Batman v Superman… for about ten minutes

Now that DC have started to put their heroes together, they’ve set down a lot of work for themselves. Naturally, this is one big fight that has rocked the comic-book world, as well as being the two most well-loved heroes in the DC universe, so when they announced the film a few years back they were gearing themselves up for a film that was meant to be fantastic. Unfortunately, what we actually got was something that fell rather flat.

It was nice how they tried to fit in Bruce Wayne into the Man of Steel timeline, using the same footage but showing the devastation from Wayne’s plight. For some reason, Gotham is now a stone’s throw away from Metropolis and no one even mentioned this before. It’s as if we should have always known this as an audience. However, if DC even had a clue as to what they were going to do with their own universe, I think they should have mentioned this in their previous films (but seeing as now Batman has been rebooted again, it’s not hard to see that they’re all over the place).

Batman was a little too angry and moody for my liking. Compared to the Batman that we’ve known for many, many years, who always had a code and went out of his way to not kill people, his character has changed somehow and he’s now killing people left right and centre. It was quite jarring to see him stabbing people through the heart and breaking their spines. He’s been pushed by Lex in a certain direction, but that still doesn’t excuse his actions. Jeremy Irons, on the other hand, played Alfred very well. He was giving pretty good advice and was always at hand in the few scenes we actually saw him in.

Another point to get across is that there definitely should have been more Wonder Woman. We see her alter ego for a few minutes, guessing of course that it’s the heroine all along, but we only really see her in costume for ten/fifteen minutes. She kicks ass and she can certainly take a beating, so it would have been much better to have seen more of her in that incredibly long film. The reality is that we see her in action towards the end of the film when yet another thing happens to keep us in our seats. The music for Wonder Woman was pretty cool as well! It wakes you right up and makes you take an interest in what’s happening on screen.

Lex Luthor was pretty well cast. Although I’ve never much been a fan of Jesse Eisenberg, I have to admit he played the role very well. He was psychotically unhinged and Jesse has a way of really getting all those elements across in character. Hans Zimmer also came up with a cracking soundtrack to accompany Lex and I think that was probably the best element to the film.

I’ve never really been much of a fan of DC, but having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed Man of Steel. As much as I hate Superman, the film was well thought out and it just worked so well. I was rooting for Kent the whole time, enjoying his portrayal by Henry Cavill. In Batman v Superman, he was pretty standard and nothing much different happened, but I suppose that was nice because if he had started killing people it would have taken things to a whole new level.

The main problem with the film was its length. It took forever to get going and when things started to move, nothing much happened. In classic DC style, things are always mysterious and strange goings-on are afoot, revealing to us very little at a time. It is a classic technique, but I felt as though they could have kept our interest going for a little longer because I was yawning throughout the entire film.

There were a few dream sequences and these were bizarre and seemed strangely slotted in for the sake of some mere character development. First of all, we’ve all seen at least a handful of Batman films in our lives already and we know his story. Secondly, they just seemed a little too edgy and were quite confusing at times.

Considering the film is named after a massive fight to shake the very comic universe, both titular characters bicker for a total of ten minutes. We have to wait hours for them to clash and when they do, it’s a little flat. Superman has to talk to Batman and if they weren’t both so hot-headed they could have solved the issues together if they had resolved everything through words first. It was actually more annoying to see them clash because of a certain character rather than being a fight to remember for decades.

Of course, we have to witness the Wayne’s die again and the opening credits were a little poor. Even though I hate to compare the two and it really pains me to do so, let’s see how Marvel does it. If anyone knows how to do opening credits by now, it’s Marvel. Just check out the opening title for Age of Ultron.

Granted, it’s not the best quality, but even still, you can see what I mean. Massive titles, immense soundtrack, drawing expectation. It gives you chills and sets you up for what’s to come. Yes, the film was disappointing in its own right but that’s a different story.

Compared to this, the opening titles for Batman v Superman is just merely text slotted in on the side next to the opening credits. There’s no major soundtrack, no massive buildup or expectation. Just a scene that we’re all aware of and have been for as long as we’ve known Batman.

All in all, DC have set a lot of work for themselves. They’ve tried to do too much too quickly and it’s ended up being quite disappointing. I honestly found it boring.