Early impressions start rolling out for Batman v. Superman

Status
Not open for further replies.
Let me clarify that. I take it to mean this.

Man of Steel had a good first half and a bad second half.

BvS has a bad first half and a good second half.

gFMhf.gif
 
Thank you for the write ups. It'll probably still end up being my favorite cbm, based off penguin/verendu's reviews and tastes, but it's good too see the opinions of those that didn't care so much for MoS.

It is funny to see opinions of Jesse contradict each other, and even Ben. We hold these characters to such high standards and past performances/portrayals (Animated, Live Action or otherwise), I don't think there will ever be a movie that please everyone.
 
MoS last arc could have been so much better and better than pretty much anything not DK, DKR or SP 1/2 with just a few changes. Have Superman at some point give a fuck about thousands of people dying (or in Marvel's case 4 people dying in disaster situations lmao) and maybe save someone when he throws Zod away. Have them look more visibly hurt after their hits. Take breaks and pace the fight. It was 30 minutes of Dragon Ball Z without the speeches and powerups. Had Snyder done those, the end would have been one of the GOAT endings.
and not make Superman kill Zod in "plot device".. if you want to kill him, do it in a less obvious manner
 
Here's my thoughts from the other threa:


Ok, so thoughts from the screening last night.

The first 45 minutes or so is fairly slow and exposition heavy, and will probably draw the bulk of complaints from fans and critics alike. It didn't bother me, but my wife felt that part could have been trimmed down. It's basically setting the stage and getting all the pieces in place.

The Knightmare sequence was visually stunning, and it's going to be interesting to see how people interpret it.

is it a true nightmare or a Speed Force vision of a fucked up future that's equal parts Red Son, Flashpoint, and Superman the Dark Side? You don't get a really clear door of Flash, he's surrounded by Speed Force energy

We both enjoyed the way the League cameos were handled, it felt very organic and made sense in that world.

Acting wise, Jesse Eisenberg and Gal Gadot really do steal the show. I don't think anyone else was bad (and really enjoyed Affleck's grizzled take on Bats), but those two were definite highlights. My wife and I both left insanely hyped for the Wonder Woman movie and a bit disappointed Suicide Squad is this year and not Wonder Woman.

Tonally, this is a much different movie than the Marvel line, bringing in Terrio was a brilliant move. It's a very smart movie that looks at some interesting questions through the lens of superheroes. It also feels heavy, but without the grimness associated with the Nolan Batman movies. The actions of the characters have real impact and consequences and it's handled in a good way. There are moments of humor, but it's not the quips of the Avengers movies. I'm not saying one style is better than the other, but they are definitely different. I think it was a smart move by WB/DC to just keep doing their own thing.

My final thoughts:
Holy shit Wonder Woman was great, keep your eyes on her whenever she's on screen.
Go in spoiler free, if you think you know the whole movie from the trailers you are horribly mistaken.
And, we are already planning on seeing it again.
 
Let me clarify that. I take it to mean this.

Man of Steel had a good first half and a bad second half.

BvS has a bad first half and a good second half.

W-what if I think Man of Steel's second half is better?

Said this in the community thread yesterday, but Man of Steel's first half is, to me, a hollow and less-compelling imitation of Batman Begins. The second half of Man of Steel is when it finds it's identity, even if that identity is occasionally "CRAZY DBZ FIGHTS!!!"
 
W-what if I think Man of Steel's second half is better?

Said this in the community thread yesterday, but Man of Steel's first half is, to me, a hollow and less-compelling imitation of Batman Begins. The second half of Man of Steel is when it finds it's identity, even if that identity is occasionally "CRAZY DBZ FIGHTS!!!"
Then you'll be right at home.
 
Huh? Were people expecting Deadpool to be bad?
Yes, absolutely. A good amount of people were expecting the movie to be crap and fail. It wasn't until early impressions from screenings started coming in that those people eased up. I was probably particularly sensitive to all the criticism and "it's going to be bad and fail" posts as well, as I was sold on the movie from the first trailer that came out.
 
Waiting for my boys JC and Bobgod to write their thoughts in the next few days, but thanks to both of you for your honest impressions.

Seems to be a very Snyderly movie from what I understand. Should be fun in the cinema
 
All I know about Man of Steel is that I loved its DBZ fights, don't remember anything else about the movie besides the hilarious tornado scene.
 
Let me clarify that. I take it to mean this.

Man of Steel had a good first half and a bad second half.

BvS has a bad first half and a good second half.
Wonder what it would be like if they glued good halves of each movie together?

Overall impressions (reading between lines) are about what I'd expect from Snyder.

He struggles to deliver a coherent film every time, not coming close when following a pre-existing template (such as existing comic or film).

He has decent eye and can stage some good action but equally he an overfill the screen with too much detail and produce awkward action geography too.

