opening that introduces us to our new Bruce Wayne and reintroduces us to Superman, the film steadies into part-political examination/part-spy movie with some horror and action elements thrown in. With so much build up to the title fight, it does feel a tad slow in the middle – perhaps a scene of Superman’s crime-fighting methods being juxtaposed with Batman’s would have broken up the slow-burn and conveyed why the conflict could exist in the first place.

Much has been made of the Knightmare sequence, and while it was brilliantly shot and plotted, it did feel a bit out of place in it’s placing in the story. I can’t help but feel like if that whole dream was an after-credits stinger, then no-one would be complaining and everyone would be talking about what it means going forward; does Superman come back evil etc. I also felt like we didn’t need Flash appearing out of a portal to warn Bruce too. Especially as the casual movie-goer didn’t recognise him as the Flash anyway (why not just put him in the usual Flash costume?) – my Dad actually thought it was meant to be Robin.

Despite these nit-picks, however, I was never bored and I felt like the film took it’s time setting up the conflict and the motivations enough to justify going all-out in the final third.

0.75 of a mark

10.   Re-watch-ability

Seeing as the Justice League movie is coming out next year – which feels very weird considering we waited three years for this film – it’s definitely worth going back over this movie to spot all the little nods to upcoming characters and events, and not just in the metahuman files. I must say though, it baffles me why DC dropping visuals of these characters in the context of the actual story is an issue, especially when it serves a narrative purpose in convincing Wonder Woman to fight, but no-one bats an eye when Marvel do the same thing after the credits.

In general, there is so much to process, that you really need repeat viewings to judge the film totally; gut reactions will prove to be incorrect with time on this one, I think.

In terms of going forward, the Ultimate Edition DVD will expand on a lot of stuff, including revealing that the photographer shot at beginning was Jimmy Olsen – a fun extra nod even if some people looking for anything to hate will cry that he was killed immediately (it’s like they are forgetting that he’s a completely irrelevant character that could serve no purpose in this universe anyway, seeing as there’s no clumsy cartoonish Clark Kent to say “oh golly” to every five minutes).

The aspect of the extended cut I’m looking forward to the most is the longer, more violent action scenes, and particularly Jena Malone’s cut role. She was heavily rumoured to be playing Barbara Gordon, and is most likely to feature in a flashback to the Joker paralysing her. Perhaps that will be another Bruce Wayne nightmare and contain a horror-style twist, like the bat-monster bursting out of Martha Wayne’s bleeding grave.

1 mark

Total Score: 7.75/10

I absolutely love this film as a fan, but rating it as objectively as I can and acknowledging the problems I had with some aspects personally, I think this mark is fair. Many of my review scores change in my mind over time, and I sometimes get caught up after seeing a film I enjoy (for instance I don’t rate Jurassic World as an 8/10 anymore), but I feel I’ve been as fair as I can with Batman v Superman.