Spoilers for this movie. I will be highlighting certain issues I feel are present with each individual character
Heads of DC feel encouraged to use some of my suggestions in your next movie. If you want, I’ll even write it for you.
I know this is a little late and that hating on this is not uncommon at this point but before I start this let me say that I do not hate DC. I love these characters and the reason I dislike this movie has nothing to do with me being a marvel fanboy. I just want to see good movies about the heroes I grew up with, I do not care who makes them.
I was looking forward to this movie for a long time. I assume many of you were as well. Seeing Batman and Superman, live action, together for the first time, sounds incredible. They are two of the most recognizable comic characters of all time. Probably two of the most recognizable characters in all of fiction. When The Avengers came out I could only think about how much I want to see the Justice League instead. I love the Avengers and may even prefer Marvel but, in my opinion, the Justice League is a much better superhero team.
So hopefully you can understand why I was disappointed by this movie. Each characterization made no sense. I can't understand why they would change such established characters in such strange ways. Not only do these break the characters themselves but the universe they belong to.
Batman kills, Superman is dead, Lex Luthor did that jolly rancher thing, and the set up for future films is a mess.
Let's start with Batman
Batman
Why would they make the most morally solid character someone who murders literally anyone who opposes him? Batman doesn't kill, doesn't use guns, and doesn't drink. Within his first film, this new Batman breaks all three of those rules. And I genuinely think this Batman has the potential to be the best we've ever seen. That warehouse fight scene is ripped straight out of the Arkham video games. His fighting abilities alone should make him the most comic accurate Batman. And he would be too if his go-to move wasn’t straight up murder.
There's a reason that he belongs in the Justice League. He's the only man who can stand among Gods and not be laughed at. Put any other Batman against Henry Cavill Superman and you will have a dead bat on your hands. In this movie you believe that Batman can go toe to toe with Superman which is great but I wish the rest of his scenes weren't littered with corpses.
Yeah I'm aware that every other Batman has also killed, but Ben Affleck is still the most murderous. And everyone else at least claimed to have some moral code. Didn't he stab someone? I'm pretty sure he threw a grenade into a room with bad guys then slammed the door shut. I'm also pretty sure he shot a gas cannister on the back of KGBeast and jumped out a window as he presumably burned to death.
If this is the case, and it is, then why wouldn't he kill the Joker? If he has no problem with killing these random goons and even Superman, then why hasn't he killed someone who's kill count is presumably higher than all these other peoples' combined. The Batman that they created would have no problem with this. This is a plot hole that cannot be overlooked.
I guess you could say that he's never had the chance to kill him, but really? How would that make any sense. There is no way that this Joker could evade Ben Affleck for this long. You could also say that Batman's rule only applies to the Joker but again, why would that be the case? If he was willing to murder Superman with a spear then why would he put villains like Killer Croc behind bars? Why would any of his villains be put in jail? Not a single one would survive his lust for blood and they would all flee the city in fear of this maniac.
In the comics, and you can look this up, he doesn't kill because (I paraphrase): if he crosses that line then there's no going back. And this Batman has already crossed the line.
Superman
You know what, Henry Cavill is a great choice for Superman. He's got the look down and I'm sure he has the acting abilities. I think, if utilized properly, than he can become the role model for young children that Christopher Reeve acted as when he played him.
These movies have no arc for Superman. Man of Steel did a fine job introducing him as a new Superman but the DCEU gave him no more time to mature as a character. BvS was focused nearly entirely on Batman. There is no growth and nothing that makes us like him. The movie expects us to love the character because we have background knowledge on him. They assume our preconceptions of the character are enough to make Henry Cavill someone we root for despite never knowing who his character truly was.
They introduced him, made him fight Batman for five minutes (a fight which should not have happened given the plot contrivances intended to produce conflict), and then killed him.
