REVIEW: Wonder Woman Can't Save Dull "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice"

[brettc1]

Regarding Eisenberg's Lex Luthor.

The problem is, there isn't one.

It didn't hit me until about an hour after the movie, but Eisenberg is basically playing The Joker.

Seriously, once you get to the third act you could slap white paint on his face and put him in purple jacket and you'd swear he was the Clown Prince of Crime.

[Edit - I meant Heath Ledger's Joker. Which was AWESOME. But for the Joker, not Lex Luthor]

[numberthirty]

Regarding Eisenberg's Lex Luthor.

The problem is, there isn't one.

It didn't hit me until about an hour after the movie, but Eisenberg is basically playing The Joker.

Seriously, once you get to the third act you could slap white paint on his face and put him in purple jacket and you'd swear he was the Clown Prince of Crime.

(Makes a mental note to keep an eye out for this.)

Which Joker?

[brettc1]

Okay - Positives.

Gal Gadot does a great job and Wonder Woman.

The whole stupid "Superman can't have sex with Lois Lane without killing her" is finally put to bed [or in this case, bath ]

Affleck is a pretty good Batman, and Jeremy Irons is the best Alfred I have ever seen on screen

Negatives

Gods, it feels long. Like about 30 minutes TOO long.

Batman kicks ass in this movie but if you are going to see the Dark Knight DETECTIVE you will be massively disappointed. Bruce gets manipulated like a total newb.

For the first 90 minutes there is not a lot of Superman being super. Batman gets a some good actions scenes but aside from the few brief sequences Superman is just floating around with his cape flapping majestically.

Batman is shooting people to death. He does it a fair bit.

Superman gets punked in the fight - HARD! Seriously, I get caught by surprise ONCE the kryptonite gas, but getting hit in the face with it TWICE is just plain stupid. After recovering from the first shot he could just fly up and laser Bruce right out of the suit.

Speaking of the fight - which is kind of the big selling point of the movie - if you've seen the trailers you've already seen half of it. Honestly, it was rather anti-climactic. You'd get more value out of just reading the last 20 pages of The Dark Knight Returns again.

Lex Luthor is really The Joker? Huh - who knew? Eisenberg does a great job of showing what Luthor would be like if he had the Joker's personality, but as a Luthor he's pretty lightweight, sorry. And blowing up Mercy seems completely out of character. Oh, wait, he's playing the Joker. Okay, then that works I guess.

A big part of Luthor's plan initially seems to be to get Kryptonite into the country. He asks Molly Ringwald's senator for help, and she refuses, so he smuggles it in anyway. Uh, if you could bring it in anyway why did you ask permission?

Also, Luthor breaks into the crashed Kryptonian ship in Metropolis [Superman apparently didn't bother to move it, don't ask me why] using Kryptonian fingerprints from Zod,. The ship then talks to him in English. Why? Isn't the point to trick the ship into thinking you're a Kryptonian? Or at the very least, Zod. Why would it then use a Terran dialect? The AI then proceeds to let him do something that is described us the ultimate crime on Krypton. I guess after just sitting there for 18 months the AI was bored and looking for something to do.

And Luthor hates Superman because....well, that's about it. Just because. In the comics their rivalry is long standing and in the Reeves movie Superman is challenge that must be overcome for Gene Hackman's Luthor to pull off "the crime of the century". But here we get a few throwaway lines about how young Lex was beaten as a kid and so now he is using Superman as a stand in for God to prove that the universe sucks. It doesn't make a lot of sense for a guy who is supposed to be the head of multi-billion dollar corporation but is clearly more crazy then a cat in a dishwasher.

Harking back to the blowing up of Mercy, the way Superman is just standing there in the flaming ruins and surrounded, no doubt, by the body parts of hundreds of people is really weird. It's actually kind of a metaphor for the whole movie...as if he's thinking "I'm not surprised, just really disappointed."

[brettc1]

(Makes a mental note to keep an eye out for this.)

Which Joker?

Heath Ledger.

The resemblance is actually rather uncanny.

[numberthirty]

Noted.

.........

[brettc1]

A few more thoughts.

Wonder Woman's music was awesome - very "300" which is of course somewhat appropriate.

When Superman stops Batman during the car chase, Clark just lets the other guys who have been firing gatling guns and missiles go. What the hell?

