WASHINGTON — It was the best of genres, it was the worst of genres, a blockbuster聽Tale of Two Cities,聽Gotham and Metropolis, and their superhero saviors that became global icons, The Dark Knight聽and聽The Man of Steel.
One franchise defined the very best of the superhero flick, as Tim Burton delivered a darkly-comic Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in “Batman” (1989)聽before聽Christopher Nolan created聽the genre’s greatest with聽“The Dark Knight Trilogy” (2005-2012), allowing Alejandro G. Inarritu to swoop in with Keaton for a superhero satire that bookended the era聽with a Best Picture聽“Birdman” (2014).
The other saw聽a failed remake聽with “Superman Returns” (2006) that required an immediate聽reboot in (2013), which聽inserted way too many opening set-up scenes, ignored the聽Lois & Clark聽romance so much that the final kiss felt聽unearned,聽and built to an overlong action climax that left many wondering whether聽Zack Snyder (“300,” “Watchmen”) was the right聽director聽for the job.
Now, the two franchises collide in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,”聽pitting two of the world’s most iconic superheroes in a dream death-match. Over the course of 2 1/2 hours, you’ll learn that little聽has changed in the overkill approach, as Snyder doubles down on many of his worst instincts.
We pick up where “Man of Steel” left off,聽amid聽Superman’s defeat of General Zod in a battle that destroyed much of Metropolis. Turns out, a loved one聽of billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) was in one of the towers (a grim 9/11 reminder), planting seeds of revenge against聽Superman (Henry Cavill), who is busy writing for his editor (Laurence Fishburne) and protecting lover Lois Lane (Amy Adams).
Wayne聽creates his own alternate聽identity as the caped crusader Batman, who stages vigilante justice out of his Bat Cave聽in聽Gotham City — assisted聽by butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons) — protecting聽innocent citizens while branding his captured criminals. But a new evil mastermind is on the rise, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), hoping to stoke the flames of resentment between Batman and Superman.
Co-written by Chris Terrio, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Argo” (2012), and David S. Goyer, co-writer of “The Dark Knight Trilogy” (2005-2012), this blockbuster script聽finds聽glimmers of killer聽dialogue between two trash-talking heroes. “Next time you see that Bat Signal, don’t go into the light,” Superman says, to which聽Batman replies, “Do you bleed? You will.” Both lines pay off later聽on.
Terrio and Goyer also deserve kudos for finding an often overlooked, yet vital family coincidence聽between the Superman and Batman comics. We we won’t say what, so as to avoid spoilers, but the revelation helps to provide a pivotal聽turning point in the characters’聽relationship.
Still, all the clever lines and unique comic-book connections聽can’t overcome聽the film’s relentlessly depressing mood and聽inherent聽identity crisis. Its tone rarely lets聽loose to have a little fun — as Nicholson’s Joker said, “This town needs an enema!” — while the story can never decide which of its brooding characters are its heroes and villains, pondering God vs. Man聽toward a jumbled finale.
Fans who are hoping for a well-told story building toward, you know, Batman v Superman will feel slighted as the filmmakers opt instead to give us “Batman v Superman v Lex Luthor v Wonder Woman v Another Villain Who Shall Not Be Named.” With this much clutter, you can’t quite possibly give each character his or her due, paying each lip service instead of building the proper character arcs.
Initially, the聽setup suggests聽Superman as the misunderstood聽protagonist and聽Batman as the scorned antagonist, roles that both聽Cavill and Affleck sell with charisma and bravado (: you’re actually a very good Batman, particularly in your suave聽Bruce Wayne tuxedo scenes). But just like Val Kilmer and George Clooney, this Batman must split screen time with too many other famous figures.
Rather than a straight Batman vs. Superman build, the title characters begin to split time as dueling heroes聽who must learn to work together — “Avengers” style — against the real聽antagonist Luthor.
OK, that’s fine. This three-way struggle聽might have worked if the filmmakers聽left it at that. But this is a 21st-century blockbuster where聽a simple hero vs. villain聽struggle is sadly never enough. Just as we’re about to聽accept Luthor as the chief villain, Snyder unleashes聽another major super villain in the final 15 minutes. This is then聽exacerbated by a lazy solution: well, we better聽add another hero聽(Gal Gadot).
We fans聽have been聽anxiously “Waiting for Gadot” to arrive after seeing Wonder Woman in the trailers, but while her performance steals the show, it’s too little too late from a narrative standpoint. By the end, we have three major superheroes battling two major villains for a climax that crowds out Lois Lane and diminishes Luthor by making him a throwaway figure unworthy of the final battle.
Can you imagine if Nicholson’s Joker didn’t face Keaton’s Batman on the bell tower? If he instead disappeared and suddenly allowed The Riddler to take over for the final fight? Sure, “The Dark Knight” allowed The Joker to disappear in favor of Two-Face, but that’s because Heath Ledger died during filming. At least Two-Face had been a character the entire time as Harvey Dent. In “Batman v Superman,” the extra聽villain comes out of nowhere, like Rhino in “Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014).
Making matters worse is Eisenberg’s over-the-top portrayal as Luthor. Twitching and chirping on a聽script that feeds him too many pop-culture聽quips, he聽feels less like a聽terrifying jokester (i.e. Ledger) and聽more like a cartoonish caricature. No worries. When you go for broke, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. You’re still the guy who gave us聽brilliant performances in “Zombieland” (2009),聽“The Social Network” (2010) and “Now You See Me” (2013). Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Luthor isn’t the only over-the-top element in “Batman v Superman.” The booming choir score by Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL practically shouts, “Look at me! I’m epic!” as Batwings and Batmobiles tear across the screen.聽By the time Affleck’s big metal suit arrives with聽its聽glowing eyes and Transformers build, it’s become a parody of itself. You can’t sell tickets to a聽Hulk Hogan vs. Stone Cold smackdown, then send one of them聽out to the ring in a giant robot suit that looks nothing like his familiar costume.