They killed Superman. What on earth were they thinking? Not a single person cared when he died and even worse, not a single person genuinely thought he was dead. You even teased his return at the end! He was confirmed dead for all of ten minutes than you backtracked on yourself. That is not long enough for anything emotionally impactful. Just having him get injured then wake up in a hospital literally has the exact same effect, but would frankly be less dumb.
This was a big deal in the comics because he was an established hero, loved throughout the world by everyone. The movie did not give time for anyone within the universe to love him or even for us, as an audience, to appreciate this character.
I'm mad about it because that means you can't kill him again. Once he comes back, he's back. Ending the DCEU with his death would just feel repetitive and unearned. The surprise factor is gone. I think it was too soon for Doomsday but at least you could've shot him into space and waited ten years then have him come back as a traditional Doomsday and then have him kill Superman when it actually means something.
I just think this is a poor choice from the studio. You're rushing everything. And unnecessarily so. You don't have to play catch up with Marvel. You have better source material. You have more marketable characters. Take your time and build to earned events every five years or so.
Just imagine if they took their time and built a Justice League. A team in which we witness the formation, multiple triumphs, and possibly the separation or end of the League. We'd have learned about the various relationships among characters and we’d learn to love Superman as a leader. At this point we would see something that forces the reunification of the team. We would feel nostalgic and enamored by this and only then is Superman killed. It would be genuinely surprising and carry emotional weight. The team all feels guilt. The audience reminisces in all the great superman moments throughout the years. It's the end of an era not only within this cinematic universe but the end of a cinematic era as well.
And oh yeah. Don't kill Jimmy Olsen. Come on guys. Why? It's unnecessary. Snyder justified this by saying there was no room for him within their plans for the universe. But that doesn't mean you have to kill him! Maybe someone down the road would find room for him. Maybe someone wants this character but you took away that possibility. You could just not mention him at all. It's not like his presence would distract from any stories. He's a minor character, you don't need to dedicate a movie to him. And he's like Superman's biggest fan! Henry Cavill Superman has no fans but you could have given him at least this one.
Lex Luthor
We have to talk about the Jolly Rancher scene. What was that?
It had to be a character choice right? Like there is no way that someone wrote that into the script and everyone who signed off on it weren't like let's just take out that irrelevant scene that would be incredibly weird and offputting. If it was, and I'm wrong in assuming this was an improvisational choice made by an actor, then it's really indicative of the lack of structure by the DC movie studio. This would just show that they're writing staff has no idea how to properly use these characters.
But even if it was a character choice, why did no one go: Hey Jesse, great job man you're doing great. But can we stick to the script for this one? Like I'm loving what you're doing but you know they spent a lot of time polishing the script so let's just read it as it is and not shove hard candy into that guy's mouth. It's just a little weird and off character and frankly if I let you do this, I'd probably be fired because that's the weirdest thing you could possibly do in this situation. It just doesn't reflect the mood and tone that we're going for and would probably ruin your character.
But again, they would have to allow this into the movie. And again, this just shows the lackluster approach for this universe. This is the worst part of the movie. I'll even go so far to say without this scene, the movie is tolerable. But with this in mind, the rest of the film just goes downhill. Things like this just don't work.
I don't wanna compare DC to Marvel but they seem like they want to be like Marvel, so I have no choice. Is there a single scene in any of the MCU movies that even remotely resembles this weird Jolly Rancher thing? Let me know because I cannot think of anything that horrid and would sincerely apologize for everything I’ve said if it wasn’t so weirdly unique.
And the email thing? It’s been talked to death so I won’t comment on it, but there were countless better ways to introduce those characters. And maybe the nightmare scene and the Flash time travel thing will pay off in future movies so I won’t criticize them yet.
To anyone who's a fan of this movie. I get it. I can see it's appeal but I can't agree with it. I'm convinced there is a good movie within this mess but I do not think we as fans should, or even have to, lower ourselves to this standard of filmmaking.
We deserve better movies and if people don't speak up about it's problems then it more than likely won't change.
Oh and by the way, Wonder Woman is great. So maybe DC has gotten it together and hopefully it's only uphill from here.
Fingers crossed.