WARNING: The following is long, pretentious and everyone will probably find at least one thing to get annoyed with me about. Enjoy!
So I went to see this out of curiosity when I had a few hours to spare on a cloudy day. It's a shambolic failure, but crucially, and here's where I do my contrarian thing, an interesting one. Superman may have been completely stripped of all that makes him who he's supposed to be, but Snyder's take on the character, heavily filtered through Nietzsche's concept of the Ubermensch from Thus Spake Zarathustra, is fascinating in a more abstract sense (as a presence in the film, he's a complete downer). Lex's Joker-esque desire to disprove that an all-powerful being can be all-good, to 'kill God' as it were, cannot simply be coincidence, even if it is conveyed with an abysmal lack of clarity and consistency.
I won't pretend to be a Nietzschean scholar or anything of the sort, but along with Snyder's supposed interest in Ayn Rand and her book, The Fountainhead, it makes a stark, individualistic contrast to Marvel's humanising approach to its characters, which presents them not as gods, but people who joke around and eat fast food in their spare time. DC, by contrast, is very much about the idea of the exceptional individual, those who transcend and exist outside traditional social values, inspiring as much fear as awe.
If only Snyder could, you know, communicate those themes coherently and through a story that made even the slightest bit of sense. I love what he was trying to do with Batman, the veteran crimefighter whose decades in battle have stripped him of his morals and hope. Had Superman actually been, you know, Superman, the bastion of decency and goodness, the moment when Batman is reminded of what he once stood for upon realising he is about to destroy the embodiment of hope, sparked by the one small thing they have in common, could have been quite powerful. Yes, I'm defending the IDEA of the Martha turning point, if most certainly not its execution. That's Snyder's problem in the proverbial nutshell: huge, bold ideas betrayed by a juvenile, tone-deaf sensibility.
And now to really piss people off: as titanic as this movie's failings are, and by golly the size and scope of them would require thousands of words to communicate, I'd still rather watch a movie which aimed for the stars and blew up before leaving the ground than one which was content to play it safe and settle for acceptable competence. Yes, I mean you, Marvel, with your identikit cinematography, rigid adherence to a narrative formula that has barely changed since Iron Man, and refusal to take even the most miniscule of risks: once again, how have we not had a Black Widow movie yet?
BvS is almost objectively worse than any Marvel movie since Iron Man 2, yet more ambitious than the lot of them combined, visually and thematically. I'm sure Civil War will get great reviews and be a thoroughly competent piece of corporate filmmaking, but am also pretty sure I know exactly how it'll play out. Marvel deserves credit, without reservation, for the professionalism with which they've put their cinematic universe together and their success in making their movies enjoyable for fans old and young, which DC's failure to do is entirely shameful.
Yet as much as it's popular to accuse DC of simply trying to emulate Marvel in a hurry, I don't think that's (entirely) fair. Man Of Steel and BvS, for the many things both get staggeringly wrong, offer a completely different, more complex and challenging take on the fundamental idea of the superhero than anything Marvel has come up with. The studio will likely course-correct and go more mainstream in light of the reaction to BvS, and honestly, I think that could prove a great shame. There are great movies to be made from this approach, even if all experimentation takes time to perfect: Snyder's ideas are great, he just needs someone who can work them into a coherent structure.
For all the deserved short-term shit-slinging in BvS' direction, let's not forget many of those critics are the same ones decrying blockbusters becoming ever more interchangeable, risk-averse and corporate. Maybe, just maybe, the eagerness to tear down all who aim high and fail might have something to do with that. Hell, you could even argue that's Superman's arc in the film. There's something to think about.
Doomsday looked fine. The dude is cannon fodder, just a big monster. That's probably one of the complaints I don't understand. Who the fuck cares about him enough to have an issue with his look?
His looking terrible is indicative of the disrespect the movie has for characters it didn't create. Doomsday is a big CG monster, the character that killed Superman, and this is his first live-action movie appearance - and they come up with that. Big troll Abomination looking crap.
Why even use Doomsday if you're not going to respect the character? And the same can be applied to Lex Luthor, and Superman, and to some extent Batman.
Batman's introduction and how it was filmed like a horror film was pretty dope too
Doomsday looked fine. The dude is cannon fodder, just a big monster. That's probably one of the complaints I don't understand. Who the fuck cares about him enough to have an issue with his look?
Ding ding ding we have a winnerBoth?
This is meExcited for Justice League just for the review thread.
He looked more like a cave troll to me.
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Honestly still baffled over why everyone thinks this movie is so impressively bad. It's still "whatever" to me.
At least Suicide Squad had hilariously bad editing and line readings every few seconds. I understand that perfectly. BvS seems largely competent to me.
Put that as a blurb on the DVD box.
"Largely competent."- Lionel Mandrake.
This movie proved Snyder is the working director who actually best understands the comic book medium. Few if any other recent CB movies feel as though they were created as actual comic book works with ideas and thought behind the actions taking place on screen like this does. Though the movie is informed by existing works, it feels as though it could be the adaptation of an existing graphic novel in a way.
You are not that wrong. Its still a 5/10 for me. But it spawned so many good memes.Honestly still baffled over why everyone thinks this movie is so impressively bad. It's still "whatever" to me.
At least Suicide Squad had hilariously bad editing and line readings every few seconds. I understand that perfectly. BvS seems largely competent to me.
Put that as a blurb on the DVD box.
"Largely competent."- Lionel Mandrake.
Unlike your airlines, you jetfuelsalesman!
At least Suicide Squad had hilariously bad editing and line readings every few seconds. I understand that perfectly. BvS seems largely competent to me.
The biggest crime this movie commits is the one no one talks about.
Lex Luthor muders his loyal assistant in cold blood with no motive or justification. The character is immediately forgotten.
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RIP Mercy Graves, most attractive comic book movie character. Silenced without consequence.
Honestly still baffled over why everyone thinks this movie is so impressively bad. It's still "whatever" to me.
At least Suicide Squad had hilariously bad editing and line readings every few seconds. I understand that perfectly. BvS seems largely competent to me.
Put that as a blurb on the DVD box.
"Largely competent."- Lionel Mandrake.
The biggest crime this movie commits is the one no one talks about.
Lex Luthor muders his loyal assistant in cold blood with no motive or justification. The character is immediately forgotten.
RIP Mercy Graves, most attractive comic book movie character. Silenced without consequence.
How many movies did you watch last yearBest film I watched that year. Justice League gonna deliver.
More than fiveHow many movies did you watch last year
More than five
Best film I watched that year. Justice League gonna deliver.
Best blockbuster watched in 2016, and I'd understand and probably agree. But yeah, otherwise WTF.God damn. This would only make sense if you only watched blockbusters last year I guess.
Honestly still baffled over why everyone thinks this movie is so impressively bad. It's still "whatever" to me.
At least Suicide Squad had hilariously bad editing and line readings every few seconds. I understand that perfectly. Thor: The Dark World seems largely competent to me.
Put that as a blurb on the DVD box.
"Largely competent."- Lionel Mandrake.
Shit if pornos count then maybe top 10Pornographies don't count.
Best film I watched that year. Justice League gonna deliver.
What was added to the Ultimate Extended Edition?