Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

[quartermainefan]

I think the shadow of Batman looms large.   Batman is the most popular and successful superhero, eclipsing even Superman at this point, and the lessons WB and DC has taken from that is to make their other characters more like Batman--and that's ridiculous.   Iron Man is Marvel's most popular movie star these days, but you don't see The Hulk spouting one liners.   Man Of Steel was dreary and dull, and compared to 1978's Superman it was downright awful.   Of course this movie will make hundreds of millions of dollars but that is assured even before the first review is in. 

 

I think we are seeing a similar dynamic play out on a smaller scale on TV, where ARROW tries to be this uber-serious, glum adult drama  (and getting middling reviews in the process) while FLASH embraces the juvenile goofiness of the comics with talking gorillas and parallel universes, and every TV critic hails FLASH as the better product.   Arrow is trying to be Batman, Superman is trying to be Batman, Aquaman looks like he is trying to be Batman...but they're not Batman.    Every character who doesn't try to be Batman seems to thrive commercially and critically.

 

As far as Lois&Clark goes, well that was on ABC.  ABC long ago decided they were a network whose sole target was women, if men watched great but women were the target.   They decided girls wouldn't want a straight up superdrama, so they retooled it as Lois&Clark.  

[AdelaideCate007]

I guess I can talk more about this now since the embargo has lifted. After seeing this now for a second time, I can honestly say that this is the wort superhero film I have ever seen sans that Fantastic 4 movie (although that one is certainly more entertaining). It's deserving every terrible and rotten review it's getting and they're all absolutely right- it's [!@#$%^&*] rubbish. It's everything that people hate about these types of movies. It's not entertaining. The story is horrendous. The acting outside of Irons, Affleck, Adams, and Diane Lane is horrendous. Superman is basically now a brooding dark psychopath for absolutely no reason. The women spout off liens that could only have been written by a misogynist. All the cool scenes are given away in the trailer. There's too many people that they just automatically expect you to know. Just ugh.

[quartermainefan]

It is getting bad reviews all over the place.   There were leaks a month or so back saying test audiences did not care for it, with Superman being the weak link, although many reviews are citing Eisenberg as being particularly bad.  This has prompted them to try and get a new solo Batman movie going, rather than their original planned schedule.

[AdelaideCate007]

The bad reviews are completely warranted. Some of them are even being a little too kind. As for the other, I was literally embarrassed for Affleck and Adams when they had to have scenes with Jesse Eisenberg. They were some of the most painful scenes and cringe worthy scenes I've ever seen in one of these types of films. It's like there was no direction going on and no one telling him that the theatrics and tics were not needed. They should just scrap whatever plans they have and just do the solo Wonder Woman film and the solo Batman film and then try to salvage and rebuild from there with those two films and Suicide Squad. I don't see any way the rest of the stuff and cast are salvageable. Get rid of all these bargain basement people they've got filling up their roster of films and just rebuild around Affleck, Gadot, and some of the Suicide Squad people like Jared Leto and Margot Robbie. 

 

The sad thing is that Cavill should be good as Superman on paper but he's *so* dull, charmless, and dour in this that he's basically Superman in name only. It's like Zack Snyder thinks everyone and everybody needs to be Batman when that only works for Batman. Why is Superman dark and broody? No reason- he just is. Why does Superman want to do the things he does in the movie? Again, no reason- he just wants to. Superman is angry; we don't know why. They give you zero reason to want him and Lois together. And I'm not even going to get started on them going over and wasting even more time again on Batman's parents. 

 

I'm really struggling to think of a superhero film as bad as this. It's definitely down at the bottom with the likes of Batman & Robin, the Fantastic Four, and the Green Lantern (although those at least had some humour and entertainment in there; this has none). I guess say what you will about Marvel but they would never in a million years put out something this bad. 

 

This image I've seen floating around pretty much sums it all up:

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[quartermainefan]

The most memorable comment I have read about Wonder Woman was "Maybe they will recast with a better actress".   That, and one of the best things about the film is her theme music.   I'll guess I will see it because I have seen every Batman movie from the 1943 movie serial on up, but I am expecting a serious clunker here.   As I posted earlier when the trailers hit, it just looked bad.   Henry Cavill is a really handsome guy, but we have learned Superman does not live by looks alone.

[DRW50]

I'd be lying if I said I watched or enjoyed a lot of superhero movies (I barely even read the comics in recent years, as they are so wrist-slitting and ADD), but my father loves Superman, and even gave the last movie a chance. I guess he'll see this one too. I hope it plays better than it reads.

 

Please tell me the reviews that say Snyder uses 9/11-esque scenes for melodramatic purposes are wrong. That's just disgusting.

[AdelaideCate007]

They're not wrong.

[DRW50]

Ugh.

[AdelaideCate007]

The Batman solo stuff isn't that bad. I think they could make something interesting with Affleck as Batman, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, and a good director.  Wonder Woman really bothered me the first time I saw the movie at a test screening but then in the final cut they basically edited out anything where she had to try and talk or emote much so she works a lot better this go round. There's also an obscene amount of product placement and dumb cameos from people like Nancy Grace.

 

It's sitting at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes right now which puts in around the same category as things like Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Room, the Transformers films, and most of Adam Sandler's output. I'm glad to see the critics and fans alike pointing out crap like having Lois shout out things like "I can't be a lady, I'm just a journalist!" and the absolutely ridiculous reason that Batman and Superman decide they can't "kill each other" being because

[Soapsuds]

Who plays Wonder Woman in the movie?

[DRW50]

Gil Godot.

[YRBB]

LOOOL! It's Gal Gadot!

 

I think I'm seeing it today. Fingers crossed it won't suck as much as I hear it does. *cries*

[Soapsuds]

I was like ok a man is playing Wonder Woman….teehee

[Vee]

It couldn't happen to more historically incompetent people. What's become of DC in the last 10 or so years, both onscreen and in print, makes me incredibly sad. It could be wonderful, its properties deserve better. And the insane idea that they could catch up to Marvel in one giant film was doomed from the start.

 

If this thing doesn't make a billion - literally that - someone's head is rolling. Probably several, from what I've heard. And of course the lesson they'll take away from it, as always, will be "Superman doesn't work, needs more Batman". And this isn't just Zack Snyder, it's institutional - it's in the studio, it's in the print company, in editorial. Everything has to be darker, tougher, more like Christopher Nolan's films (but far more shallow) because they're deeply uncomfortable with any of their other character properties and don't want to do anything but emulate past successes.

[DRW50]