***This poster contains spoilers for BATMAN V. SUPERMAN. You've been warned.***
So what are the successes and failures of BATMAN V. SUPERMAN? While this is a subjective list, the following are some bullet points for each, and are in no particular order.
FAILURES
- The retelling the origin of Bruce Wayne / Batman, again. This needs to never happen in a live action movie until 100 years from now. Sure this is hyperbolic to say but the origin of Batman is well-known enough in society and it doesn't need to be told again for a very long time; just like the origin of Spider-Man doesn't need to be told again for a long time by Marvel.
- The death of Jimmy Olsen. Known in the comics as the well-intentioned sidekick of Superman, killing him off so fast completely removes the chance to lighten Henry Cavill's take with some fun and humor as Superman — which is more a problem from the writers and director Zack Snyder than it is from Cavill. A lack of Olsen immediately removes any chance at some fun banter to allow Cavill to give Superman some color to this incarnation of the character on the big screen.
- Jesse Eisenberg. This seems to be the most debated performance of the film. Some have applauded this drastically different take on Lex Luthor while others hate it. According to a report, Eisenberg auditioned for the role of the Riddler when the villain was in an early draft of the script; and this would have been a much better fit for his performance. Not to mention there was a bit of Eisenberg channeling Heath Ledger's Joker within his Lex performance which again would've been better suited for the Riddler. Lex is supposed to be a brilliantly evil mind, not a one who appears to be in need of a dose (or two) of Adderall.
- The too early Doomsday trailer reveal and the lack of real motivation for Lex to create it. An early trailer reveal of Doomsday was an absolute bust and he then wasn't shown in any of the following trailers, teasers or TV spots. Someone probably got slapped pretty hard for this reveal because it would have best suited the movie for this reveal to be kept a secret until you are in your theater seat. But this wasn't as bad as the lack of telling the viewer why Lex needed to create Doomsday other than to assume he's just a crazy person who wants to kill Superman. Also, Lex unleashes Doomsday onto Metropolis to cause more destruction when he and LexCorp are on the forefront of the city's rebuild and revival from the actions that took place at the end of MAN OF STEEL. This seems to reek of multiple writers trying to fix each others' possible script issues and the studio probably intervening too much to fix it their way.
- The death of Superman was too soon. Doomsday should have really been been saved for JUSTICE LEAGUE and then build that toward Darkseid in JUSTICE LEAGUE PART 2. Then you can kill Superman at the end of JUSTICE LEAGUE and figure a way to bring him back to save the planet from Darkseid in the JUSTICE LEAGUE sequel. This death felt forced when Wonder Woman should've been the one to save the both Superman and Batman from Doomsday without Superman taking such a fall. It could have been a much more powerful moment for her character and the crowd would've lost their mind had Wonder Woman been the one to save the two boys.
SUCCESSES
- The prologue showing the Superman vs. General Zod fight in MAN OF STEEL from the perspective of Bruce Wayne. This sequence should have been longer because it had great pacing and sucked you into the destruction happening all around Bruce. Plus, it could have shown Bruce saving more than one victim and a little girl. But this is by far the best pacing in the entire movie and when this ended, the movie slowed to a crawl through the rest of Acts 1 and 2.
- Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne. Most are applauding Affleck as Batman but he was even better as Bruce. It's about time we see a Bruce Wayne who enjoys the party life just as much as being the vigilante.
- Gal Gadot as Diana Prince. Too bad she didn't have a bit more screen time before becoming Wonder Woman at the end because the mystery surrounding who Diana really is, as well as her intentions, could've brought a great subplot to Bruce investigating her, then running into her after Lex's party to get his LexCorp hacking device back. Definitely looking forward to Gadot's solo WONDER WOMAN movie, for sure.
- The score by Hans Zimmer. It's epic, dark and solid as always. Not many composers can deliver on every movie they work on like Zimmer can.
- Despite all the confusion with the story jumping around in the first two Acts, with its pacing and perceived squeezing too much into this movie, it does help to set-up JUSTICE LEAGUE even though it really didn't have to. All those LexCorp files teasing Aquaman, the Flash and Cyborg could have been better used as a prologue at the start of JUSTICE LEAGUE. In the end, the job of BATMAN V. SUPERMAN was to set-up the ensemble movie and it did just that.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: (a.)Batman kills in this movie s really up for debate. In some of Batman's comic book iterations he kills and in others he does now. So let's leave if this is a success or a failure in this movie up to the fans since some may not care while other could definitely have issue with it. And (b.) this movie seems to be critic proof as it is defying all those Negative Nancys online and is making big box office bucks so far this weekend.
In conclusion, there will most likely be likes and dislikes about these successes and failures, but these are the ones that stood out the most in the eyes of The Daily SuperHero. If you have any others you think were missed in these lists, please comment with them below.
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