Psycho v God

Rating: 5/10 (4 April 2016)

This isn't a review per se. I'll only attempt to communicate the feelings I had upon watching BvS. Seen the movie twice and there are times now that I find myself getting excited to watch Superman_and_Batman on the big screen together,..moments,..like this movie never happened..I'm not saying I wish it didn't happen -yet- I'm saying it was so shallow and unsatisfying,..all the anticipation and expectation built over the last three years has nowhere to go now..Batman had his time with a great classical and modern take..Being the lifelong Superman fan I am,I thought this might have given us that modern Superman we were all aching to see after Nolan's Batman..Then came Snyder..One might say that 'modern Superman' was Man of Steel..No,it wasn't,MoS was a nice sci-fi action movie featuring Superman,it was not a Superman movie..But MoS was a complete narrative,a whole movie;..BvS often feels like a mashup of several clips,or like a very long music video.
There are two main problems with Snyder and his DCU,first is all about himself;..he isn't a storyteller. I've no idea what his process is but I believe he visualizes every frame of the movie when reading a script then he jumps on to create those frames in front of the camera without giving any consideration to the narrative or performance..On the bts photos I saw,he is always looking through a lens as he's directing,..no doubt,..he has great talent in composing beautiful frames with great cinematography;..but movies aren't photography exhibitions,they are stories..Great story and characters can save bad looking films in terms of cinematography(Avengers)but great cinematography doesn't make a movie if your story cannot convey emotion...Obviously,Snyder is smart enough to realize his shortcomings and employs talented individuals around him to compensate,especially in big movies,and once he does I believe he turns his whole focus on the visuals,doesn't think of the other aspects as he already assigned them to others.
The second big problem with DCU;..others aren't as good as Snyder thinks..Nolan may be gracious enough to give DavidGoyer writing credit,..but looking closely at the 'making of'of that trilogy,Goyer is merely there as a comicbook consultant..Then we have ChrisTerrio who wrote Oscar winning Argo,great writer,not a comicbook man and I believe Terrio took over the script after Goyer left so there wasn't one talented comicbook man in the cooking room..Of course there's always the possibility that Terrio wrote a great script but all the story moments were scrapped in favor of action visuals.
Then there's HenryCavill,..carbon copy of the comic book character...He is physically Superman but Cavill isn't a very talented actor, he is not so bad that his performance takes you out of the movie but he is nowhere near his co-stars...Great actors can give great performances even with bad direction,not-so-great actors need direction which Snyder only provides behind a telephoto lens I assume..Its not possible to fault Henry too much though;..I think only directions they gave him are..'look like God'..and..'look tough'..I'm %100 sure Henry speaks more words in any 2minute Youtube interview than BvS in its entirety..Snyder's Superman has no character..In their quest to make him relatable first they made him a greenhorn who doesn't know what he is supposed to do in MoS,then when it came to the actual 'formed' character in BvS they decided to turn him into God,a passive,narcissist God at that.
It's baffling how people cannot understand Superman so I'll provide an analogy to explain him..Every one of us probably has a friend who we trust and count on,one person who we know -even if we do not admit to ourselves- is better than ourselves, always trying to help us and others, selfless..I'm not saying this friend is perfect, he may have his own flaws, he may get fed up helping,but he does it anyway,because he is a good guy, a best friend...Superman is that friend, but not only for you or me, for everyone..Snyder might say "Yeah but we can't make an all good character,that's boring",yes that's boring,.I'm not saying you build a two dimensional character that you only see when he is saving people,that wouldn't have much more depth than Henry's Superman who we only see when he is watching people from above...I'm saying that's what Superman does, without changing that-essence of the character-its possible to add hundreds of different character traits..You want him more relatable? Focus on the psychological aspects of the immense responsibility he has when he is saving people, he can't save everyone -he's not God Zack- tries to make the best choice,may obsess over other possible ways even when he makes the best choice.Many inner conflict stories can be drawn from that 'responsibility' theme that can fill a NickCassavetes drama...I read Snyder saying"People cling on Reeve's version but the real source character's from comicbook"..Hey Zack,..those filmmakers didn't pull Superman the Movie out of their bottom,..they just understood the character from those comics..That's why Reeve is still most fans' Superman,..because he was able to embody that 'friend'.
A director only concerned with visuals,a leading man without any lines and 100different story lines from comics crammed into one script..This is what we get for the meeting of two greatest characters of modern history on the big screen.
Oh,nearly forgot...Batman.Greatest detective and ninja,one of the smartest people on the planet..Despises guns because his parents were killed by one and even if he knows killing might be the best option sometimes,he never does it because he is always afraid if he crosses that line,he would become one of the criminals he fights so hard to clean Gotham from..Snyder's Bat shoots guns(dream or not)his car has a machine gun,kills people in cold blood(port chase)and gets manipulated by Lex(who himself doesn't show any sign of intelligence)into fighting with God..And also you can shut this psycho Batman down by saying 'Martha'..How do you mess Batman up too?..Hasn't even been 4years since they explained who he is amazingly well..At least we have those for Batman though.
Anyway. Thanks Zack! Good action.