“The Controversy Over BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE
(2016)”
Let me first just say that since this is being released as a
“Rants & Ravings About Horror” article that it still belongs within the
confines of this column because it’s still a “rant” and a “raving” and if you’ve
been a long tern reader you know I occasionally like to write about the fantasy
and superhero films that make an impact and no superhero film has made as
polarizing an impact as Batman V.
Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
Many of you will be surprised to know that I actually thought the film
was really good and one of the more interesting comic book based films that
have recently been released but I will also say that despite the fact that I
enjoyed the film, the film itself deserves all the criticisms that it is
receiving from detractors.
In order to examine why this is I’m going to first take a
look at the “bad” criticisms of the film before looking at the good so if you
are someone who hasn’t seen the film yet and don’t want any spoilers I suggest
you stop reading now. For everyone else
let’s just dive right in.
WHY IS THE FILM
GETTING BAD PRESS?
After making a tremendous splash at the Box Office its first
week of release, Batman V. Superman: Dawn
of Justice quickly faded in its second weekend due to many different
factors. The biggest drop being that the
second largest film market in the world – China, dropped the film from mos China is where the film had
its second biggest debut next to the US so when the film disappeared from most
of those screens in that country the film took a big hit. The executives behind this debacle should
have seen this coming and waited until after the Chinese festivals to release
the film. By the time these festivals are over and the film does manage to get
more screens again (if it does) the damage will already be done. You may not think this is that big of a deal
but in actuality China is the second largest market for international films and
is expected to become number one within the next five years due to the fact
that they are continuing to build more theaters to support the need in the
country whereas here in the US we are at an over saturation point.t of its theaters in order to support local films during their time of holiday spectacle.
The film is getting great reviews from “fan boys” but scathing
reviews from general audiences. Let’s
define the difference. A “fan boy” will
not only be those people who read comics and know the ends and outs of every
comic book character there is but it also includes audiences who love superhero
films and go see them all on the big screen.
General audiences may see one or two superhero films a year (if that
many) and it will probably be with a group of friends or they like the actor in
the film more than the concept of the film itself (i.e. the popularity of Robert
Downey Jr. as Iron Man). These general audiences have never read Frank
Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and
only know of Superman through the Christopher Reeves films and probably The Adventures of Lois & Clark and Smallville and Batman from the original
Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films (but probably thought the Christopher
Nolan films were a little too dark).
General audiences are who buy multiple tickets and propel films to
extraordinary box office receipts through word of mouth and telling their friends. Fan boys see the film once and then buy a
bootleg of the film so they can watch the film again a hundred times (some do
revisit the film on the big screen from time to time). I hate to say this but Batman V. Superman is a dark and brooding film about dark and
brooding characters that think philosophical about their place in the world
while doing so through violence and complete disregard to all the other
characters in the film. That and the
fact that Superman dies in the film nailed the coffin shut on the overall
future prospects of this film. Add to
the fact that the film is neither fun nor contain any moments of humor to break
up the dark moody characters and you have a film that’s too dark for its own
good. 
Another theme permeating through
the film is terrorism and World ideologies about a God-like figure and you’ve
created a film that speaks to both religious and political opinions which to
most people a superhero film should never do.
Plus they kill Superman at the end!?!
Anyone who has read the boring and badly written comic book storyline Superman: Doomsday knows that Superman
dies at the end. It was a great concept
(although badly written) that opened the doors for a whole bunch of different
storylines in the Superman comics (I won’t go into any of that here) but
general audiences have no clue about any of this; they just know Superman dies
at the end and what parent is going to let their child go see a dark and
brooding comic book film where Superman dies at the end? If I had children I wouldn’t let any of them
under the age of thirteen go see this film and I wouldn’t pay to let my
children go see this film.
