Of course I’m talking about the intense cinematic rivalry
that has raged for years between DC and its biggest rival Marvel. 2012’s The
Avengers was a hit, the highest grossing film that year and whenever a film
achieves that kind of success, the competing studios all react in some way. Rather than taking notes, DC instead chose to take the easy route and dive
straight into the ensemble film first. Every studio wants to turn a profit from
the films they produce, but what separates Marvel from DC is the way they treat
their characters and the cinematic universe as a whole. By giving Iron Man,
Captain America, Hulk and Thor their own films first, we got to know the
characters, understood what sets them apart and we were able to follow all of
them together more easily when the ensemble film finally came out. Not only
that, but the films had a great sense of build-up which still continues to this
day. The anticipation has more momentum and we look forward to the next big
film, mostly notably Infinity War. DC has chosen to almost entirely disregard
all of these tried and true techniques. They're so concerned about getting this universe set up that they forget to make compelling films that stand on their own.
Batman is the best part of
the movie, but you know what would have made him even better? A standalone film
showing his degeneration from hero to vigilante; just imagine the kinds of
emotions Affleck could have gotten across with the loss of Robin and the amount
of time he has spent fighting crime. It would have made his character far more
detailed and realised for the big ensemble. Instead what we get is a plot which
skips over much of this backstory in favour of setting up the Justice League
movie; it’s such a shame how DC cares so little about developing its
characters. The most glaring example of this is the congressional hearing scene
which Superman attends to answer for the destruction he caused in Man of Steel. Rather than
having an interesting conversation to develop and question Superman’s God-like
image, the meeting quite literally explodes and we’re right back to focusing on
the Justice League setup again; it’s a middle finger to character building in
every way.
The overzealous promotional material certainly didn’t help
either; the second to last trailer for Batman v Superman blatantly spoiled the
film’s big twist; that Doomsday was in the movie and that the two titular
heroes wouldn’t really have much of a fight at all. Instead it was a series of
squabbles before the final battle which sees the two teaming up with Wonder
Woman to take on Doomsday. The trailer was placed into as many cinemas as
possible and to me it reeks of desperation; that final shot of Superman, Batman
and Wonder Woman in the frame was designed solely to get people in the seats,
nothing else and any surprises the film could have had were neutered as a
result. When a film handles its promotion and construction with a disregard for
its audience, it loses a lot of impact. According to several media sources, BVS needs to make one billion dollars to be considered a success and it has fallen fairly short of that target after a record sales drop of 69% in its second weekend; in another desperate move, Warner Bros is now considering an R rated cut to be released in cinemas later.
Why did Snyder and company chuck Doomsday in? Because Wonder
Woman would literally have no reason to be there; she doesn’t hold a grudge
against Batman or Superman and would have been relegated to a side role without
any kind of on-screen action, either that or she would have suddenly showed up at the end to break up the squabbling. Again this comes back to the idea of developing a
universe slowly before diving into the ensemble film; having a standalone Wonder
Woman film in place would have really helped us to latch on to her character,
to understand what she went through before getting to this epic battle. Instead
the final battle of Batman v Superman is so forced and tacked on that it comes
off as an anti-climax. Rather than feeling enthralled, I felt indifferent to
the action in BVS’s final moments because there was hardly any build-up or
development to it.
That’s what I can say for many moments in the film; Wonder
Woman was not developed at all so again I felt nothing when she arrived to lend
a hand in the final battle. When Superman “died” I just didn’t care, because
his character and relationship with Lois Lane had barely been given any time to
grow on me. A movie of this scale is supposed to be thrilling; it’s supposed to
send chills down your spine as you watch the intensity play out but instead it
comes off as incredibly muted. I should have been gripping my seat wondering how things would play out but I just couldn't; that's where the movie fails the most. There’s even a moment where The Flash appears out
of nowhere to warn Batman of something and it was so brief that it literally
went right over my head while watching. This is precisely what happens when you jump headlong
into an ensemble film without crafting your characters and the world they
inhabit beforehand. Combine this with the aforementioned marketing problems and
you have a film with nearly all the thrills sucked out before you even see it.
Batman v Superman has been developed in a pressure cooker
over the past three years; it’s one of the more expensive superhero films
produced and for DC it’s a mad dash to get the profits first. To do that, they
needed to up the stakes so therefore they jammed in every last plot thread and
character they could and expected them to work well together. This is something
that Spiderman 3, The Amazing Spiderman 2 and Fant4stic were all guilty of to
varying extents and they were dragged down in the eyes of many audiences. If DC
wants to go the dark route, fair enough; it sets them apart from Marvel. If they
want to make a big cinematic universe to compete with their biggest rival,
fine. But the way they’re going about it right now is very ill advised.
(All images labelled for reuse)
(All images labelled for reuse)
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