Batman looking scared as Superman's power levels went back up in the fight seemed out of character.

The parademon sequence was exciting.

I'm guessing that thing that helped rebuild Cyborn was a mother box.

Loved WW's smile during the fight

Why does Superman get blamed for the people being killed in Africa. That is completely stupid. Do they think he machine gunned them? The woman acting as a witness says Superman shows up and lots of people were killed. Yes, that is awful but weren't people being killed on a daily basis well before that. Lois Lane is there to interview a general accused of being a TERRORIST? Why does Superman get blamed for what has been happening for years before he arrived? Absurd.

[k von doom]

It was an okay movie for me. The fight at the end DC Trinity vs Doomsday was pretty accurate in that it kinda showed how much of a non-factor Batman would be when the DC heavy hitters go full throttle. Superman get smashed hard in this movie, it was pretty brutal.

[TheRed]

Lex luthor's whole motivation was the same as in the comics. Distrust of someone so powerful he was beyond his control and the belief that no matter what Superman said or did under the right circumstances he would commit atrocities like anybody else. That's we he wanted him to kill Batman. That way he could say"see you're just like everybody else ". I feel like the people that complain about this movie left their brain at the door and want everything fed to them. I expect this from non comic fans but as comic fans ourselves how many times gas something happened in issue#1 and doesn't even make sense until issue#3 and we think it's the greatest thing in the world. Yet,I hear so many complaints about the Flash scene. Where are the comic fans that should be saying "oh,that's the Flash. He does this kind of thing all the time. Travels from earth to earth,time jumps,bends reality you'll see. It'll come together and blow your mind,because that's what Flash does.Traveling through all these realities, figuring out which one to deliver his message to,who to deliver it to,and when. Seriously, when did comic book fans become like everyone else that doesn't read comics?

[brettc1]

Lex luthor's whole motivation was the same as in the comics. Distrust of someone so powerful he was beyond his control and the belief that no matter what Superman said or did under the right circumstances he would commit atrocities like anybody else. That's we he wanted him to kill Batman. That way he could say"see you're just like everybody else ". I feel like the people that complain about this movie left their brain at the door and want everything fed to them. I expect this from non comic fans but as comic fans ourselves how many times gas something happened in issue#1 and doesn't even make sense until issue#3 and we think it's the greatest thing in the world. Yet,I hear so many complaints about the Flash scene. Where are the comic fans that should be saying "oh,that's the Flash. He does this kind of thing all the time. Travels from earth to earth,time jumps,bends reality you'll see. It'll come together and blow your mind,because that's what Flash does.Traveling through all these realities, figuring out which one to deliver his message to,who to deliver it to,and when. Seriously, when did comic book fans become like everyone else that doesn't read comics?

When the movies they make about the comic books we read are constructed in this slapdash manner.

Luthor's motivation here is not the same. In the comics I've seen him have personal grudges against Superman for one reason or another. Maybe New 52 is different, but then I dont read a lot of New 52 Superman.

Though as far as making him commit an atrocity Clark outright says he might have to kill Bruce. And how sad is a thing for Superman to say is that?

[TheRed]

But,he doesn't kill him. That's the whole point. This scenario has come up over and over in the comics and always plays out the same. Superman or Batman is driven to the edge and regains their senses at the last minute. Every time a Superman comic gets a new writer the first thing they do is figure out how to push him to his limits and surprise the audience. Some of the reviews I read complain about the end of the Superman Doomsday fight. Does it have to end this way they say? Yes. Yes it does! It's like Batman's origin his parents have to die! You can't have the father die and not the mother it has to be that way. Superman and Doomsday first battle has to end with this result. People act like Superman has never doubted himself or done anything against character.

[TheRed]

Not only that,Superman didn't even try to kill Batman he tried to reason with him from the get go. Batman was so enraged that it took the mention of Martha to snap him out of it for a second. Then the intellect he's famous for kicks in and he realizes he's been played.

[ChristmasFnatic]

I really tried to enjoy it, watched it with sis and gf earlier. Watched all DC movies first day since Batman Returns(first day here cuz its Holy Week, and malls are closed Thurs-Fri). But even the actual fight the movie is titled is short. THey hardly even argued. Just a dull, bloated movie.