He also seems to struggle getting uniformly good performances from actors.

I'll wait for the noisy fans to have their full then have a most but I know from experience I'm going to find it an infuriating mix of decent to good action with dumb plotting and abrupt tonal shifts and uneven narrative pacing. Sounds like part of the issue was jumping from a single Superman movie to trying to establish Justice League and bring in Batman but that's no excuse for bloat and jumbled cameos.

Still like Afleck in Batman role and would be intetested in him on his own so there's that to come.

I'm almost wishing Superman was left out of things for a while as there seems to be a lack f ideas what to do with him apart from concoct reasons to weaken him and give him a pounding in artificial ways a just letting him be the virtual God / Superior being he's supposed to be an exploring that (seeing Superman bloodied and bowed becomes almost fetishtic at times it seems to me - there's probably an interesting paper to be written there if it hasn't already).
 
SPOILER -

Batman killing? Hope they do whatever they possibly can to justify it because that's hard to come to terms with.

Aside from that, which is the only spoiler I've read so maybe it's out of context, very very excited by all these impressions thanks guys.
 
I'm going to watch it tomorrow night and expect it to be good, better than MoS.

Overall impressions (reading between lines) are about what I'd expect from Snyder.

He struggles to deliver a coherent film every time, not coming close when following a pre-existing template (such as existing comic or film).

He has decent eye and can stage some good action but equally he an overfill the screen with too much detail and produce awkward action geography too.

He also seems to struggle getting uniformly good performances from actors.

That's what worries me when they announced the DC movie slate with him directing justice league.
To think that George Miller was close to directing Justice League :( (btw that was before MoS)
 
Hmmmm

I hate every single Zach Snyder film, and, from what I'm reading about BvS, it doesn't look like there's anything in it that would change my mind about Snyder.

That's too bad :(
 
SPOILER -

Batman killing? Hope they do whatever they possibly can to justify it because that's hard to come to terms with.

Aside from that, which is the only spoiler I've read so maybe it's out of context, very very excited by all these impressions thanks guys.

Re: your spoiler - it's not even addressed in the movie. There is no handwringing over it, comments about it, nothing. It's just a thing that happens.
 
SPOILER -

Batman killing? Hope they do whatever they possibly can to justify it because that's hard to come to terms with.

BATMAN V. SUPERMAN SPOILERS

They do nothing.

Hmmmm

I hate every single Zach Snyder film, and, from what I'm reading about BvS, it doesn't look like there's anything in it that would change my mind about Snyder.

That's too bad :(

You know what you get with a Zack Snyder film now.
 
Hmmmm

I hate every single Zach Snyder film, and, from what I'm reading about BvS, it doesn't look like there's anything in it that would change my mind about Snyder.

That's too bad :(

I have some faith in Chris Terrio and Ben Affleck to pull Zack Snyder's film from mediocrity.
 
Re: your spoiler - it's not even addressed in the movie. There is no handwringing over it, comments about it, nothing. It's just a thing that happens.

BATMAN V. SUPERMAN SPOILERS

They do nothing.

MORE SPOILERS DONT CLICK DAMMIT

fuuuuuck that's gonna be hard to look past, but I guess it's gonna be something I need to accept if I'm going to enjoy these movies at all. I know it's not important to everyone but Batman's no-kill rule is a big deal to me and if someone is going to take that liberty with him I feel like they need to find proper justification for it.

Ok no more spoiler talk sorry all
 
I'm going to watch it tomorrow night and expect it to be good, better than MoS.



That's what worries me when they announced the DC movie slate with him directing justice league.
To think that George Miller was close to directing Justice League :( (btw that was before MoS)

Which is still funny to me how people so desperately wanted the Miller JL movie to happen, yet now people accuse WB of rushing things and they should have done it with standalone movies first etc.
 
Which is still funny to me how people so desperately wanted the Miller JL movie to happen, yet now people accuse WB of rushing things and they should have done it with standalone movies first etc.

(Haven't seen it yet)

I feel it would be fine to have a justice league movie that quickly establishes the character dynamics then 'not yet Justice League'
 
eh, i dunno if those are real spoilers or not (not clicking) but could you folks keep that in the spoiler thread, please?

Yeah don't click sounds like it's not a big thing in the movie but may concern some people so I would absolutely consider it a spoiler. No more from me, was avoiding the open spoiler thread but that detail stuck out to me from these impressions. I'll drop it now sorry.
 
MORE SPOILERS DONT CLICK DAMMIT

fuuuuuck that's gonna be hard to look past, but I guess it's gonna be something I need to accept if I'm going to enjoy these movies at all. I know it's not important to everyone but Batman's no-kill rule is a big deal to me and if someone is going to take that liberty with him I feel like they need to find proper justification for it.

