When franchises collide

Rating: 5/10 (16 July 2016)

I went to see this movie with very low expectations. I'm not a fan of Zack Snyder and the mix of Superman and Batman seemed more like a construction for the box office than anything else. And if Man of Steel was anything to go by I expected this film to be both boring and pretentious.
Like King Kong vs Godzilla, Freddy vs Jason or Alien vs Predator; Batman v Superman comes out behind a number of movies with the two icons involved. Usually, these death-match flicks are made when both franchises are too washed-out to hype the audience. The producers turns to fan fiction for some new commercial potential. And in the case of Batman the franchise so clearly peaked with the brilliant Dark Knight that it was always going to be a downward spiral from there.
The plot comes with the standard concepts and problems associated with these franchise collisions. The two parties meet, conflict occurs and the fight is on. But why? In this case it's Alexander Luthor that applies the old divide and conquer tactic. Superman clearly wasn't blessed with super intelligence as you might think. But who's rational when it comes to love and family? Eventually they unite against an common enemy. Lets just say it's all very standard stuff.
The casting is a mixed bag to say the least. Henry Cavill does the same Superman thing we've seen before. I think Superman is quite a dull character to begin with and Cavill does absolutely nothing to make him more interesting. Supermans alter ego Clark Kent is the exact same thing but with glasses. Or is Superman the Alter ego? Whatever.
Ben Affleck fits in well with Cavill. His Bruce Wayne lacks all the humor and charisma the character should have and his Batman is even worse. Ben Affleck looks like he's walking around in one of those early diving suits with iron boots and helmet. I guess you need quite heavy armor when you're fighting Superman. But he ends up looking like one of those Batman impersonators in Dark Knight more than he does the real thing. Maybe he's wearing hockey pads? I don't know.
Jesse Eisenberg plays the villain Alexander Luthor. His part is a bit more interesting but sadly even worse. Luthor jr wants to bring on Supermans doomsday and starts off as a young and nerdy corporate wizkid developing into this evil Willy Wonka character. Seeing Eisenberg trying to pull off these Johnny Depp-ish lines and moves is pure pain. He even cites Alice in Wonderland. Bad casting and bad acting.
Amy Adams does a good job as Lois. The job of trying to make up for Supermans total lack of character that is. And Jeremy Irons is perfect as Alfred. A part he could probably do in his sleep.
A lot of the criticism of the cast should probably be aimed at the director. Snyder isn't in my opinion a very good director and it shows with the actors. But Snyder is all about overly orchestrated action scenes in CGI and slow motion. He's throwing people through buildings, walls, ceilings and building material in general. And he loves those dream scenes that you suppose to think is really happening but ends with a scare. If that's what you're looking for, look no more.
Some of the action is good though. At least the fighting that only involves humans. Snyder has clearly seen Dark Knight a few times. The grim tone and washed-out color palette makes for a similar look. A lot of the drama in the buildup to the action is done in a similar style. Lex is shot with his back to the camera a few times in Joker style, dramatic opening of doors and there's even a bad guy with a big scar by his mouth.
So it's still half of a quite bad Batman movie. But as Batman says himself: "They say that the world only makes sense when you force it to." In this case it involves a bit too much force to be able to watch for three full hours.