The Sunday Mail
PRIOR to its release, “Batman v Superman” was touted as the release of all releases in the franchise’s history; the one to tilt the balance in their favour and usher in a new era for the DC multiverse — one similar to Marvel’s.
Pitting two of their most iconic characters on the big screen and bringing one of their biggest story arcs to life was seen as a stroke of genius.
The calling card had it pitting “Batman versus Superman” in a fight between God and man; or as Jessie Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor puts it, “The son of Krypton versus the bat of Gotham”.
The trailers in the build-up gave me goosebumps.
Sadly, that was all smoke and mirrors as the final product is nothing to write home about. In fact, I can sum up my entire review of the movie in three words — Jesse “Disappointing” Eisenberg.
I have always been a firm believer of the notion that a movie’s strength lies in the presence of a credible villain. Marvel did it with Tom Hiddleston (Loki) in 2012’s “Avengers” and failed pretty much in every other entry since.
There have only survived through the grace of God and the slow and methodical build up to the big bad Thanos to be played by the incomparable Josh Brolin could be worth the wait.
His “Avengers-Infinity Wars Part 1 and 2” are due for release in 2018 and 2019.
DC Comics floundered badly with its response to Marvel.
Eisenburg is terrible in “Batman v Superman”, but he is not the only bad thing about the movie. There are so many holes in the plot and sub-plots, that if I were to pour water on the movie it would sieve through.
Alexander “Lex” Luther provides no real reason as to his desire to see Superman and Batman destroy each other.
In the comic books, Luthor and Superman are polar opposites; Luthor is the vying to Superman’s yang.
Suddenly in the movie he seems to have an inordinate interest in Batman. Yes, this is a Lex Junior, son of Superman’s now-dead nemesis. But it would be good to know where exactly young Lex’s story is coming from.
And here’s a spoiler alert: Lex Luther knows the true identities of both Batman and Superman. How he gets to know is never explained.
The horror does not end there.
The CGI was terrible, dialogue forced and without charm or wit, and cinematography pretty much artificial looking. Maybe, that is what happens when you do a story based on pure fiction — it does not lend itself to any realism.
“Batman v Superman” was touted to be the film to launch the Justice League; hence the full title “Batman v Superman — Dawn of the Justice League”.
The flash, Aquaman and Cyborg were all tipped to make brief but memorable cameos. What did we get? Forced videos that have no relevance to the movie or any of its sub-plots.
This is not to say that this movie is all bad.
Jeremy Irons gives a fresh and surprisingly pleasant take on Bruce Wayne’s much marginalised butler, Alfred. He is more hands-on in his handling of Wayne, a bit tech-savvy and has what appears to be some military background.
If rumours of a Batman solo movie are to be believed, then I hope they give Alfred an even bigger role and a credible backstory. I for one am tired of the countless Bruce Wayne origin stories.
Another bright spot of the movie is Gal Gadot, Wonder woman. Any attempts to explain my point beyond the aforementioned would be a gross injustice to those yet to watch her in action.
