Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Directed by Zack Snyder

This review of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will not be the mammoth dissection that was my review of Man of Steel three years ago [LINK]. This is just going to be a short statement of my own impressions, with no intent to argue or justify my points. What would be the purpose? The critics have spoken, and as happened with John Carter and Green Lantern both, what may have begun as legitimate criticisms seems to have started feeding on themselves as critics seem more interested now in outdoing their peers in showing how clever can be their criticisms than in providing reasoned analysis and evaluation. The audience seems to have received the movie more kindly. For what it’s worth, the Rotten Tomatoes scores are quite divergent (approximately 28/72), far more so than for Man of Steel (approximately 56/76). (I found it really interesting last week how the initial critics’ assessments were quite a bit more in line with Man of Steel than the ones that started coming out later – when the later critics had had time to figure out which way the wind was blowing and the piling-on had time to begin.) Don’t get me wrong. This is obviously not a movie for everyone, and it is a movie that does have its shortcomings, particularly an uneven pacing as well as a couple of things highlighted below. It is ultimately, I believe, less a movie for general audiences than it was a movie for me and someone like me – a life-long comic-book fan with a deep love for these characters (one I do not have for the Marvel Universe, which means I admittedly approach those movies with a degree of objectivity that is not possible for me in this case). I can easily see how someone who does not have that love – and the innate knowledge of myriad story-lines and images accumulated over fifty years of reading DC Comics – would be left cold by it. All I can ultimately say is that I enjoyed BVS:DOJ  very much and look forward to seeing future installments in the DC Movie Universe that is emerging from what I consider to have been a similarly – albeit not to the same degree -- maligned Man of Steel.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (Warner-DC 2015)

Directed by Ethan Spaulding, "Inspired by the Graphic Novel, 'Justice League: Throne of Atlantis'"

A few evenings ago, I watched the newest DC Animated Movie, the second “New 52” offering, Justice League:  Throne of Atlantis.  I enjoyed this one much more on the initial viewing than I did the first [LINK].  Even though I’m still irked they replaced Aquaman with Captain Marvel “Shazam” in Justice League:  War, it allowed them to give the King of the Seven Seas a really good story in this one, being introduced and discovering his heritage right along with his teammates-to-be (because he’s been admitted to the still-new Justice League” by the end).  It also gave his mother a larger, and heartbreaking, role in the story (but still better than how they’re currently treating her in the comics, although that story is still playing out).  Of course, it simplified and streamlined the story as it appeared in the comics, even beyond the necessary changes to the storyline.  Mostly it worked, even though Orm comes off as nothing more than a villain here, with no redeeming qualities as he’s been given in the comics.  Mera's comics origin seems to be completely negated here.  And there was ‘way too much continuous fighting toward the end – inevitable especially when you’ve got such a large cast to juggle.  I was reminded of Man of Steel.  Overall, however, I really liked this movie.  This was the Aquaman I would like to see on the big screen.  Although I try to give Zack Snyder the benefit of the doubt in what’s coming for Superman V. Batman:  Dawn of Justice, Jason Momoa is just nothing like the Aquaman I would like to see – he may do a fine job (he does seem to have enthusiasm for the role), but the image they released last week ... 

...was the first thing connected to the upcoming movie that I’ve just had a visceral “No!” ripped from me over – literally, sitting with my wife, waiting for an appointment, paging down my Facebook feed, I blurted out a strangled “No!”  … She did not understand even once I tried to explain.  But I think I could show her this movie and maybe she would get it….  I definitely will be watching and enjoying this movie again.

Cheers! ... and Thanks for reading!

(N.B.:  I have no idea what is up with the duplication of the title "Throne of Atlantis" for two different graphic novels.  I have the original comics, in which the story arc crossed over between the two ongoing titles.  Did DC publish all of the chapters in each series' collections?  Or, horrific as it might sound, did they only the chapters proper to each series in that title's collections?)

Man of Steel (2013)

Directed by Zack Snyder

All right, I've now seen Man of Steel for a second time, a few days after the first, after I'd had time to let things sink in and had thought of things to look for and pay attention to in a second viewing, and had a further week thereafter to reflect on it. The result is the longest blog post I've ever written on any single subject short of my monthly round-up of thirty or so DC Comics titles.

I want to lead off by saying my basic assessment, which I kind of soft-pedaled in my “First Impressions” post (link) in case I changed my mind, is that this movie is awesome. I was not at all disappointed in it as I feared I might be. In fact, I think I enjoyed it even more the second go'round, which is a really good feeling given how long I've been looking forward to it with a mixture of hope and dread born of my love for the character pitted against recognition of Hollywood's ability to completely miss the mark. As usual, this is not going to be some kind of carefully considered “review,” but more of a “Randomly Rambling” commentary on the things I liked, some things I didn't like so much – there were most definitely some – and so forth. Inevitably, there will be some repeating of points I made in the “First Impressions” post, but here I intend to develop them quite a bit more.

Although I'm not setting out to summarize the story, per se, do I really need to warn of Spoilers Ahead...?

Man of Steel -- First Impressions

I'm going to hold off a while before putting up a full blog-post with my "final" assessment of this movie, give myself more time to think about it -- and most likely see it again along the way.  Right now I'm just too close to it.  As I told a friend earlier today on Facebook, I've been looking forward to this movie finally appearing for so long, I'm not sure I can be anything approaching objective toward it.

I can put forth what are pretty much my immediate reactions to it, however, given only a few hours all told to consider it.  I saw it, of course, with pretty much the earliest "general release" viewers in the US, as part of the "Walmart" promotion last night at 7 pm.  

I must admit that the movie didn't exactly blow me away, at least in the short term.  Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed it immensely, and so did my wife, who is not a comic book/super-hero fan -- at all -- and I intend to come back later with a full write-up of all the things I liked.  Among them will doubtless be the most fully developed treatment of a "realistic" yet very alien Krypton itself, as well as Jor-El and Lara, that I think has ever been seen in live action.  And, contrary to what some of the critics are saying, I think the story very much does have "heart," mainly in the portrayal of Clark's relationship with his earthly father and mother, Jonathan and Martha Kent.  And most definitely one of the strengths of this movie compared to any other Superman portrayal in the past is a real sense of the horrific devastation that would be caused by such super-beings engaged in an all-out, knock-down drag-out battle.  It's almost overwhelming.  If I would put forth an immediate criticism of the movie, it's that the full-on, relentless fighting that is basically the back half of the movie is downright mind-numbing.  That's kind of what I mean that it didn't "blow me away."  I was more stunned than anything else by the end of the two-hours-plus.