I’m not quite sure where to begin with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s a $300 million dollar behemoth, built on an untenable foundation of anxiety, fear, and jealousy. It’s a forced amalgam of some of DC Comics’ greatest franchises, all hastily combined like clumps of clay lumped together and presented as a pristine sculpture. It’s been torn apart by critics. It’s divided hardcore fanboys. And it’s all too big to fail.
For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, please be advised the rest of this post contains spoilers.
The plot of Dawn of Justice is somewhat understandable, but only in the broadest strokes. After the 9/11-esque events of Man of Steel, Superman is now revered by some (people erected a statue of him), feared by others (the government), and hated by few (Batman). At some point in the story, it’s revealed that Lex Luthor, the angsty millennial CEO of LexCorp, has framed Superman as the perpetrator of violent attacks around the world. Why and to what end? Why does he hate Superman? No one really knows. One attack involved Superman flying to Africa to save Lois Lane, while Lex’s henchmen killed African natives with some sort of indestructible bullets. By placing Superman in the general vicinity of the slaughter, the whole world automatically presumes Superman killed people with a machine gun. Only Lois Lane knows the truth, but can’t really prove it for unknown reasons, despite her being a keen, intrepid reporter.
Another instance involved Lex cajoling an amputee from Wayne Enterprises into detonating a bomb in the Capitol building while Superman stands on trial for the first “crime” he committed. Why would the man want to confront Superman? Something about Lex intercepting and withholding his supposed welfare checks from Wayne Enterprises, turning him into a bitter man with hatred for Superman. How’d he get a bomb into a government building? Inside the brand-new wheelchair given to him by Lex himself. Lex leaves. The bomb goes off. Everyone dies, except Superman. The whole world presumes Superman blew up the building.
Meanwhile, there's a subplot about Lex importing a chunk of Kryptonite to weaponize against Superman. But Batman hears about it and wants it for himself. So at one point, there's an extravagant chase with the Batmobile and the Kryptonite transport, only to be foiled by the arrival of Superman. He pays no mind to Lex's goons, delivers a stern warning to Batman, then flies away. Then Batman forgets about the Kryptonite and goes home. Then two scenes later, Batman steals it from the LexCorp office (but we don't actually see it). So there's that.
But these vague plot points pale in comparison to the single most pivotal moment in the film. As advertised, Batman fights Superman. And from the very moment the film was announced, my question has been “What eventually stops them from fighting one another?” Naturally, I assumed it would be the arrival of a mega-villain that forces the heroes to set aside their differences. And to a certain degree, this is true. But the real reason is infinitely worse.
I suppose it had never dawned on me prior to this that both Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are orphans whose mother’s name is Martha. It’s one of those strange coincidences that has existed in the comics for decades, but never brought to light largely because it doesn’t really mean anything. Well, Zack Snyder, the director and granddaddy of the new DC Cinematic Universe, begs to differ. At the most pivotal moment in the fight, Snyder throws out this nugget of wisdom:
For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, please be advised the rest of this post contains spoilers.
The plot of Dawn of Justice is somewhat understandable, but only in the broadest strokes. After the 9/11-esque events of Man of Steel, Superman is now revered by some (people erected a statue of him), feared by others (the government), and hated by few (Batman). At some point in the story, it’s revealed that Lex Luthor, the angsty millennial CEO of LexCorp, has framed Superman as the perpetrator of violent attacks around the world. Why and to what end? Why does he hate Superman? No one really knows. One attack involved Superman flying to Africa to save Lois Lane, while Lex’s henchmen killed African natives with some sort of indestructible bullets. By placing Superman in the general vicinity of the slaughter, the whole world automatically presumes Superman killed people with a machine gun. Only Lois Lane knows the truth, but can’t really prove it for unknown reasons, despite her being a keen, intrepid reporter.
Another instance involved Lex cajoling an amputee from Wayne Enterprises into detonating a bomb in the Capitol building while Superman stands on trial for the first “crime” he committed. Why would the man want to confront Superman? Something about Lex intercepting and withholding his supposed welfare checks from Wayne Enterprises, turning him into a bitter man with hatred for Superman. How’d he get a bomb into a government building? Inside the brand-new wheelchair given to him by Lex himself. Lex leaves. The bomb goes off. Everyone dies, except Superman. The whole world presumes Superman blew up the building.
