There is a certain satisfaction to be found within the title bout of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. There’s also a great deal of satisfaction to be found throughout the rest of the movie and yet those scenes seem to happen in equal measure with scenes that – for a variety of reasons – just don’t work.
Our story begins on the most obligatory of all scenes in any Batman narrative – the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne and young Bruce’s discovery of the Batcave. In the first few minutes the audience gets the immediate sense of what’s right and wrong. What’s right is that everything is handsomely mounted. What’s wrong is that the sequence takes a step too far and almost veers into farce before it is crisply cut and explained away.
We then find adult Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) in the midst of Superman (Henry Cavill) coming to blows with General Zod (Michael Shannon) during a restaging of the end of Man of Steel. Wayne loses many employees in the attack on Metropolis and is provoked into a state of pure rage, a rage that is targeted at the meta-human (as this movie is too embarrassed to say “superhero”) through Wayne’s alter ego Batman.
Superman, meanwhile, has found himself in the crosshairs of a senate investigation questioning his global efforts and the aftermath of Metropolis led by Senator Finch (Holly Hunter). The well-intending senator isn’t the only person with their eye on limiting Superman. Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) also has something against the Man of Tomorrow and may have a way to defeat him.
In between all of this, the audience is introduced to Batman’s butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons), Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and reintroduced to Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Perry White (Laurence Fishburn) as Clark Kent’s Daily Planet coworkers.
Sounds like a lot? You’re right. It is. By my estimation, for every scene or character that works there is a scene or character that falls completely flat. Affleck is the fourth or fifth actor to assume the role of Batman in the movies and he is one of the strongest. Whereas his predecessor Christian Bale brought a world-weary fatigue to the role of Bruce Wayne and a growly menace to Batman, Affleck plays Wayne as a man constantly simmering.
He’s a boiling pot that’s about to spill over, seething with anger and brutality. His Batman is the realization of that anger – brutal, merciless and ultraviolent. He is the best handled character in the piece.
Irons is a welcomed addition to the role of Alfred. He’s a markedly different Alfred than either Michael Caine or Michael Gough. He’s snippier and weary of his boss’s crusade. This Alfred is also more engaged in the action than any previous iteration.
However, for these two characters that soar there is a counter-balance. Jesse Eisenberg is terrible as Luthor. He’s overly twitchy, embarrassingly manic and does not possess one ounce of menace. His overacting makes Gene Hackman’s performance of the role in 1978’s bombastic, fun Superman: The Movie look subtle.
Holly Hunter seems lost in her role. As the senator who seems to resent Superman’s powers and his overreaching brand of justice, she doesn’t really have any aim or goal. She talks about democracy and gives speeches about “the consent of the governed”, but they don’t amount to anything. It’s a one-two punch of a character who is underwritten and a performer who has fallen into a rabbit hole of nonsense.
Amy Adams and Laurence Fishburne try to give this project as much gravitas as they can, but both roles are underwritten. Gal Gadot is interesting as Wonder Woman. I’ve seen many reviews either panning her performance or heaping praise on it. Honestly, she’s good. Not great. But, solidly good.
Batman v. Superman plays like a mish-mosh of ideas. Clearly Warner Bros. is trying to launch its own universe where these heroes can live a la Disney’s Avengers and yet they want to maintain the seriousness and straight-face attitude that made Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy so successful.
Yet director Zack Snyder doesn’t have the same character sensibility as Joss Whedon (helmer of the first two Avengers pictures) or the clockwork old-school filmmaking mastery of Nolan. What he does have is a great visual sense. He uses all the tricks at his disposal for as long as he can, but when serious character scenes need to happen or the action and plot has to move from one location to another, Snyder seems lost.
Say what you will about Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s far from perfect, but during all the big fight scenes the audience is aware of where every Avenger is and where the action is happening and is crosscut very well.
In the final fight of Batman v. Superman, the characters travel from one place to another, with almost no sense of place or geography. There is a Batmobile chase in the film as well. The new car of choice for the Caped Crusader is sleek and functional, an improvement over Nolan’s gaudy Tumbler vehicle. However, this chase can’t match the propulsive movement of any chase in the Nolan pictures – or any great car chase for that matter.
It’s a flat chase and yet we’re expected to care simply because a character named Batman is driving the car. It likely doesn’t help that the script – penned by David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) and Christ Terrio (Argo) – can’t keep linear focus on one character or set piece for too long.
But, this is an action picture and the action is handled well. As I’ve said, the matchup of Batman and Superman is well done and, unlike the Batmobile chase, has a sense of forward movement and progression.
However, there is actually a fight scene in the movie that I think is better directed and more fun. During which, Batman tunes up a group of goons hiding out in a dingy warehouse (it’s alluded to in one of the trailers). Affleck is maybe the first Batman to not only fight well, but actually poses an immediate threat. He’s fast. He’s dangerous. He’s a big, scary behemoth with a creepy, reverberated electro voice. This was a sequence I wish would’ve lasted longer.
Batman v. Superman is a hot mess, with equal emphasis on “hot” and “mess”. I can’t guarantee that you’ll love it or even like it, but it’s….something.
Brian Laughran
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