The clock is ticking down until March 25, 2016, when the movie comic book fans thought they would never see is finally unleashed: Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Zack Snyder has amassed an all-star cast to tell this fanboy dream come true, and as promising as it looks, a sharply-cut trailer should only really be taken at face value.After all, this is such a complex project with such ridiculously high expectations from a fan base notorious for being nit-picky and difficult-to-please, so there are plenty of opportunities for it to go wrong. Whether it ends up being a flawed masterpiece or a Batman And Robin-level failure (immensely unlikely though that is), these 10 issues seem almost certain to arise from both fans and critics.From Snyder’s aesthetic choices to inevitably appearing in the shadow of what came before and the future of these characters on screen, Batman V Superman has a ton to wrestle with, and if it manages to weather even just half of these issues, then it’ll be nothing short of a minor miracle.
As if the prospect of a showdown movie between two of the most iconic superheroes of all time wasn’t a daunting enough task, the film is also set to include cameo appearances from Aqua man and Cyborg, not to mention a significant role for Wonder Woman, who will reportedly be facing off against Doomsday.In addition, the trailers have made it clear that The Joker also has his hooks in Batman (it appears he has killed Robin), and the film will presumably have some sort of link to their encounter in Suicide Squad a few months later.Considering that even the esteemed Marvel have begun to receive criticism for over-stuffing their movies with characters and subplots, it would surprise roughly no-one if Batman V Superman had far too much content for one film.It’s ambitious as hell and will be extremely impressive if Zack Snyder pulls it off, but it’s hard not to feel like it’s trying to spin too many plates at once.
The most prominent criticism constantly leveled against director Zack Snyder is that his movies are “style over substance”. 300 in particular was a flashy visual spectacle without much narrative meat to it, and Man Of Steel was also criticized for its lack of character development in favor of exuberant style and insane set-pieces.It’s hard to expect much different from this film, even with Oscar-winning Argo writer Chris Terrio helping out David S. Goyer with the script. What’s been shown off so far certainly looks ridiculously stylish, but it remains to be seen whether the narrative will follow through gracefully or end up feeling like an afterthought to the visuals.
Even if the film ends up avoiding every other criticism on this list, one that seems unavoidable is the fact that fans probably aren’t going to get to see much of Batman and Superman fighting one another.
Most of the movie will be a build-up to their showdown, and whether they have one battle or a couple, fans are almost certainly going to be left salivating for more, especially given that the plot by necessity needs to have them teaming up by the end.
On the other hand, Snyder did prove his aptitude for prolonged set-pieces in Man of Steel’s destruction porn finale, but given how much plot the film has to deal with, and for fear of over-exposing audiences to the two clashing, it seems likely that their actual fight(s) will probably only take up 15-20 minutes of the movie’s screen time.
Ever since Jesse Eisenberg was cast as Lex Luthor, fans have been heavily divided on whether or not it would work: he’s an extremely atypical choice, and one that will probably continue to split fans after release.
In fairness, there should be credit to Snyder for not just casting another venerable A-lister to do some hammy acting but actually trying something different, and from what’s been seen of Eisenberg so far, he looks like he has a distinct vision of the character, a younger, hipper Luther with the expected arrogance and, well, another terrible hairpiece.
Even so, comic book fans are a notoriously fickle bunch, and so even if Eisenberg knocks it out of the park, some won’t like it simply because he doesn’t conform to how they envision the character.
It seems inevitable by this point that the narrative is going to be extremely easy to predict: Batman gets mad that Superman trashed Metropolis and probably gets manipulated into fighting him by Lex Luthor, they battle a few times before they realise Luthor is the real problem, then they probably team up to fight Doomsday in the third act with Wonder Woman and other Justice Leaguers, done.
Sure, the script will be much more intricate than that, but the shell plot seems like it won’t offer up many surprises, given the very clear direction in which the DC Cinematic Universe is being steered. Hopefully Snyder will smooth over the edges a little by still having Batman and Superman be a little ambivalent towards one another heading into Justice League, rather than just neatly tying everything up.
Then again, comic book movies often deliberately lead audiences one way only to pull the rug out (The Mandarin twist, Quicksilver’s death), so perhaps Goyer and Terrio have a few pleasant surprises up their sleeves…
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