Two years after the events of Man of Steel, Superman (Henry Cavill) and Batman (Ben Affleck) are framing the debate over whether the World needs a superman and/or brutal vigilantes. Fuelled by rage at the collateral damage from Superman and Zod's fight, Bruce Wayne/Batman feels duty bound to bring the Kryptonian to heel. Combined with Clark Kent's distaste for Batman's thuggish street justice, and Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) pulling the strings from behind the scenes, the two icons find themselves on course for the biggest playground scrap of all time.
Batman Vs Superman (BvS) is a typically stylised affair from Snyder (love it or hate it), but is unfortunately po-faced, pretentious and very average. Some un-fleshed out pontificating on the nature of being a 'meta-human', alongside senate committee grandstanding, mean the World's disillusionment with Superman never really resonates. BvS wants to say something profound on the subject, but much like our two heroes, doesn't really say much at all.
The clunky shoehorning in of future Justice League members feels cynical, and the aesthetic choices are weird. Bruce Wayne is a millionaire who lives in an unkempt field and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), although cryptically interesting, looks like a reject from Snyder’s
300.
The biggest problem with BVS is that Snyder is unable to direct a coherent action sequence. Early on we are accosted with a murky, disorientating car chase that achieves nothing for the story (Batman chases something he knows is owned by Lex Luthor, which leads him directly to... Lex Luthor). And the fight sequences are all a post-Bourne jumble of crunchy bone snapping and wobbly-cam realism. It begs the question of why bother to have Affleck bulk up, or choreograph a multi opponent punch up, if the results are lost in tight close ups and amphetamine editing.
The real tragedy of this incarnation of Superman is how abjectly boring he is. Henry Cavill spends two and half hours frowning at variety of people, although in fairness it is hardly his fault, as the script denies Superman anything by way of interesting dialogue. Christopher Reeve's earnest take on Kal-El might have been a bit of a boy scout, but it can't be denied how enjoyable it was. This bleak, scowling, dullard of a Superman will be enough to turn kids off the character for decades.
But despite its many flaws, BvS is still not
quite the terrible movie the internet would have you believe. There are no complaints with Bat-fleck – a gruff, curmudgeonly Frank Miller-style Dark Knight; and a future Batman movie in Affleck's hands could well be something to get excited about. Kevin Costner's five minute cameo simply highlights what it is to have some natural acting chops, and Jesse Eisenberg's Zuckerberg-channelling turn as Lex Luthor is really quite alright, and far less annoying than the trailers might have you believe.
At two and half hours, BvS is most definitely overlong. It’s also most definitely flawed. But the reality is that it sits between the critical scorn and the fanboy love, settling somewhere on the spectrum marked mediocre.
IMDB:
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Vivarium is a science fiction / horror mystery and is the second feature from director / co-writer Lorcan Finnegan. It’s being released to VOD from 16 April 2020.
