Now that all the hype has died down, we can stand back and take an objective look at Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Like a lot of ideas, the film is okay when viewed in a certain light. Unfortunately, the blatant truth is not the right light – this movie was bad. If you throw away literally everything you know about DC, Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman, you make it tolerable. Then – if you ignore the gaping plot holes – it’s even an okay film. Now, where to begin?
The Title
I’ve previously written the same thing about Captain America: Civil War – the first half of the title is lying. Imagine I called it Batman Sweeps Around: Dawn of Justice. Looking at the footage time, you see more of Batman fighting thugs than Superman. Seriously, drop the first part and call the film DC’s Dawn of Justice. It sounds about as good as Marvel’s The Avengers.
The Premise
A large part of the problem is how much content they tried to cram in. Who sat down and said, “We need a film that’s an origin story for Batman, Lex Luthor, the Justice League, and Wonder Woman”? Whoever they are, I hate them. This film tried to set up too many ideas at once, and they all fell apart.
Batman
Ben Affleck actually made quite a good Dark Knight. The only problem that arose was how his character was written. The Wayne killing, Bruce’s evolution into Batman and Alfred were all crammed into the opening credits. Then you have his wanton killing of random thugs. How – despite years of content against the idea – Bruce didn’t find Superman’s identity is beyond me.
MARTHA!!
Somehow, after getting through everything we’ve already endured, there’s this: Batman has the alien menace underfoot, a spear at his throat poised to stri- MARTHAAAA!! Damn, Gandhi could learn a lot from this one. Entire wars could have been avoided if the generals had just shouted enough names. Who wants to bet that Bruce gets Aquaman onboard by saying “Thomas”?
Seriously now, what if one of their mothers had been named Jennifer? How would Snyder have pulled this one off? In addition to that, why does Superman call Mrs. Kent by her first name?
Flash-Forwards
One of Batman’s new powers is apparently clairvoyance. Along with his visions of the future, he also decides that a spear – not gun – will be needed to kill Superman. Were it not for his plot-related powers they wouldn’t have been able to save the world!
Then you have the Flash and the vaguest warning ever. “She’s the key!” Who? Lois Lane? Wonder Woman? Martha Kent? The now-dead Senator? Why not simply say “Bruce! Save/Kill [specific name]!”? It doesn’t matter if it’s “too soon,” throw in a date and you’ve saved the future of the planet.
Doomsday
The Kryptonian abomination was supposed to be Luthor’s plan B. It took quite a time to cook, so obviously Luthor set it in motion before it would be needed. One question: how would he “uncook” the messy dish he created? Superman shows up, Bat-head on a pike and Luthor does what exactly? “It’s alright guys since there’s an off switch”?
Wonder Woman
Let’s all be honest – Gal Gadot was the highlight of the whole thing. Her portrayal of Wonder Woman was masterful which was probably helped by her fighting background. Buuut it seems like there wasn’t much use for her appearance.
Simply put – remove her from the film. Bruce gets his data early and finds the photos anyway. In the battle against Doomsday, Clark holds off the blows while his partner sneaks up behind and stabs him through the back. Another brief cameo at the end establishes Wonder Woman in the Justice League movie.
The Justice League
The Justice League originally came together to fight an alien menace. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman head the team with democracy in their decision-making process.
In Dawn of Justice, it appears that Lex Luthor – a villain – found the team. Other than the obvious Superman or the file-stealing Batman, the whole team is there. Congratulations, you mega-genius, you just created your worst enemies and crafted Darkseid’s fall.
The Meta-Human Files
Branching off my previous point, why was it so easy for Batman to steal the meta-human files to begin with? So there was encryption. There’s encryption on your phone, and you don’t let people take that. Why didn’t Luthor keep some alarms on the files or something? “In case of unauthorised file copying, alert security.”