Ok no more spoiler talk sorry all

I'm not clicking that spoiler! Did you see it already?

Edit: guess not
 
I am really surprised the positive response on twitter. Angry Joe loving it was the most shocking because I knew guys like Campea would love it but Angry Joe has been so critical of the movie and to see him loving this makes me quite shocked.
 
Which is still funny to me how people so desperately wanted the Miller JL movie to happen, yet now people accuse WB of rushing things and they should have done it with standalone movies first etc.

Maybe now. But there was a lot of crying foul over it back then, between the casting and the disruptions to Nolan and Singer's sequels.
 
Crossposted from the spoiler thread: So... how's Wonder Woman? Do those who've seen the film generally agree that Gadot is good? Does her role feel like an organic part of the main Superman/Batman/Lex storyline, or does she feel shoehorned in for the purposes of setting up her own film and Justice League?

On the latter point, how are the Flash/Aquaman/Cyborg cameos and the Knightmare sequence? How well do they fit into the overall flow of the film?

Which is still funny to me how people so desperately wanted the Miller JL movie to happen, yet now people accuse WB of rushing things and they should have done it with standalone movies first etc.

"Rushing things" wouldn't have applied to the Miller film, owing to its approach to world-building; it began with the JL members as fully formed superheroes who have each been publicly operating in costume for some time, which would have been radically different from the MCU/DCCU approach of a quasi-realistic world where superhumans are only beginning to publicly emerge. The script was flawed, but it could have been a refreshing change from the MCU model had it been done right.

Also, I recall quite a lot of backlash regarding the casting, particularly the very young Batman and Superman.
 
Maybe now. But there was a lot of crying foul over it back then, between the casting and the disruptions to Nolan and Singer's sequels.

Sure, but it's weird how people are kinda upset (now) that that movie did not happen. Yet, their worries they have for BvS/upcoming projects are exactly the same worries (even more so actually) that would apply to the Miller JL movie.

"Rushing things" wouldn't have applied to the Miller film, owing to its approach to world-building; it began with the JL members as fully formed superheroes who have each been publicly operating in costume for some time, which would have been radically different from the MCU/DCCU approach of a quasi-realistic world where superhumans are only beginning to publicly emerge. The script was flawed, but it could have been a refreshing change from the MCU model had it been done right.

Also, I recall quite a lot of backlash regarding the casting, particularly the very young Batman and Superman.

But isn't the issue some people have with this approach that you just can't put them together in a movie and need to set them up with in their own movie's? The thing is; if you are critical of their approach now, you should (have been) be critical to that approach as well, based on their own arguments.

And it's the internet, everything sucks until people see it. Then it's the greatest thing ever or the worst.
 
The more I think about it, the more I think this is WB's way of hitting The Batman Button.
Oh it definitely is. I knew it was the second it was announced years ago. I would've preferred that we got one more Superman solo last year , a Batman solo this summer, and Justice League this winter. I don't care for Snyder so some of these impressions have me a little worried/frustrated but I'll still be there come Friday. I'm keeping my expectations in check but hope to be surprised.
 
Well that's up to how you view the films. The Dark Knight trilogy is no doubt an amazing movie trilogy (despite the last one), but not a good comicbook movie because how grounded and realistic it is then let's say deadpool/avengers. It's been really rare to have a great superhero movie that feels like an actual comicbook (movie), at least that's how I feel it.

I disagree with this notion. I judge them as movies, and there is no strict definition of what constitutes a comicbook movie, or even a superhero movie. Unbreakable is one of the best superhero origin movies I have ever seen, and it's dead serious and realistic.

From my part, the Nolan trilogy was a pair (hehe) of amazing movies, and MoS was a pile of shit.

If the new movie is like Man of Steel, I don't want it, no matter how hard it tries to be a "proper" superhero movie.
 
Well that's up to how you view the films. The Dark Knight trilogy is no doubt an amazing movie trilogy (despite the last one), but not a good comicbook movie because how grounded and realistic it is then let's say deadpool/avengers. It's been really rare to have a great superhero movie that feels like an actual comicbook (movie), at least that's how I feel it.
All Nolan movies are infinitely better than a mediocre movie like Avengers. Stop insulting the movies by comparing them.
 
But isn't the issue some people have with this approach that you just can't put them together in a movie and need to set them up with in their own movie's? The thing is; if you are critical of their approach now, you should (have been) be critical to that approach as well, based on their own arguments.

And it's the internet, everything sucks until people see it. Then it's the greatest thing ever or the worst.

I'm sure some people would have said that, but that would have been dumb and I'd have disagreed with it. If your universe is premised on the notion that superheroes have been publicly operating in costume for some time, you don't have any obligation to do more than hint at a character's origin, if that, because you've already established that the existence of a powered, costumed superhero isn't a big deal in and of itself as far as the universe is concerned.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom