Last night (Opening Thursday) I took my two kids with me to see this movie at my favorite spot, Movie Tavern. I have been looking forward to this release ever since I heard about the movie being made. Especially since I hated Superman so much in 2013.
Fans of this blog may remember that when Superman: Man of Steel came out my hubby and I received early release passes and I posted my review and the 'nerd' community ripped me apart for my opinions.
Last night after this movie was over I instantly wanted to hop on my blog and post my thoughts but memories of those cruel comments and attacks on a multitude of websites due to this previous review kept me from reliving that moment. (To read that 3.5 Star review of MOS please click here.)
Well I've woken up from a sleep and my opinions are still on my mind so to hell with all those haters I am going to post what I think!
Please beware this review contains a lot of spoilers and if you wish to not read them please stop at this point. Continuing to read is acknowledging you will not attack me for spoiling things ...
Overall I am also giving this movie a 3.5 Star to match it's Superman brother. Like before I will run through the good, the ehh and the bad. I just ask that everyone please remember this is America and yes I am allowed to express my opinion, even if the rest of the world disagrees with me. So try not to rake me over the coals this time.
Although I will add ... after I posted my review in early June 2013, Kevin Smith came out with extremely similar comments to my review and people still loved him so ... there ya go!
The Good:
The opening of the movie was very well laid out. I enjoyed the 'action scenes' that showed what was going on to Bruce Wayne during Superman and the Kryptonian's fight scenes. Honestly I thought those were the best action scenes of the movie. While I know that it was all CGI, there was very little CGI feel to them. Ben Afleck played a good Bruce Wayne. An aged Bruce Wayne. Now like before my knowledge of the comic core material isn't as sharp as my husbands but my memory of The Dark Knight trilogy is. And I really liked that it appeared they continued on that path that was already set up. Meaning Wayne Manor was still in ruins from when it burned down in a previous movie.
I think Jesse Eisenberg's performance of Lex Luthor was very good. I enjoy the bad guy castings usually in the Batman movies so this did not surprise me. He played an eccentric man who turned crazy quite convincingly.
I did however love that Batman, a human, kicked Superman's ass. (Not the scenes and plot but just that it happened). As I am team Bat this made me extremely happy. It was good to see one wish come true in the movie. So yes, even gods can fall!
The Ehh:
The love romance between Clark and Lois (Played by Henry Cavill and Amy Adams) was not full of heat. It was two actors saying lines. I personally love Amy Adams usually so this was disappointing. I think in the MOS movie she had more emotion than in this one. Some of that could be this movie was split between two leading men so her screen time was cut as a result.
The kidnapping of Martha - I thought Lex's plan was good but the acting delivery, lines, scenes, etc was ehh. Wasn't horrible. This fight sequence when she gets rescued was just alright. It did make me miss the days of Christian Bale as Batman.
The Bat Branding ... I don't know how I feel about this. I LOVE that they show Batman really isn't a 'good guy' in this sense and he does kill people, but the branding? I think in some ways we kinda went to far. But I love that kinda stuff in bad guys so should I really judge it in a good guy? I don't know so it's an ehh...
Lex's file on the 'meta humans' - yeah I just, eh. Didn't like it, didn't hate it. I did however think the person they showed as the Flash looked very blah. Maybe it is because I have been spoiled by watching the TV series and I actually do enjoy that Flash.
The Bad:
Everything else? Alfred was very much a lack luster character. Bruce seemed way more concerned about his employee dying in Metropolis at the start of the movie than any amount of emotion he had while doing scenes with the man who raised him from childhood.
The dream sequences of Batman - just WTF? I am not sure why they were there to begin with. They did not progress the story much, if any, in my opinion. Especially the one where there was a nod to the Wizard of Oz and flying monkey type creatures (I assume they were supposed to be giant bats) swooped in out of the sky and carried the dead bad guys off. Just what the hell??
The final fight scene with Doomsday left MUCH to be desired. Wonder Woman was hot and all but even she couldn't have saved this scene in my opinion.
I think what annoyed me the MOST was Bruce's line "I failed him in life, I won't fail him in death." You failed him in life? How? That whole three minute friendship really solidified that bond between the two of you, was it just because both of your mothers names are Martha? Please - that was so dumb. I mean I get it, I'm sure it's a line out of the comic Doomsday somewhere blah blah blah but the on screen chemistry between two supposedly BFF's was totally not there for a statement of that magnitude to have been said.
To give you a point of reference on how 'bad' this movie was .... My two kids, 13 and 11, they LOVE The Avengers, can watch it over and over and stay focused. They Love Star Wars, my son has seen it three times in the theater and doesn't talk through it at all. Last night these two kids would not shut up. They talked through the whole damn movie because they just couldn't stay focused long enough to capture their attention.
Except for the final scenes. These were my favorite scenes with the Death of Superman and not just because this horrible character's acting finally stopped. My daughter cried and I felt the tears forming in my eyes. That did pull the emotional response for the first and last time of the movie. It was at this moment that I was very glad to know that I listen to my hubby when he talked about the comic Doomsday so I know what is to come and that gave me reassurance. (Unlike in Civil War where I fear they are going to kill the Captain and then I will weep real tears.)
So overall I give this a 3.5. What bumped this review from a 2.5-3 to a 3.5 for me was the final scenes. Anything that can get a tear to form in my eye means that it did get me to connect and that is worth something in my opinion. I do not think I am a fan of Zack Snyder's directing. I just pulled his Imbd and yeah ... I HATED Watchmen so I think I am going to stick with, I am not a fan of Zack Snyder. His constant stealing of ideas from my favorite films (see MOS Review on this and the Wizard of Oz comment here in this review) annoy me to no end.
Is Ben Afleck a good Batman? I don't know. We saw him as Bruce Wayne and I can see him being that playboy millionaire type person. I don't think we got to see him truly as Batman long enough to determine. Because his big fight scenes were in a suite made of metal fighting Superman. That isn't a suite I would say "Oh man my hubby would look sexy as hell in that!" (unlike Bale's.) However Afleck did look mighty nice with his shirt off so hey there is that! I think if I had to pick a side today I would say Afleck should leave the super hero career to the men of Marvel because after DareDevil and now this ... I can't see him rescuing anyone really.
So here was my 4 am review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ... Remember ... don't hate me for my opinion ... but you are welcome to politely disagree.