A few years ago I decided to learn to cook properly. At the time, the best I could do was beans on toast, or if I was adventurous, A curry jar with some chicken and rice. As with any learning curve, mistakes are made and it is these mistakes that you learn from and improve. My biggest faux pas was to throw in as many ingredients as possible, believing that the more flavours I had, the better it would taste. Add to this an inability to gauge the temperature, preferring to blast everything as I didn’t always have the confidence to cook on a low heat. This meant some parts of the meal were overcooked, whilst other parts were only cooked on the outside.
I was reminded of this as I sat and watched “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”.
And much like Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay not having much to fear from me in the kitchen at that time, I don’t think the producers looking after the Marvel Cinematic Universe will have much to worry about either.
The movie has some great ingredients. A darker, ageing Batman, full of torment and anguish. A more real world setting with real politics. A natural and organic set up post “Man of Steel”. Some nice references to characters from the extended DC cinematic who will appear in future movies. An idea that a superhero from another planet, one with Godlike powers, may be as much a threat as a hero.
The problem was the execution was too much. Scenes seemed to just be thrown together. Pacing was incoherent and at times it was just plain dull - something even the worst superhero movies should never be.
For me, the mistake was made the moment it was decided the follow up to MOS was going to be the ultimate superhero battle - Superman V Batman. I always felt MOS wasn’t a bad movie, and in fact at times brilliant, but it felt like part 1 in a wider story, much like “Batman Begins” improved once viewed after “The Dark Knight”. The second movie should have been just about Lex Luthor trying to manipulate the world into believing Superman was a threat to the planet. It could and should have been a defining moment for Superman on the movie screen. One that brought the character into the modern world, yet still kept to his core values, and one who learnt that his actions in MOS were a mistake.
Adding Batman just for the impact of their battle made BVS feel like two movies shoved into one.
I get Bruce Wayne being pissed at Superman for having a hand in the deaths of many of his employees and so having a reason to want to stop him. But, the whole movie felt like filmmakers wanting this big battle, but not really being sure how to get to it. Worst, they didn’t really know how to then make them friends after so they could start the process of setting up “The Justice League”.
This was where the absurdity of the movie reached a record low for me. We spent an hour and a half being bored senseless watching as Bruce Wayne tried to get hold of a weapon that would kill Superman, having complete hatred for Kryptons favourite son, to then become his best friend in one minute because they happen to have mothers with the same name. Yes, if you haven’t seen the movie, that is exactly what happens. I could buy it if a greater threat (Doomsday) meant they had to join forces and put aside their differences for the greater good. But no, they shared mummy issues.
I’m of course not naive in thinking this was simply a gimmick, a way to sell the movie - who wouldn’t want to see Batman take on Superman? But they could have done far more organically, by having MOS2 which would establish Lex Luthor, carry on the idea of Superman as an alien with immense powers who could destroy Earth. Tease Batman, via a visit to Gotham, or have the scene with Bruce Wayne watching as his building get destroyed at the end via another battle. You could have a separate Batman movie that shows his descent into a murdering vigilante, possibly one that has the death of Robin, and also has a cameo from Kent before unleashing the Batman V Superman fight at the start of the Justice League, one that had been brewing over two movies.
Of course, its easy for me to criticise, I love the Marvel cinematic Universe. They built everything up slowly, established the characters, then unleashed them in one big event movie. DC/WB are trying to get to that point too fast, possibly for greed, possibly to not appear to be mimicking their comic book rivals. But as someone who grew up watching Christopher Reeves as Superman and falling in love with the character, whilst loving the darkness of the Batman character it makes me a little sad that it is being rushed like this. Good storytelling isn’t rushed, its organic and logical.
I will though add there is some good in BVS. Ben Affleck, after much derision, puts in a very good shift as Bruce Wayne/Batman. His performance as an ageing and tormented Batman could have been very pantomime-esque, yet his dials it back just enough. Wonder Woman was hyped a lot in the build up. It got to the point that I actually wanted her to be rubbish. But she wasn’t. In fact she was excellent and I will look forward to her solo movie.
The thing is, I know for a fact I will watch it again. its disjointed first act was perhaps down to trying to stay away from any kind of origin story for the new characters, believing that most people coming to the movie, know who Bruce Wayne is (only a small flashback showed the parents being killed so no overkill), who Lex Luthor is and his significance to them. Its just (in Luthors case more so) they just appear, like it was the second or third scene and not their first.
After all that I still haven’t mentioned the extreme darkness. The lack of any fun (or humour) needed in a comic book movie. The fact the two lead superheroes kill, either by choice or via the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The death of a much loved character (Jimmy Olsen) happens with no knowledge it is actually him. The fact Lois Lane is just a damsel in distress and not the tough reporter we know she is. The fact the actual fight between Batman and Superman doesn’t make sense if we are meant to believe Luthor set it up, or those ridiculous dreams, and so on.
Yep, I’m changing my mind. BVS isn’t like my early attempts at cooking. Its like a cold, undercooked microwave meal. Which is a damn shame, as competition breeds success and Marvel need DC to have as good a shared Universe (or multiverse in their case) as them.
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