Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - 1 year!

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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?
 
I remember seeing some early impressions that said BvS was better than TDK. NOPE

And the review thread will never be topped. My favorite GAF thread ever. You had to be there.
 
Terrible film.

Lex, Doomsday, jar of piss, Martha, etc... Just awful.

Wonder Woman was the best part of the film and I went in expecting her to be just as bad as the rest. Surprised me.
 
Xandaca posted a great opinion that I shared at the time.

xandaca said:
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.
Click to expand...

I especially love the bolded.
 
Ashhong said:
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?
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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 question can be asked regarding this movie's intepreation of Lex Luthor, and Superman, and to some extent Batman.
 
Alienous said:
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.
Click to expand...

#notmyDoomsday
 
Ashhong said:
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?
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The only good reason to use him is for the visual, and they fucked it up.
 
The movie tried to be different while also going for that Marvel money. It partially failed and succeeded at both. Through that though, I got a film that I like. I can appreciate it more than most Marvel films.
 
WadiumArcadium said:
He looked more like a cave troll to me.

doomsday-cave-troll.jpg
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Yep, that's what I meant. Like they just used the same CGI model or whatever to save money.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
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.
Click to expand...

Unlike your airlines, you jetfuelsalesman!
 
Dead said:
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.
Click to expand...

I think people don't wanna admit to themselves is that Snyder understands comic book movies better than a lot of other people. Whether it's people bitching about the ending of Watchmen which holds up to scrutiny if you look at Bin Laden like Dr Manhattan, the real world examples of how media narratives change in the face of crisis, people did stay in buildings during 9/11, the middle east shows that removing despots from power can cause unforeseen power vacuum, etc etc.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
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.
Click to expand...
You are not that wrong. Its still a 5/10 for me. But it spawned so many good memes.
The actual offender is Suicide Squad.
 
Mandrake, the editing in MoS and BvS is equally bad, just not as obvious. But worse, it has even less of a story. At least SS had a start and an end. At the end of MoS, the hero of the story gets his fucking neck snapped. At the end of BvS, we ask: "what was Prometheus? Was that supposed to be a cave troll or a bad xenomorph? Please help us, Scott?"

These mo- things are terrible. 34% RT was too damn high.
 
BvS has it's faults. There is no denying that.

-Jesse Eisenberg is miscasted,

-Justice League references feel shoehorned in

-The way battle between Superman and Batman ends is handled terribly

- Everything about Africa and heat-bullet stuff is very confusing in theatrical cut.

-Doomsday suck ass. (Not just in the movie. As a character itself he's nothing but a plot device for killing Superman. Boring. )

-There are serious issues about pacing ( though Ultimate Cut fixes a chunk of them) and the movie is just 30 minutes too long.



I acknowledge all the issues above. I still really like Batman v Superman.

-Batfleck is terrific.

-As the OP suggested cinematography is fantastic.

-Soundtrack is epic.

-Wonder Woman (and her theme) is great.

-There are so many amazing moments throughout the movie. Warehouse scene, Metropolis' destruction from Bruce's perpective, Batman V Superman fight, Trinity's first appearance...
With all these amazing stuff in the movie, as a DC fan it's hard for me to hate it. It's not a good piece of cinema but still a 7/10 for me. Am i dissapointed? Hell yes, the first movie featuring both Batman and Superman should've been glorious. But i wouldn't say it's a bad movie. It's far from that. Just kinda messy yet enjoyable.


Suicide Squad on the other hand is a very bad movie.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
At least Suicide Squad had hilariously bad editing and line readings every few seconds. I understand that perfectly. BvS seems largely competent to me.
Click to expand...

Dawn of Justice's editing is also really bad. Hell, the post-credit scenes are right in the middle of the movie for some reason.
 
So it's time to reminisce about the greatest RT score thread ever on GAF

10/10 Would wait for consensus again.
 
GrizzNKev said:
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.

tao-okamoto-mercy.png


RIP Mercy Graves, most attractive comic book movie character. Silenced without consequence.
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Yes! This pissed me off so much! They took such a bad ass character and turned her into nothing.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
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.
Click to expand...

I tried.

YgmNdYI.jpg
 
GrizzNKev said:
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.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was pretty disappointing of her getting killed off like that, through I only felt that afterwards when I went through Superman the Animated Series and remembered seeing her in the Justice League series too. Just another thing to add on to the disappointment to the movie.:/
 
I had my issues with this movie, but some of the stuff people hate I genuinely liked a lot.

"Martha"
jar of piss
Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor

Stuff I didn't like that other people also didn't like

pacing, and too overstuffed
Superman hating his job
Batman being overly violent
Doomsday (always hated Doomsday in the comics, too)


The movie was OK. Should have been great, but was OK.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
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.
Click to expand...

Fixed.
 
Still zero zacks given. I fell bad as I need to watch the extended version. How can someone make this bore into even longer version? Jsut cut the bullshit out and make it better.

Still a mess/5.
 
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