Unfortunately, for general audiences who bring families and
friends to the theater this is not a film that they are going to see nor
recommend to others because their impression will be that it is not a film that
families should go see with their children (unless they are demented parents
who don’t mind taking their young children to see films like the R-Rated Deadpool). Since studios and Warner Bros., in general,
rely on this demographic to fuel the success of their films they should have
expected the polarizing response to the film and the quick box office
drop. This is not a film a studio should
have put a reported $250 million into to produce if they thought it would make
at least $1 billion back on its return.
WHAT THE FILM GOT
RIGHT.
All the above being said, I pretty much loved most of what
the film had to say. Zack Snyder is a
very capable director with a very dark vision of everything he does. He’s directed two of the best and most
faithful comic book films with 300
and Watchman (and crafted one of the
best horror film remakes with Dawn of the
Dead) but those films are obscure to mainstream audiences and were already
R-Rated in tone so the violence and mayhem was expected. Snyder is lucky that I’ve always looked at
Superman as a pansy and sissy and too altruistic character that’s too patriotic
and bland (for the most part I feel the same way about the comic book version
of Captain America). When Snyder
released his film Man of Steel I was
hoping he’d do something interesting with the bland and uninteresting farm-boy
and for the most part he did. He melded
an origin story within the confines of a coming of age story about a character
who doesn’t know his place in the world and is just learning it. This is a very similar journey that the
original young Peter Parker had to go through when the character was in high
school (a fact I’m actually looking forward to for the new version of
Spider-Man). General audiences were
mixed on this film as well and “hard core” Superman fan boys (from what I know)
hated what Snyder did with the character especially considering that he was
responsible for the death of so many people (something never reflected in
previous films). Snyder was obviously
influenced by the success of the Nolan Dark
Knight Trilogy, which is based on a darker character (who is always moody
and brooding), but to utilize those same aesthetics for a Superman film was a
bolder move. Man of Steel was a success allowing Snyder to bring his style to
the ultimate match up of Batman verses Superman.
Sounds like a great idea.
What I love about Snyder and his films are that like Nolan
he has no interest in telling a simple superhero story. His films have deeper meaning and thought put
into them (even Sucker Punch so give
that film another look if you don’t believe me). Batman V. Superman: Dawn of
Justice gets to the heart of what “justice” means in today’s world filled
with terrorists and religious ideologies run rampant. There is no clear cut black and white but
everything is in the grey. He uses these
themes to not only compare and contrast the ideologies of Batman and Superman
but to also compare and contrast their ideas of justice with that of God-like
divinity and atheism as personified through the damaged Lex Luther who wants to
destroy them both using his “god-like” ability to create Doomsday and destroy a
God (Superman) through Krytonite.
Snyder’s film also touches upon family (Bruce Wayne’s link to his mother
and Clark Kent’s to his, both named Martha) and the things that also ground us
to Earth which in Superman’s case is Lois Lane, the woman he loves and will do
anything for. By the end of the film
Superman sacrifices himself to save the people of Earth from the destruction
caused by Doomsday; Superman has been grappling with his place in the world for
the whole film and it isn’t until this moment that he realizes where he belongs
and what it is he was meant to do.
Batman’s journey is one born from violence, not only from that of
watching his parents die in front of him but also watching his friends and
co-workers die at the hands of Superman’s fight with General Zod. Bruce Wayne needs to put a face to the
violence and unfortunately it is Superman (an alien being he doesn’t understand
and whom desperate people look to as a God) a man he comes to hate and will do
anything to destroy. Wayne’s journey is
a different one yet also parallels that of Clark Kent and which culminates when
they are forced to battle each other.
Snyder’s themes come to a logical head at the end of the film and end
the way they should.