The whole point of Kryptonite is to reduce Superman down to mere mortal strength.聽This would play into the very appeal of Batman as a regular guy using wit, guts and gadgetry to hang with the most serious of rivals. Why hit Superman with Kryptonite, then use a bulky,聽goofy suit of聽armor聽anyway?
Speaking of gadgetry, it’s the Bat Cave that provides the 别虫补肠迟听尘辞尘别苍迟听when the film loses its early promise and derails toward the absurd. About聽45 minutes in, Affleck decrypts a computer file and dozes off while watching the loading bar. Only we don’t see him doze off. The screen cuts to black.
What follows is聽an elaborate聽continuous-shot聽battle where Affleck disposes of countless Luthor henchmen. It’s an admirable attempt at a聽single-shot action sequence like “Creed,”聽but聽it all feels a little too stagy compared to Keaton’s聽fluid聽single-shot in聽“Birdman.” While we try to get our grips on what the hell is happening — like many of the dream sequences in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015) — a confusing apparition from the future warns Bruce Wayne聽about the key to unraveling the truth.
Such聽questionable choices undermine the sporadic聽directorial flourishes聽that Snyder does well, namely the powerful prologue showing the double murder of Wayne’s parents. The parallelism of certain visual cues is inspired, breaking a聽pearl necklace in slow motion as bullet shells fall to the ground, echoed聽later with cannon-fire casings falling in slow motion during a solemn ceremony.
Snyder deserves some credit. If you look close enough, you can tell that he read the聽“Man of Steel” critiques condemning聽collateral damage during his downtown superhero battles. Not only does the film open by showing the consequences of the聽Superman-Zod battle, we later see Anderson Cooper reporting that聽most聽citizens聽have luckily left the city after rush hour, while a military officer reminds us that a聽crash site is uninhabited. “No innocents were harmed in the making of this movie.”
But rather than involving聽the people of Metropolis this time聽— just as聽Nolan聽pit聽the citizens of Gotham in a moral quandary of whether to blow up each other on a pair of explosive ships — Snyder is simply happy to have the citizens out of the way. He now has聽carte blanche to smash his plastic action figures through as many buildings as he wants, becoming a聽kid in a candy shop and聽creating as聽much CGI destruction as聽possible. The result is one of the busiest, darkest superhero chapters聽you’ll ever see.
Don’t get me wrong. I actually prefer DC Comics charting聽a darker, more adult brand聽than聽the candy-colored Marvel. The grittiness is more authentic聽than聽the聽sheen, similar to the old days of Warner Brothers cranking out gritty gangster pictures or Universal churning out moody monster movies.
But “Batman v Superman”聽is so dark聽as to be practically joyless. What will kids walk away thinking when the credits roll? Certainly not Christopher Reeve’s mantra of “truth, justice and the American way.” Not even Christian Bale’s humble example of a Dark Knight taking聽the blame in a sacrificial act. The message here聽feels a lot like, “Mankind is聽screwed,” or聽as Luthor says, “The bell is already rung.”
He, of course, means the bell is rung for future聽villains in the next installment, just as Batman clicks secret computer files to reveal four聽new heroes primed聽for their own spin-off聽installments. While Luthor concludes聽“the bell is already rung,” his more fitting聽quote聽comes in a convo with a U.S. Senator (Holly Hunter): “You can urinate in a jar and call it Granny’s Peach聽Tea, but it’s still urine.”
This sums up the flawed franchise model.聽Hollywood聽can call it Granny’s Peach聽Tea — even slap a fancy “Dawn of Justice” label on the jar —聽but聽it’s still urine. Maybe聽critics are “pissing in the wind;” the genie is out of the bottle.聽 But it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the endless franchise model is a shrewd聽business that limits an聽artist’s creativity to tell a focused, self-contained story.
“Batman v Superman” proves that the problem isn’t the individual pieces聽— Terrio is a great writer, Adams is a great actress, Zimmer is a great composer, even the superhero film is a great genre that speaks to our deepest hopes and fears — they’re all just working in a flawed franchise formula聽that crams in way聽too many聽characters and leaves plot lines dangling just to set up the next installment.
There will always be worthy exceptions — it’ll be fun to聽watch the origin stories of聽Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and The Green Lantern to see which ones dare to break the mold — but we’re not far from the DC Universe assembling with the Marvel Universe聽for an overstuffed crossover.
When the best聽superhero, Batman, is revived just four years after聽Nolan’s gems, simply to join聽a Superman sequel of a reboot of a remake — prefaced by trailers for “Suicide Squad” and “The Lego Batman Movie”聽amid a larger slate of “Deadpool,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “X-Men: Apocalypse,” all before “Justice League: Part One” (2017) — we’ve officially reached Peak Superhero.
Not financially, of course, but creatively. This sucker will make a zillion dollars, not off quality whatsoever, but off an untouchable, review-proof, preexisting brand, “proving” to blind execs that the formula must be working. It’s time to do the moral thing. It’s time to hit the pause button and reset.
You think you’re making money now? Try attaching that brand to聽actual good storytelling. Wow, the money you could make, the critics you could impress, the fans whose minds you could blow.
Instead, we’ll keep accepting the “same old same old,” because well, Batman and Superman.
Will the franchise bubble please burst soon so we can get some better superhero movies?
Alas, we might have to wait for Doomsday.
