“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (BvS) is the sequel to the 2013 movie Man of Steel (MoS).
Zack Snyder directed both films, which coincidently carried similar weights and tones.
BvS is uninspired, drab and boring. It is the most ham-fisted film about superheroes that has been put out in recent memory. While Nolan’s Batman trilogy gave us moral gray areas, suspense and practical action, Snyder’s take on the DC universe attempts to be dark, edgy and takes itself way too seriously.
The whole reason for the Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) fighting scene was supposed to be about how opposite the characters are, but in Snyder’s DC Cinematic Universe, every character that graces the screen has the exact same personality- mopey.
Snyder shoves how religiously metaphorical this comic book movie is down your throat and fails to craft a movie that has any sense of what it’s about. It cuts from character to character so quickly and abruptly that you never really have time to get any meaningful development with any of them.
The movie seems to be made so that the director can retcon all of the destruction in MoS. The main criticism was Superman’s lack of concern for the destruction he was causing, so the movie bends over backwards to assure you that barely any people died.
The worst was the opening scene which was a montage of Batman’s origin which we’ve all seen plenty of times. It was by far the most poorly done and most laughable scene. It was so poorly written that one of the main plot points revolves around both of the character’s mothers being named “Martha.”
All of this would have been bad enough if it weren’t for the blatant sexism and racism in the film.
The movie treats Lois Lane (Amy Adams) as an arm candy, pretty much a damsel in distress for Superman. Her acting doesn’t even matter because she’s just there to fawn over Clark Kent.
Wonder Woman’s role is no better. Gal Gadot plays an ethnically ambiguous Amazonian Princess who may as well be from Greece (nobody really knows). She’s mostly there to catch Bruce Wayne’s eye and not so subtly set up the Justice League movie.
Finally, on this point, Batman bets on a Mandingo fight.
Two of the four actors that were people of color were in an underground fighting league, where seemingly black guys fought for white people to bet on and wouldn’t you know it: Bruce Wayne bet on the darker man and he won!
I have so many gripes with this movie. It belongs with the likes of the 2015 Fantastic Four (FF) movie. It may have had a better action, but at least FF wasn’t racist and egotistical.
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