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Monday, March 28, 2016

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice


It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a turkey.

When Marvel’s original The Avengers movie debuted, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor and the WW2-era Captain America: The First Avenger were already fan and critic favorites. In 2012, we just hoped that adding too many heroes didn’t spoil the fun, which didn’t happen in that excellent superhero film. (Avengers: Age of Ultron is another story.)

DC has given us the low-flying Man of Steel, the unwatchable The Green Lantern, Razzie winner Catwoman and as many good Batman films as bad ones.

We should have seen this mess coming as far away as Krypton.

We didn't because Zack Snyder’s much hyped Batman v Superman has one of DC comic’s best storylines going for it: the rivalry and conflict between the vigilante Dark Knight (Ben Afflek) and the do-gooding Man of Steel (Henry Cavill). When we do get to the fight between the duo, it's dynamic. Unfortunately there are two and a half hours of bloated action scenes, a preposterous plot, pointless dream sequences, dark cinematography, an annoying Joker-take on Lex Luthor(Jesse Eisenberg), something big and tall to fight for the final act and countless teasers for future DC films.

Even worse, Snyder’s film insults us by making us watch Bruce Wayne’s parents get murdered again. How many times have we seen that in our lifetime?

A film with these top heroes should have either been a tight, single story clash-of-the-titans drama for the ages, or a lighter, vibrant alternative to Marvel. This is neither. Is it too late to cancel all the future DC hero films?

Simply put: Superfluous and super disappointing. DC should stick to TV (Flash, Green Arrow) and Legos (The Lego Movie.) Not for kids. Not for adults.

Award potential: Zero.

The ten buck review: Not worth ten bucks.

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