Rewatch. Honestly, I thought I would like this movie less upon rewatch, but like Man of Steel, I finished and I think I rather like it too. I think this movie does things a lot better than Man of Steel. It nearly doesn’t feel as choppy as the beginning of MoS, and despite having much more content, it also allowed its scenes to breathe a lot more. The movie has very few action sequences (only towards the end) and in my opinion, that was a very good decision.
BvS connects to what was addressed already in MoS, which is Superman’s place and purpose and how the world can deal with him. In MoS he decided that he wants to be a beacon of hope (which he manages to be) but BvS shows too how men feel when god exists. As Alfred put it, it’s a feeling of “powerlessness”. All of sudden, we’re suddenly not special anymore. The realization that things much bigger than we exist can be something to rely on, but it can also be a source of fear. The movie takes a lot of time to explore this topic and to have also the characters explore each other in a more investigative manner. It’s very well shown that Superman’s existence alone creates tension and that people like Luther can exploit that for their own goals.
There is a lot of criticism towards the movie regarding the more dark interpretations of many characters. Superman is not all good, Batman kills. While I can see that there is a lot freedom in how they adapt these characters, I don’t think it’s an issue. It’s a more realistic, and less idealistic take on characters, and in my opinion that still works well with the themes this movie wants to tell. Superman sees himself not as a god, but a lot people, also Luther do. They put him on a high pedestal, and give him traits and responsibilities just because he’s on that pedestal. It raises the question what the definition of god is, and what god and humans are supposed to do with each other.
Batman on the other hand sees himself as the “man”, plagued by the feeling of powerlessness not only when it comes to Superman, but also crimefighting in general. He fought crime for 20 years in Gotham, but criminals are still commonplace, he didn’t change anything. Superman is able to do things he can’t do, which terrifies him. Fear and frustration are the ideal components to make use of, in order to aggravate more hatred and violence like Luthor did. But as it turns out, Superman and Batman are both very similar in what they want to do. The Martha scene could be better executed, but it reminded Batman of his and Superman’s humanity. There is no “god”. The notion of calling someone god and the other human creates a power dynamic, but in the end the solution is neither to condemn the god or put your troubles on him, in the end, everyone needs to try to do better, to work together. This is also something that Senator June Finch tries to do, and precisely why Lex has to intervene. I liked him as a villain because he was crucial to this movie's plot and themes. But admittedly, Eisenberg also took a lot of freedom with the character.
But I had no large issues. I think it’s perfectly fine to have your own interpretations regarding characters to tell your story appropriately. Hell, 40s Batman in his first comics killed a bunch of criminals. The no-kill rule came later. Yes, it’s understandable if you like it as an aspect of his character, and if you’re annoyed they removed it in this movie, but. I don’t think it should be forbidden to have new interpretations of characters, because that’s what I read a lot about this movie. I think the characters work well with the theme and the more grim tone these movies go for and I’m fine with that. They are not changed for no reason. To address some other aspects as well - Wonder Woman slapped. The soundtrack, her entrance… it’s good. I think how she was portrayed was a little overdone at some points but overall no complaints. The way they introduced all the other meta-humans, in general, is pretty cool. This world already feels pretty organic in how it reacts to people with supernatural powers. Superman’s death is well executed as well. It was a good emotional moment, and even if we didn’t have 5 movies to learn to love him it hit hard enough. But, I think the ending was too stretched out and 1-2 scenes could’ve been cut out. That was choppy. So yeah, overall really solid. Chris Terrio is the new addition to the writing department and it seems to be a good change, and Snyder improved his storytelling in this movie. The title is misleading, though. Not gonna argue about that.
Review by KaitoVIP 2BlockedParentSpoilers2023-03-12T12:30:30Z— updated 2023-03-18T05:46:07Z
Rewatch. Honestly, I thought I would like this movie less upon rewatch, but like Man of Steel, I finished and I think I rather like it too. I think this movie does things a lot better than Man of Steel. It nearly doesn’t feel as choppy as the beginning of MoS, and despite having much more content, it also allowed its scenes to breathe a lot more. The movie has very few action sequences (only towards the end) and in my opinion, that was a very good decision.
BvS connects to what was addressed already in MoS, which is Superman’s place and purpose and how the world can deal with him. In MoS he decided that he wants to be a beacon of hope (which he manages to be) but BvS shows too how men feel when god exists. As Alfred put it, it’s a feeling of “powerlessness”. All of sudden, we’re suddenly not special anymore. The realization that things much bigger than we exist can be something to rely on, but it can also be a source of fear. The movie takes a lot of time to explore this topic and to have also the characters explore each other in a more investigative manner. It’s very well shown that Superman’s existence alone creates tension and that people like Luther can exploit that for their own goals.
There is a lot of criticism towards the movie regarding the more dark interpretations of many characters. Superman is not all good, Batman kills. While I can see that there is a lot freedom in how they adapt these characters, I don’t think it’s an issue. It’s a more realistic, and less idealistic take on characters, and in my opinion that still works well with the themes this movie wants to tell. Superman sees himself not as a god, but a lot people, also Luther do. They put him on a high pedestal, and give him traits and responsibilities just because he’s on that pedestal. It raises the question what the definition of god is, and what god and humans are supposed to do with each other.
Batman on the other hand sees himself as the “man”, plagued by the feeling of powerlessness not only when it comes to Superman, but also crimefighting in general. He fought crime for 20 years in Gotham, but criminals are still commonplace, he didn’t change anything. Superman is able to do things he can’t do, which terrifies him. Fear and frustration are the ideal components to make use of, in order to aggravate more hatred and violence like Luthor did. But as it turns out, Superman and Batman are both very similar in what they want to do. The Martha scene could be better executed, but it reminded Batman of his and Superman’s humanity. There is no “god”. The notion of calling someone god and the other human creates a power dynamic, but in the end the solution is neither to condemn the god or put your troubles on him, in the end, everyone needs to try to do better, to work together. This is also something that Senator June Finch tries to do, and precisely why Lex has to intervene. I liked him as a villain because he was crucial to this movie's plot and themes. But admittedly, Eisenberg also took a lot of freedom with the character.
But I had no large issues. I think it’s perfectly fine to have your own interpretations regarding characters to tell your story appropriately. Hell, 40s Batman in his first comics killed a bunch of criminals. The no-kill rule came later. Yes, it’s understandable if you like it as an aspect of his character, and if you’re annoyed they removed it in this movie, but. I don’t think it should be forbidden to have new interpretations of characters, because that’s what I read a lot about this movie. I think the characters work well with the theme and the more grim tone these movies go for and I’m fine with that. They are not changed for no reason.
To address some other aspects as well - Wonder Woman slapped. The soundtrack, her entrance… it’s good. I think how she was portrayed was a little overdone at some points but overall no complaints. The way they introduced all the other meta-humans, in general, is pretty cool. This world already feels pretty organic in how it reacts to people with supernatural powers.
Superman’s death is well executed as well. It was a good emotional moment, and even if we didn’t have 5 movies to learn to love him it hit hard enough. But, I think the ending was too stretched out and 1-2 scenes could’ve been cut out. That was choppy.
So yeah, overall really solid. Chris Terrio is the new addition to the writing department and it seems to be a good change, and Snyder improved his storytelling in this movie. The title is misleading, though. Not gonna argue about that.
7.5/10