Year: 2016
Genre: Superhero
Next to 'Force Awakens', 'Batman vs Superman' has been the film the fanboys have been anxious to see since what seems like dawn of time. We've been drip fed The Avengers, X-Men, Captain America, Ironman, and countless Spiderman films for the last fifteen years. Contrastingly, other than Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy, and Snyder's 2013 Superman reboot 'Man of Steel', the fans have had very little from DC.
Time Warner (owners of DC Comics) have been very slow to get off the starting blocks. The first Justice League movie (their equivalent of The Avengers) isn't due to be released until next year, and contrastingly, Marvel have been pumping out X-Men films since the turn of the century. Not only has this led to anticipation for DC content from fans going off the scale, but it's also allowed Marvel to hone their filmaking skills into what are nowadays although formulaic, both critically and financially successfull releases.
This leads me to my biggest bugbear about the film. If you're going into 'Dawn of Justice' expecting something on par with some of the latest Marvel releases, you'll be sorely dissapointed. It simply isn't, which is a big shame. Given that I criticised the last 'Avengers' film for having too much skyscraper smashing and very little of substance, you'd would think that a step away from it would be a refreshing change for audiences.
This is the biggest problem with the film. Producers have taken TOO much of a step away from Marvel's smash and bash formula. Seventy five percent of the film is plot expansion, with very little action inbetween. Audiences go and see a superhero movie to see superheros do 'super' stuff. If that ain't part of the film, audiences will feel let down. Think of an action movie with no car chases. A horror film with no scares. A comedy with no laughs. The biggest problem with 'Dawn of Justice' is that there just isn't enough going on inbetween plot developing scenes, and I honest ended up sitting thinking 'please, just get on with it and get to the good bits!'
It's a shame because when the set pieces do arrive (and I counted three in the film's whole two and a half hours run time) they're very enjoyable and in terms of spectacle, on par with anything Marvel have done in the past five years. It's great to see Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman team up, because quite frankly I was getting sick to death of Iron Man and co year after year and needed to see some new characters on the big screen. If they just made more of the action, and less on back story / plot building, this would have been a completely difference experience.
Character wise, Affleck's Batman is far from the let down that fans were expecting after growing used to Bale's portrayal in the Nolan trilogy. He's a lot stockier than Bale, and this weightier Batman helps a lot with believing that an ordinary guy could take on the legendary Man of Steel. Bale's problem with almost incomprehensible dialogue as the Dark Knight is also solved, as Affleck's lines are clear and easy to understand.
Cavill is given very little to do as Superman until the last act, and this is also a shame. As in 2013's 'Man of Steel', I don't think Zac Snyder makes full use of the fact we don't have to suspend actors on wires anymore, and he doesn't use CGI to the extent it could be used for the Man of Steel. Cavill's chiseled jaw makes him a natural choice for the role, and eye candy for the ladies, but I honestly don't think Snyder does much with the potential the character has.
So how about supporting female roles? As much as I was looking forward to seeing a fresh portrayal of Wonder Woman, I personally felt Gal Gadot was way too skinny and flat for the role. She lacked the curves that Linda Carter gave the character in the 70's tv series, and as a result just seemed like she might snap in half anytime Doomsday went near her. I'm hoping she beefs up a bit in time for the Wonder Woman movie in 2017.
As for Lois Lane, I never agreed with Amy Adams being cast in the role for the 'Man of Steel', but we're stuck with her now. Her on-screen chemistry with Cavill is none existent when you compare it to Reeve and Kidder from the 70's. It's even less than Cain and Hatcher from the 90's tv show. Sorry guys, I'm not a fan.
Oh yeah, and special mention needs to go to Jesse Eisenberg, who hands down becomes the most annoying movie villian in the history of cinema. Way too young for the role, he more or less just repeats his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in 'The Social Network'. A very bad casting decision, given the potential people they could have bought in for the role.
'Dawn of Justice' had a lot of potential. It doesn't fall entirely flat on it's face, but it wastes a lot of the potential it had as a concept. Enjoyable characters are let down but a film way too heavy on plot, and very light on action. Not as dissapointing as the critics make out, but nowhere as near as good as it could have been.
3 stars.
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