Welcome to fight night. It’s Batman V Superman, DC versus Marvel, day versus night, god versus man, cape versus cape, Affleck versus the internet…But is it any good? Here are 5 things you need to know.
THING 1 – It’s OK
Yeah, so heavy truth bombs early on, but the fact is that Zack Snyder’s heavyweight comic book contender is hit and miss. There’s a lot that works, there are some things that are actually really good, but it is a mixed bag. You won’t be bored, but there are serious pacing and tonal issues. On the other hand, there’s some great action and very good performances, and it doesn’t make the obvious universe-building mistakes. Depending on what you’re looking for, you might have a brilliant time or you might want your two and half hours back. Haters gonna hate, lovers gonna…love? We thought it was alright.
THING 2 – Ben Affleck is a f***ing good Batman
And he deserves that F bomb. The reaction to his casting verged on “you murdered my parents in front of me,” but Affleck punches back at those naysayers as hard he hits Superman in his perfect fucking face. He’s bitter, he’s furious, he’s mournful, he’s sarcastic, and then he gets more furious. This is a Bruce Wayne that’s battle-hardened and confronted with the horrors of a destructive event he can barely comprehend, and we get that great Gone Girl rage. And that fight? The title fight? It is brutal. If you’ve come for the fight you’ll be happy.
THING 3 – It’s Nolan serious
The filmmakers are dying to keep this in the really real world of Man Of Steel, which means that a lot of the film is spent reminding you of Big Damn Consequences. “Not fun” is the same stick that Man Of Steel was beaten with, but there are senate hearings, burning effigies, talk about dirty bombs, some commentary on immigration if you’re really looking… Batman’s so furious he’s actually branding people. But this doesn’t do Superman any favours, and more importantly, it means that the big comic book movie silliness that we all know is coming feels even more ridiculous when it crashes in.
THING 4 – Everyone’s good in it
The pacing’s kind of all over the place, but cares that we’re getting a lot of the Senate subplot when Holly Hunter is the Senator? Look, there’s Scoot McNairy! There’s Jeremy Irons as Alfred! And Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is great fun, a twitchy young billionaire who’s masking a total disregard for humanity underneath his weird friendliness and endless talk about gods and devils and power and the oldest lie in America. Yeah, that goes on a bit. Still, we love a villain with actual purpose and presence and he’s got the goods. I’m not going to say anything about cameos or surprises because I’m not a dick.
THING 5 – Finally, Wonder Woman!
We have to wait for her to get kitted up and into the thick of the action, but Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince is well worth the wait. We don’t want to say too much because that’ll ruin it, but we will say that it is just so fucking good to see her in action. Seriously. Long overdue. Which is good, but it’s more than we can say for the treatment of the other women in the film. Again, trying to avoid spoilers, but Lois gets rescued a lot and another character…yeah. That’s a shame.
So, that’s what we thought about Batman V Superman. Mixed bag. But that’s one man’s opinion and there’s a lot to discuss, so let us know what you thought in the comments below.
Read our full review here.