*****
Some people also try to criticize the actors. Everyone seems to be perfectly fine with Ben
Affleck as Batman, which is funny considering the backlash of when he was
announced as the latest actor to put on the suit. I’ve never been a huge Affleck fan but I’ve
always maintained that pretty much anyone can play Batman and get away with
it. Warner Bros. is lucky that Batman,
and maybe James Bond and Jack Ryan, is one of the few characters that anyone
can take over and the public won’t go too crazy over. Henry Cavill’s performance has not faired
quite as well with most people claiming him to be too wooden but I think that
is deliberate and actually perfect for the character. Cavill is playing an alien being that doesn’t
understand all of human emotions and what it means to be human; that’s the
point of the whole film which is to watch him grow and understand this through
his relationship with Lois Lane and his experience with Batman (a contrast
between normal human and “super”-human).
If Cavill’s performance was the same as Affleck’s then there would be no
way to tell the two apart. This is part
of showing the complexities between the two characters. One (Batman) fights for humanity as a human
and the other (Superman) fights for humanity as an alien. I thought they both did the perfect job at
representing their characters and showing a change between them by the
end. If you are still believe Cavill is
not a good actor then you weren’t paying attention to the amazing dream
sequence where Superman kills two people in front of Batman whom he believes
killed Lois.
Although not given as much to do this go around Amy Adams
does a fine job as Lois Lane and for the first time we get to see a genuine
relationship between the two characters.
Their relationship seems like a real one between a human and alien and
never comes off as hokey. The
relationship between Bruce Wayne and his Butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons) has never
been as properly interpreted than in this film.
In the comics Alfred was/is always helping Bruce with his “toys” but
none of this has been portrayed in any of the other films. Snyder loves to pull from the actual comics
because he’s just as big a fan as the rest of us. It’s a small detail but an important one
nevertheless.
Now, getting into the
other things that I like and dislike about the film.
Although I loved every minute of seeing Wonder Woman in the
final act of the film there is no reason why she even needs to be in the film
other than to set up future films. I’ve
kind of gotten sick of all the “franchise” films setting up future films with
scenes and bonuses that not only add to the film’s running time but also have
little if nothing to do with the current film being told. Case in point, the scene of the Flash going
back in time to warn Bruce Wayne or the apocalyptic nightmare of a future world
that Wayne has. The only dream sequence
I thought was fantastic was the opening one in which we see Wayne as a child
when he discovers his destiny (Young Bruce being lifted through the cavern by
bats was a fantastic touch).
Although none of the meta-humans storylines figure into this
film I actually really liked the video clip reveals of Aquaman and Cyborg and
look forward to both of these films. The
one thing I did like is the final scene of the film with Bruce Wayne and Diana
Prince at Clark Kent’s grave deciding they need to form the “Justice
League”. Marvel has handled this type of
bonus better by putting these style scenes at the end credits of their films so
it’s just a little something extra for the fans but here it’s added time that
should have been better spent on Martha Kent and the ramifications of
everything she’s gone through especially the death of her son.
I actually really enjoyed this version of Lex Luther. Most people are criticizing Jessie
Eisenberg’s performance but it melds really well with a character bent on
destroying the God-like Superman and Batman (or characters that think they are
God); this is an aspect of the character from the comics which has never been
explored until now. Now in prison the
character can prepare even darker schemes.
*****
Overall, Batman V.
Superman: Dawn of Justice is a film I enjoyed very much despite originally having
no interest in the film other than it being directed by Zack Snyder with a
score by Hans Zimmer (one of my favorite living composers). It was better than expected but deserves all
the polarizing criticisms that it is getting.
If Warner Bros. doesn’t want this type of backlash then they should have
invested in a safer director to handle the film (maybe McG or Michael
Bay). This being said, I think Snyder is
the worst choice for the Justice League
film which doesn’t need to be dark and brooding but a big adventure film with
lots of action and humor to differentiate all the different characters. I would be more interested in learning how
Snyder would resurrect Superman in a solo Man
of Steel sequel examining the themes he’s already put in place from these
two films. Instead, after the dismal
response of Batman V. Superman I
wouldn’t be surprised if Snyder was forced into compromises with his vision in
order to satisfy a more mainstream (and thus profitable) audience. This would be a shame as Snyder is not a
director whose style and vision you want to limit and make more “mainstream.”
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