Just got back from Batman v Superman.
Snyders sequel to Man of Steel is bigger, louder and flashier than its predecessor but is it better? Afraid not.
I enjoyed it but there were some serious issues. Being such a new film I'll keep plot details to a minimum. The film actually starts during Superman and Zods battle from the end of the original, seen from Bruce Wayne's perspective. Seeing the admittedly massive collateral damage caused the Dark Knight gets it into his head that Superman is just too powerful and too dangerous to be flying around unchecked. I don't want to give anymore away suffice to say we next get introduced to Jessie Eisenbergs totally doolally Lex Luthor and soon after we get Gal Gadots Wonder Woman.
So the issues? Character motivation.
Batman is hellbent on Supermans destruction. Why? Why so badly? Ok there was a lot of collateral damage caused in Man of Steel, one of the big criticisms of the film, i get that. Doesn't make it Supermans fault.
Superman had been here since he was a child, Zod coming to earth was the problem. Zod wanted to turn Earth into the new Krypton, not Supermans fault. A lot of destruction was caused in the battle, of course it was, it was inevitable. Surely Batman is intelligent enough to have seen all that.
Lex Luthor, whats his deal? Buggered if i know. His motivation is simply not explained. Does he want Superman dead? Does he want Batman dead? Why? What for? At least in Bryan Singers Superman Returns, Kevin Spaceys Lex had a plan. Crap one maybe but a clear plan. Here Eisenberg just seems to be causing trouble for no particular reason. He doesn't seem to want anything.
I'm not sure why Wonder Woman was in the film at all, all i can assume is it a way of introducing her for future films.
The film is long and sprawling but it just seems to struggle under its own weight at times. Better character development and motives would have made all the difference. I suppose it helps that before Marvel attempted Avengers they had all the characters introduced with solo movies first but its still saying something that Joss Whedon was able to fit all his characters into one movie comfortably with a nice coherent plot. First time around anyway.
There appear to be rumours of a much longer directors cut and done right this could actually be a good thing.
 |