The glaring plot holes are big too.
- how did Lois knew she needs the spear, when she didnt even see Doomsday, much less knew about him.
- when Supes gave Bats a warning, why didnt he chase after the bad guys Bats was chasing(batmobile scene)? He just left and not care.
- how did Luthor know Bats was ready to fight Supes at that exact moment? He said its the battle of the century, meaning, he should know Bats is all prepared.

[Star_Jammer]

I really tried to enjoy it, watched it with sis and gf earlier. Watched all DC movies first day since Batman Returns(first day here cuz its Holy Week, and malls are closed Thurs-Fri). But even the actual fight the movie is titled is short. THey hardly even argued. Just a dull, bloated movie.

The glaring plot holes are big too.
- how did Lois knew she needs the spear, when she didnt even see Doomsday, much less knew about him.
- when Supes gave Bats a warning, why didnt he chase after the bad guys Bats was chasing(batmobile scene)? He just left and not care.
- how did Luthor know Bats was ready to fight Supes at that exact moment? He said its the battle of the century, meaning, he should know Bats is all prepared.

Luthor found out Batman stole his kryptonite. Just a matter of putting things together, after having manipulated them to fight each other.

[wjowski]

When you pass on Bryan freaking Cranston, you deserve nothing but scorn.

[Wulf1984]

Superman gets punked in the fight - HARD! Seriously, I get caught by surprise ONCE the kryptonite gas, but getting hit in the face with it TWICE is just plain stupid. After recovering from the first shot he could just fly up and laser Bruce right out of the suit.

I'm guessing that with his power-level, Superman doesn't see alot of hand-to-hand combat. The last time he's been in a battle was 18 months ago and that was the first time. Supes is green as hell when it comes to combat or battlefield awareness. Superman has the fighting skills of a Kansas farmboy, so he probably would fall for things coming from a tricky fighter.

Also, Luthor breaks into the crashed Kryptonian ship in Metropolis [Superman apparently didn't bother to move it, don't ask me why] using Kryptonian fingerprints from Zod,. The ship then talks to him in English. Why? Isn't the point to trick the ship into thinking you're a Kryptonian? Or at the very least, Zod. Why would it then use a Terran dialect? The AI then proceeds to let him do something that is described us the ultimate crime on Krypton. I guess after just sitting there for 18 months the AI was bored and looking for something to do.

37% power is a bitch, isn't it? LOL!

And Luthor hates Superman because....well, that's about it. Just because. In the comics their rivalry is long standing and in the Reeves movie Superman is challenge that must be overcome for Gene Hackman's Luthor to pull off "the crime of the century". But here we get a few throwaway lines about how young Lex was beaten as a kid and so now he is using Superman as a stand in for God to prove that the universe sucks. It doesn't make a lot of sense for a guy who is supposed to be the head of multi-billion dollar corporation but is clearly more crazy then a cat in a dishwasher.

Lex is supposed to be xenophobic in this, but Lex uses the alien technology that he's supposed to hate in an attempt to kill Superman. And that's it...what is his end goal? Kill Superman and then what? Go back to being a rich man? In the comics, Lex hates Superman because Lex was the most powerful man in Metropolis before Superman came along.

Doomsday was apparently recklessly created with no failsafes? Suppose the monster had killed all of the heroes, what would Luthor do with an even more powerful menace than Superman?

And why does every superhero movie resort to a nuke?

Batman looking scared as Superman's power levels went back up in the fight seemed out of character.

I think it was an "Oh, shit" moment when he realized how fast Superman was recovering. It isn't like Batman could field test out the equipment on a Kryptonian before the battle. LOL!

Why does Superman get blamed for the people being killed in Africa. That is completely stupid. Do they think he machine gunned them? The woman acting as a witness says Superman shows up and lots of people were killed. Yes, that is awful but weren't people being killed on a daily basis well before that. Lois Lane is there to interview a general accused of being a TERRORIST? Why does Superman get blamed for what has been happening for years before he arrived? Absurd.

I think she was blaming him for stirring up the pot with his presence.

It was an okay movie for me. The fight at the end DC Trinity vs Doomsday was pretty accurate in that it kinda showed how much of a non-factor Batman would be when the DC heavy hitters go full throttle. Superman get smashed hard in this movie, it was pretty brutal.

I loved that. Screw that Bat-God shit. I was expecting Batman to jump around Doomsday, while throwing out some electric or explosive batarangs at him, but he was trying his damndest to survive the battle.