When two worlds collide

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2016)

Batman v Superman is a highly ambitious movie. Two superheroes each in their own class meet in a common universe, Metropolis v Gotham City, day versus night, human versus alien. On one hand you have a human being whose intention of doing good is born from the loss of his parents as a child to crime and on the other is an alien being whose intention of doing good is to protect the people that gave him a home and accepted him among themselves as a primary mission of his existence and survival to the destruction of his home planet. Now we are put in a situation that the very people (including Batman) that accepted Superman in the first place start to worry about him endangering their kind. All makes perfect sense, people are afraid of what they can't control even if Superman is trying to protect them. But as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility, things get messy and opinions divided. Right? Well, here things go a little messy as well. Firstly, I think Zack has his occasional great inspirational moments when it comes to directing. One of my favorite superhero movies is Watchmen, not because is a superhero action movie but because is a movie that asks questions about what it means to be a superhero as seen from each one's perspective. Batman v Superman lacks these introspective questions like what's their purpose in a chaotic world. Why is that they have to share the same world, did the existence of one influenced the existence of the other or they just purely happen to coexist in the same place at the same time? What Christopher Nolan did in the Dark Knight was to show that the villain and the hero are one and the same substance in two different states, one can not exist without the other, as the Joker says: "You complete me" and "What will I do without you?". The Joker never intended to actually kill Batman as Batman also chose not to kill the Joker when he could have the chance.
And that's what doesn't add up here. The plot is centered around Superman and this could have as well been a movie about Superman only. Batman is only dragged into the story by an event that happened in Man of Steel and while I found that quite interesting at the beginning, I was expecting to see some more past interferences between the two characters to help with the story telling. Instead Batman is presented just as another representative of humanity who wants to stop Superman from producing more damage to the world. In a sense it is understandable as he is what he is, a human, with emotions and fears, although with good intentions. But for an intelligent human superhero he seems to think and act in a too foolish way, that is, he is not thinking that Superman is as emphatic as any other human and might have a mother and persons who love him closely, nor does he thinks that Superman may as well be the best hope they have to save humanity in case of a higher power treat. Superman sacrificed his own kind and his only connection left with his home in Man of Steel in order to protect the human kind and now the humanity raise against him. All said how could there even be an equal battle between the two, man vs god? Here is where Lex Luther comes on the stage. Superman has nothing against Batman but Lex, similar with the Joker, is the chaos creator; he is the one manipulating the characters bringing them to fight each other and doing this out of pleasure. He is the real treat and only when the two superheroes realize this is when they join powers.
The movie seemed a bit too fragmented, too many things happening that somehow come together in the end nor is it a movie about a real battle between two superheroes but a battle of two superheroes with themselves. Characters lack a bit of a background story and they seem to collide with each other only briefly without forming stronger connections. The dark mood of the movie was quite fitting and sound was extraordinary, the opening sequences were well done and reminded me of Suckerpunch and Watchmen opening. The end was totally unexpected and sad but this is what makes the difference in a blockbuster movie, to take risks and leave the audience in wonder.