Meanwhile, there's a subplot about Lex importing a chunk of Kryptonite to weaponize against Superman. But Batman hears about it and wants it for himself. So at one point, there's an extravagant chase with the Batmobile and the Kryptonite transport, only to be foiled by the arrival of Superman. He pays no mind to Lex's goons, delivers a stern warning to Batman, then flies away. Then Batman forgets about the Kryptonite and goes home. Then two scenes later, Batman steals it from the LexCorp office (but we don't actually see it). So there's that.
But these vague plot points pale in comparison to the single most pivotal moment in the film. As advertised, Batman fights Superman. And from the very moment the film was announced, my question has been “What eventually stops them from fighting one another?” Naturally, I assumed it would be the arrival of a mega-villain that forces the heroes to set aside their differences. And to a certain degree, this is true. But the real reason is infinitely worse.
I suppose it had never dawned on me prior to this that both Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are orphans whose mother’s name is Martha. It’s one of those strange coincidences that has existed in the comics for decades, but never brought to light largely because it doesn’t really mean anything. Well, Zack Snyder, the director and granddaddy of the new DC Cinematic Universe, begs to differ. At the most pivotal moment in the fight, Snyder throws out this nugget of wisdom:
You know, they’re both born and live in a world where someone can care about them and mourn them, and they can love their mother. And that’s the cool thing, you know we spend so much time with the Martha-Clark relationship that I think it kind of pays off there. You realize, oh, we needed that as viewers, so we could get to a moment with Batman where that moment with Martha resonates. Because we’ve lived on with Clark’s relationship with his mother, so that moment is like, “Wow, that’s ringing for me and I feel it.” When we were shooting the title sequence, that whole idea about, “Do we really need to see the death of the Waynes again,” is a big thing to take a shot at again. But you realize you need it, because it actually pays off. And I really wanted to do it all the way.What Snyder is trying to say, in so many words, is that at some point in the development of this movie, he realized that Martha Kent and Martha Wayne shared the same first name and decided to hinge the entirety of the “greatest gladiator match in the history of the world” on this inconsequential coincidence. It’s flimsy and cheap and ridiculous. And with the simple utterance of the name "Martha", Batman and Superman end their fight, profess their love for their moms, hug it out, and go save the world together.
This isn’t just a divisive movie, it’s a lightning rod for debate. Everyone from Kevin Smith, one of the biggest self-proclaimed fanboys of comic books, to David Goyer, the writer of the movie itself, has made eyebrow-raising comments. But Zack Snyder should be used to this by now. Never a favorite of either critics or fans, Snyder is not so much a movie director as he is a technical visualist. His film adaptations of two of the most beloved graphic novels of our time, 300 and Watchmen, were slavishly referential at best, and outright thievery at worst. His foray into more original material -- the odd children’s animation Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole and even odder vanity project Suckerpunch -- only served to heighten his strengths and weaknesses as a storyteller.
Snyder is a talented technician with a great eye for composing beautiful images. But he also badly misjudges storytelling tones and severely lacks the feel for narrative rhythm. He thrives in overt and grandiose demonstrations of machismo. He turns subtext into capitalized, bold, gloriously slow motioned text. His heroes yell and growl and exert, yet rarely ever evoke or conjure or inspire. Snyder mistakes pretension for drama; he confuses humorless for substantive. He is, not unlike the hulking padded costumes of his heroes, too rigid to adapt and too dense to acknowledge. He doesn’t really portray or present anything. He pummels.
So what is Dawn of Justice? It offers some fleeting moments of real fun -- Wonder Woman basically steals the show (that score!) and Ben Affleck’s Batman is surprisingly effective. Jesse Eisenberg is a quirkier, more malevolent Mark Zuckerberg. Overall, Dawn of Justice is just another overstuffed, multi-threaded, thinly disguised teaser for an even bigger impending movie event. But what superhero movie isn’t nowadays? Despite all the critical vitriol this movie has garnered, I don’t get the sense it’s significantly worse than any other superhero film of late. How does it compare to Avengers: Age of Ultron? Meh. About the same. Amazing Spider-Man 2? Similar, maybe slightly better. It’s sloppy and perplexing and questionable at times, but generally a fine time. I don’t really mind it largely because it's not worth minding. It’s all so murky in the spandexed sludge of superhero mediocrity anyway.
