] type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice


Okay Aqua-Fans, I just got back from seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's too late/too early for me to try and write something coherent and fully thought out just yet, but here are some quick takes:

• This movie, and by extension Warner Bros., just really doesn't like Superman

• There is a scene with Superman so ineptly put together I can't believe it appeared in a major motion picture

• In a film 2 1/2 hours long, we get not one, but two flashbacks to Batman's origin

• Gal Gadot/Wonder Woman is not given a lot to do, but she is woven into the film's fabric quite well, as are the other heroes

• This film makes me want to see a solo Wonder Woman, ASAP

• Batman does something so profoundly stupid not equaled in DC comic-dom since Challenge of the Super Friends

• If Zack Snyder had sped up all the slo-mo scenes to normal speed, the film would have been 2 hrs, 10 minutes

• It was completely thrilling to see my hero, Aquaman, on a movie screen

• No, really, it was amazing--as was seeing the credit "Aquaman: Jason Momoa"



I should add that I will be covering the movie in depth on an all-star edition of Aquaman and Firestorm: The Fire and Water Podcast, which will be available soon!


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was awaiting your review to see if I might watch it. The critics hated it. Still Aquaman!! -lucien Desar

Sirhiss9 said...

Dark Movie,

Earth 2 Chris said...

I look at my pre-purchased movie tickets, and Johnny Cash's "I Hung My Head" plays in the background....


Chris

Anonymous said...

I agree totally about the Wonder Woman part
It was great to see this character portrayed like this, and exciting for the future.
She totally upstaged both Superman and Batman, in a fraction of the time

Agree with you also, fantastic to Aquaman, even his few seconds made him look bad-arse!

Ronny

Anonymous said...

Everything I'm hearing about this says it is exactly what I expected, dark, dreary, joyless, and empty. Here's hoping it crashes and burns so badly that we're spared a decade of equally depressing DC comics movies.

KJ Sampson said...

OK, I'm gonna have to tune in to that podcast for what YOU thought was the inept Super-scene and the stupid Batman scene. I may have missed them in my annoyance at other things

Paul said...

I ignored the reviews and went to a 3D showing on Friday night and loved the movie. I can understand that it's slow at the start but I think it did a good job of showing the perspectives of the main characters. During the podcast, if someone mentions "this person doesn't kill" I would like to hear why characters in the Marvel and Star Wars universe are allowed to kill and it's ok but not for the Trinity in the DC universe.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the movie, Paul, but I don't believe your second point holds up.

Most of the Marvel characters don't have a similar problem in terms of the no-kill code. Killing was part of Captain America's original concept, as he was a soldier. Thor was a warrior and regularly slew monsters in his own book. Black Widow was a freaking assassin. Hawkeye was a villain when he first showed up. The only Marvel movie character to who such a criticism applies is Iron Man, and I know lots of folks were pretty critical of his willingness to kill in the third movie.

So, that is a flaw in that film (one of many), but for the most part, what has made the Marvel movies so successful is that they have adapted the core of their characters to the screen intact. They've demonstrated a deep and thoughtful love for and reverence of both character and source material.

The same cannot be said of these DC films, and the killing thing is just the biggest, most visible sign of the complete lack of understanding these people have for their characters. Yet, it is far from the only one.