Maybe you just don't get it...

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2017)

To me, the most perplexing thing about this movie is how a certain segment of the audience can't accept the Snyder/Batfleck version of Batman: older, more fanatical, hostile to the super powered alien who flattened Bruce Wayne's Metropolis business premises and killed members of his 'family', but who seem to have no issue with the Nolan/Bale interpretation of the character in 'Rises'; an imbecilic, mother-fixated physical wreck (and if you haven't even considered what the pearls might symbolise in that movie, please stop reading now!). For me, the BvS Batman is just another version of the iconic comic book hero; the director even appears to point this out by having 'his' Bruce Wayne witness a vision of a Batman in another reality; one in which the Man of Steel is very much an enemy, the 'point man' for an apocalyptic alien invasion. Personally, I appreciated the manner in which Snyder fuses the version of Arthurian legend from the 1981 movie 'Excalibur' with his Batman/Superman match up, even going so far as to set Bruce's batchelor pad on pretty much the same lakeside where Percival returns Excalibur to the water at the end of that movie(to the strains of 'Siegfried's Funeral March'). By paralleling Superman's death with that of King Arthur (both die fighting an 'abomination', Superman's demise mirroring Arthur's), we are left with the notion of Superman's 'return' when he will be most needed, setting up not only the coming JL movie, but also creating a repentant, redemptive character arc for Batman. The movie could have done with more inspired CGI, more widespread suspicion of Superman's motives in the background and more clarity on Luthor's exact motives (I personally think he was probably originally intended to be much more of a religious nut than a scheming billionaire, but I can see why that would have been toned down!). Also, I would have liked for the distinction between the liberal, elitist ultra-modern Metropolis and run-down, urban wasteland Gotham to have been more clearly defined. As for the 'Martha' moment, I didn't subscribe to the 'dumb and dumber' interpretation when I first saw the movie, and I still don't. Would the Batman of the reality of BvS have reacted to Superman's ultimatum (retire or you're dead) and Luthor's set-up the way he did? Certainly. Would he have relented when Superman's mention of his mother's name made sense of the 'bat-monster' dream, making him realise how far he'd fallen? Of course. And again, why was Snyder's treatment of Bruce Wayne's 'mother issues' pilloried by critics while Nolan's portrayal of a Bruce Wayne so mother-fixated that he: (a) ignores the danger of his stolen fingerprints while getting her pearls back and (b) forms no suspicion of 'Miranda' whatsoever despite the chain of coincidences that placed her in a position to hand over the fusion reactor to Bane? Would a dying man (even Superman) actually use his mother's name in that situation? No, but this is a movie. And isn't the use of 'the child of Ra's Al Ghul' to disguise 'Miranda's' true identity in 'Rises' just as contrived? Would Bruce Wayne seek to redeem himself by taking on the challenge of defending the Earth from the dangers to come? Definitely. That's my tuppence worth, anyway. Maybe I'm completely wrong or maybe, like the Nolanites who don't understand that 'Rises' is woefully written and plotted (or worse, blindly refuse to accept the fact) while levelling similar criticism at BvS, you just don't get it.
NB: This review is for the Ultimate Cut.