"Batman V Superman" is not a failure

Date: 3/29/2016

In Theaters: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice 

I went to this movie expecting to pretty much hate it, but unlike many other people who write film reviews, I actually enjoyed it.

Once again I present the minority opinion as most critics have gutted this film. In the comic book genre, it is not a seamless piece of work such as the first Captain America film or the more recent “Deadpool.”

It suffers from the excess that plagues so many multi-million tent pole films, especially those movies that are supposed to kick off a series of related films.

Much has been written in the decades of the old rivalry between DC and Marvel as the two companies have extended their competition to both television and big budget films. This is now DC’s turn once more at bat.

 A note at the top: to fully enjoy this film, avoid the many websites offering spoilers. If you’re interested, just go and see it.

I’m no fan of director Zack Snyder. While he is wonderful at creating arresting visuals, he doesn’t understand how to pace a film to save his life and at two and half hours this production could use a trim. There are two dream sequences, for instance, that could be easily cut with no harm to the narrative.

People who have complained that this Batman and this Superman are not “their” Batman or Superman are missing a vital point. These characters – along with Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, the Lone Ranger and many more – are always available for reinterpretation and that is what Snyder and his team have done.

You just have get over it if your vision of Superman is Christopher Reeve or Michael Keaton or Christian Bale as Batman. Heaven help you if your Batman is Adam West.

Superman (Henry Cavill) is struggling to understand why people fear him and his powers when all he has done is to help and protect people. Batman (Ben Affleck), the senior superhero here, is embittered and paranoid. He sees his years of fighting crime in Gotham as not making much of a difference. Yet he is driven to continue.

Superman views Batman as a dangerous vigilante. Batman sees Superman as an alien life form who almost destroyed Metropolis during the events shown in the movie “Man of Steel.” They are poised to fight each other.

Enter Lex Luthor played with extreme snarkiness by Jesse Eisenberg. Luthor is enough of a genius to have figured out who these guys really are and to take measures to pit one against each other.

A wild card in the mix is a mysterious woman Diana Prince, who keeps popping up at interesting moments. It seems Luthor has something that is hers and she wants it back.

There are other strands of plot that revolve around the main narrative and Snyder is clearly referencing post 9/11 America as well as our increasing fear and distrust of immigrants. Superman is, of course, the ultimate immigrant.

And while much of the story makes sense, there are some very sloppy moments as well – not the least of which is a sequence in which The Flash travels apparently back in time to give Batman some information. Because this appearance comes at the end of a dream sequence, you don’t readily realize whether or not this is  “real” or part of the dream.

That’s just one of shaky moments, but fortunately the good moments outweighed them.

As a Batman fan since age 5, I was eager to see how Affleck would fare. He was outstanding as the tired dark knight whose losses in life have started to overwhelm him. I hope a standalone Batman film with him is in the planning stages.

Cavill is fine once again as Superman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman made me eager to see the upcoming film starring her as the Amazon princess.

And yes, there are three more DC heroes are introduced in the film in well-conceived cameos.

All in all, this film is not the smoothest superhero drama, I’ve seen, but I went along for the ride and despite some bumpy moments I enjoyed the journey.