Clipper Crit: Batman vs. Superman

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Directed by Zack Snyder

Starring: Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

My rating: 3.5/5

First, I should establish my credentials. I am not an expert on comics, and I have a very definite bias towards Superman in this case. Whoops. So, here are my thoughts on the movie.

The most obvious thing about this movie is that the morality of all the characters varies from bad to worse. On the plus side, the movie explored a lot of things other superhero movies neglect to look at like the consequences of heroic actions and the extent to which collateral damage and cruelty is tolerable in a super hero. I was actually surprised at just how negative the light on the heroes, especially Batman, was and how many surprisingly valid points Lex Luthor had. It was certainly interesting, but I was left feeling as though the biggest differences between Lex Luthor and Batman were Batman’s mother’s name, and Lex Luthor’s tics and tendency to ramble. Both were more than willing to destroy innocents to get a weapon to bring down a man who had not shown any signs of turning evil. While it’s understandable to fear powers as impressive as Superman’s, that fear is a flimsy excuse to justify most of the actions taken by Lex Luthor and Batman. I struggled to find much to like about Batman given his inclinations towards cruel and unusual punishments (branding and torture), but that doesn't mean that Superman is off the hook. While it seemed that he was only trying to help, his intervention often seemed thoughtless and motivated mostly by a desire to save Lois Lane and the people close to him without a care towards the broader consequences. In a way, this would be understandable for a normal person, but borders selfish for someone, who as the movie points out, is by his nature forced to be more god than man.

One of my favorite elements about the movie was the allusions. Lex Luthor especially was constantly referencing history and religion, and the references actually aligned well with the motifs of power, corruption, strength, and tyranny that this movie was based on. The movie, like most action movies, relied heavily on the destruction of skyscrapers to emotionally influence the audience and the 9/11 imagery was not subtle, especially during Superman’s fight with Zodd which ended Man of Steel, which was a move taken probably to make Batman’s hate for the man who contributed to all the destruction more relatable to the audience. There was also a degree of political commentary slipped into Superman’s rescue of Lois Lane in Africa, the leader of those terrorists directly mentioning drone strikes. This allusion to American power is especially pointed when you consider the way Superman is used to represent capability versus right through the movie, one minor character actually saying that “the world has been so caught up by what he [Superman] can do that no one has asked what he should do.” Lex Luthor, motivated by his conviction that “the oldest lie... [is] that power can be innocent,” frequently mentions historical tyrants and he changes the famous Paul Revere poem to fit Superman in the role of the British tyrants, “the red capes are coming” and “one if by land two if by air.” Luthor also fears Superman’s ability to become a tyrant because of Luthor’s father’s past under the tyranny in communist East Germany during the Cold War. Wonder Woman fights to help the Belgians resist German occupation in 1918, and in Batman’s dream the soldiers under Superman wear the red Superman symbol on their arms, looking eerily similar to Nazi armbands.

The movie was overall a far more philosophical and intellectual movie than any other superhero movie I've seen yet. And, the ending was extraordinarily deep for an action movie. However, I personally thought that the ending was ruined by the obvious and overt advertising for the sequel which was quite unnecessary and commercialized a movie that, while it could hardly not be commercial, had seemed as though it was aiming for something a little higher than money. In the end, the movie was thought-provoking and interesting. But, if you are looking for the action-humor-humor-action-humor plot exemplified by the Avengers, I would not recommend this movie; it was very dark, very violent, and almost entirely devoid of humor. While enjoyable, I don't really recommend spending seven dollars to see it now, especially if you are prone to headaches after 2 1/2 hours of explosions, gunshots, and slow motion bullet drops. Wait for the DVD.

Illustration by Isabella Smith