REVIEW: Batman V Superman (2016)

‘Batman V Superman’ is a mixed bag. The fan in me, wants to fully accept this film for what it is. It’s big, loud, colourful, and houses some of the biggest set pieces of the year. However, the other side of me must acknowledge, this film is an overlong, incoherent mess.

Before entering the cinema (IMAX Melbourne, to be specific) I asked myself what this film would have to do to disappoint. I always talk about scale, and stakes. You look at some of the best ‘superhero’ films of all time, among them The Dark Knight, Batman (1989) and Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 1 and 2. There’s a level to which I can invest myself emotionally in these films, and it mostly all depends on how they choose to handle their third act.

The four listed above opted for smaller (yet in some ways, greater) climactic ‘battles’ than our most recent city-destroying outings over in the MCU. In Spiderman (2002), Peter Parker must decide to either save a school-bus full of children, or his high-school love interest, Mary Jane. In The Dark Knight, Batman attempts to capture the Joker before he can successfully detonate two boats of prisoners, and civilians. Earlier, he must choose between Harvey Dent, and Rachel. These films utilise their construction of characterisation, by bringing a level of personal risk to our heroes. They’re faced with two choices, that will ultimately test everything they claim to stand for.

However, a disturbing pattern has begun to form. One that I fear, is almost impossible to overcome . In Age of Ultron, our villain used Sokovia (fictional country) as a flying meteorite to destroy the entire planet. Before that, Loki opened the floodgates of extra-terrestrial beings onto New York city, crushing it in the process.

These moments range from thirty to forty minutes, as our heroes do, and say things that completely contradict their development over the last two hours.

Batman V Superman is a lot of things. It’s visually stunning. It utilises IMAX in an extremely effective manner. It was also misleading, and yes, sometimes boring. BVS rolls in with confidence, quickly establishing our new Batman, whilst giving us a recap of what bathtubs Clark Kent’s been splashing around in. The film attempts to build to the underlying sense of tension, and momentum that Christopher Nolan expertly crafted in The Dark Knight trilogy. It almost gets there too. Then it sits for a while… and a little longer.

Simply put, the entirety of the film is establishing something that we’re never given. Yes, the momentum building up to the fight is effective. However, it’s awkwardly paced, and so convoluted and overcrowded that I lost sense of the motivation. Hans Zimmer’s hard hitting, rolling score does not carry onto this film. Instead, we’re given a distinctly unremarkable effort, featuring Mad Max: Fury Road composer Junkie XL. The score doesn’t offend, but it certainly doesn’t make any attempts at consolidating what we’re getting on screen.

All this said, I could have enjoyed Batman V Superman, if it didn’t break my one rule. I came to watch what was self-described as ‘the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world, day versus night’. Instead, we’re given a convenient, heartless resolution, so we can move onto a forty minute battle with a giant, poorly developed ninja turtle.

Here’s the thing; Comic Book fans have had their heads up their arses for too long. Superman doesn’t kill anyone in the comics? Great. Don’t watch Man of Steel. Go read your comics, they’re still readily accessible. It’s at the point where filmmakers are having to closely align their stories to fit those of the source material, that the genre dies. Are we no longer allowed to develop, and add to the canon of such an expansive universe? The Dark Knight is the most effective ‘comic book’ movie of all time, because, it works as a film. Take away the masks, and you have a riveting Action Thriller. Take away the masks from Batman V Superman, and you have something truly mutated and ugly.

Despite its flaws, I’m really intrigued to see what Ben Affleck would do given the chance to direct a standalone Batman film. He truly squeezed as much as he could from what he was given, and I salute him for doing so. I’m praying David Ayer can save the DCCU from what is, an unfortunate start.

2/5