Last night I went to watch Batman V Superman and it’s a very good comic book movie. It’s not Lawrence of Arabia, or by any means a contender for Best Movie Oscar Award or anything like it, but it’s an excellent depiction of a good comic book movie.
I’m putting a view “more” link by force because the rest has spoilers. Just trust me: if you like good dark comic book stories, specially those featuring Batman and Superman and those that don’t try to fit a single story in one go, you’ll like the movie. I did. A lot (not that I don’t have some gripes with it, but it’s a god damn good action movie adapting comic book characters).
Remember: there be spoilers. Read at your own discretion.
First things first: the trailers spoiled the ending for me. The instant I saw Doomsday I knew how this movie would end. Period. Yes, this is an amalgamation of Dark Night Returns with Death of Superman.
The worst: Lex Luthor’s childish expressions (good actor, good role, wrong character) which don’t fit the damn cold blooded manipulator bastard he is and the unexplainably significant role of Lois Lane with the Kryptonite lance.
The second worse thing: a glimpse of the “movie” Flash (why not just use the series crew, really… sigh)
The best: the promise of Justice League against Darkseid, you get to see:
- Trinity (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman), namely Batman discovering other meta-humans
- Parademons, in a vision Bruce Wayne get’s, likely from attempts of communication from the future
- The Flash + Jason Momoa’s Aquaman + Cyborg (with a [maybe] boom box forming his cyborg body)
- An evil Superman with Superman Police (likely: not Kal El or resurrected-but-not-yet-himself Kal El)
- Good super-powered fighting action sequences all through the movie
Most of the critics I’ve read steam from lack of comicbook lore, people who expect a simple one shot movie with a start, middle and ending.
The whole movie is one hell of “start”, so of course the story hasn’t yet developed. I’m not a deep fan of the Trinity heroes but I knew enough to perceive all the promising tidbits they were throwing at us and relished on the near future.
Another common [and stupid imho] gripe with Man of Steel that is repeated in this movie is the huge desctruction of city property (buildings, structures, etc). Come on, people, it’s very, VERY, powerful beings fighting.
Do you really think Zod/Doomsday care about the destruction? They don’t and it wouldn’t fit the character.
Do you really think even Superman could constantly keep track of where his punches would lead the enemies towards? He’s not just fighting for the puny humans, he’s actually having to fight for his life with being about as powerful as he is, he can’t control it.
Let’s put into scale: imagine you’re fighting for your life against another normal human inside the Louvre. Will you consider not letting Mona Lisa be ruined by a knife by protecting it with your body or just move to the side avoiding the knife, without realizing Mona Lisa was just behind you and is now a ruined artifact? It’s Gods among us, not just slightly stronger people in fighting pants fighting along.
Let them keep coming at us with stuff like this. More!