Lets face it, everybody wanted to see this happen on the big
screen: “God vs Man”, “Day vs Night”, “Black vs Blue”, Batman fighting
Superman, this is the stuff that makes up fantasies of nerds and superhero fan
boys. We were sure to just walk in to the theatre and get an orgasmic pleasure
watching our fantasy pan out and there was just no way this movie could have
fared badly. No way. But Waaait, did it?
There must be a parallel universe somewhere in which Superman
is for real. There must be another parallel universe where Batman vs Superman
film absolutely rocked, but this universe, the one which we live in, isn’t home
to either *Cries Silently*
The movie begins on a fantastic note. The slow mo,
silhouetted scenes showing the all too familiar backstory of Batman was just
beautifully shot. Ten more minutes into the film, you get a glimpse of how
Batman fit into this universe where Man of Steel happened. Its all very good.
The foundation for batman hating superman is laid perfectly in these initial
stages. But then what transpires after all that is shocking.
The movie refuses to take off. And we are forced through a
drag. While we enjoy the dark cinematic experience that Zack Snyder usually has
to offer, the darker screenplay probably blinds us from enjoying this flick. This
movie takes itself way too seriously and ends up being a bore. While the action
sequences in the later half kind of save this from being a disaster, it still
isn’t enough.
The reason why most of us crave for this stuff is because of
the larger than life characters with super powers and kick ass stories. We don’t
want a story that is too “realistic”, and that is what this movie tries to do
miserably. It tries to imagine the real world and consequences that would have
happened after the destruction witnessed in the Man of Steel Movie. It was more
political than dramatic and it kind of sucked big time. Big big time fellas.
An argument could be made that we have been too addicted to
the Marvel movies with their humor and fun quotient mixed into super hero
flicks but in spite of this it is just plainly clear that this movie fails to
entertain us. We could, for example, take Nolan’s Batman trilogy which was serious
and dark, but yet those movies stand in a league of their own. They were
entertaining, gripping and fun. So the problem with this film wasn’t more of
its dark tone but rather the plot and screenplay writing itself. The other
disappointing aspect of this film has to be the background score. It was
underwhelming to a large extent.
But coming over to the appealing elements of this film, I
have to say that Ben Affleck as Batman has taken it home. He plays the troubled
soul, fighting and delivering his own brand of justice to perfection. The fight
between Batman and Superman was amazing and you could probably go into the
theater just for those face offs. The initial stages of the film has got a different
dark classy vibe to it which was pretty good, and the climax was pretty decent
too. The visual effects again, coming from Zack Snyder’s school stand apart
from other films, as they 300iesque in
their feel.
And for someone who hasn’t read comics, I thought Jesse
Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was a mixed bag. He was good at times, but felt over
the top at a few places. In spite of my intial reservations, casting of Gal
Gaddot as Wonder Woman seemed like a good choice too.
Though this movie tries to set up the larger DC Cinematic
universe, it does so unconvincingly with a not-so-good film. On the whole I
would say that Batman vs Superman was a very disappointing fare with a certain
few good elements thrown in here and there. The plot and screenplay stand as
culprits for this boring, non entertaining super hero film. Saying all this, I
would still probably end up going to the Justice League film on the first show
of the first day. May be this is a one off bad film from DC and they are going
to better from the next ones.
Value for buck: 120/150 (It’s probably 150/150 just for that
one sequence where Batman and Superman fight)
My Rating: 2.5/5
My Rating: 2.5/5
