Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice – Review [No Spoilers]

This is one time watch movie for all fans of DC universe, as we have no other choice but to watch it for continuity of upcoming Justice League movie. But this movie does not offer anything new to us. It actually disappoints the fans at many fronts. Plus, the non-comics-reading-movie-goers will not like it either as it does not offer the superhero movie kind of entertainment to them. Let me give few details, but without any spoilers. 

First of all, zero promotion of the movie here in India. I am not sure about the international promotion, but locally, people are not aware that the movie opens up today. I am not talking about fans who are waiting for last 3 years, but general public. In fact, I went to watch Neerja on Monday in PVR, and there was only one small poster of this movie, with no date, just “Next Change” written at the bottom. How can you invite people to watch this movie when it is not even promoted to the movie goers? And there was no trailer shown as well. BookmyShow is primarily used to book tickets in advance, and believe me; I had to search for this movie on the site. No banner, not even a small link on the main page for this movie. Then, they had this paid preview lined up yesterday, and I was looking forward for this movie since last one week, searching daily for the tickets, I came to know that the paid preview is happening. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to know from promotions, as there was no promotion at all. 

Well, when I hit the theater on the evening of Holi festival, it was full with 100% capacity. So, fans like me are closely following it up, and knew even without promotion to go and watch the movie. That should be a good thing for the movie, but it went bad for all fans. Why? Because the movie did not do justice to fans, and opted for a different path altogether. But, I am sad to say that they failed to make it appealing to non-fan viewers as well. The movie did not offer anything new. I will give you one example, most of us got goosebumps when we heard Batman mouthing that dialogue, “Tell me, do you bleed? … You will”, but in the movie, the situation is so superficial; you don’t get that feeling of the clash coming out of that meeting. And this is true for the entire movie treatment. 

I am not putting any spoilers here, but let me tell you little about the movie. I will only cover what we know from the already seen trailers. If you have not seen the trailers also, please stop here. So, don’t tell me that I have not warned you. 

The movie spend almost entire first half on building the story about this fight, but I like any other viewer, am disappointed the way it was heading. The pace was too slow, and I almost started getting bored at one point. Then the confrontation begins, but it was too lame and too short to turn into a fight. They have almost one hour to build this, but they failed to convince the need of this fight. Then, the fight happens. I must say that the fight is long, and entertaining. Plus, someone wins the fight as well. I will not tell you who wins it, but rest assured it is not a tie. 

Then comes another lame excuse to get together. I don’t think it is a spoiler that they join hands, as we have already seen the Trinity in trailer standing next to each other against Doomsday. But the reason to end their fight, and become friends (Yes, Batman call himself friend of Superman once in this movie) was too lame a reason to believe. They have shown a shocking climax, but it again did not hit the right cord, and we left the theater without any feelings. 

Coming back to characters, Batman looks good in the movie, and I think this Batman is better than all previous ones in live action movies. This is a dark Batman we wanted for long, darker than the Dark Knight trilogy. So, this character hit the right cord with us, but unfortunately for the movie, this character does not go well with the theme. This characterization actually makes the logic of fight superficial. I wish this would have been a Batman only movie. 

Superman is no good at all. We have seen Man of Steel and didn’t like the portrayal of this character. He has killed in MoS, and this movie also tries to portray him in same dark theme. Well, you cannot have a dark superman and then call it Day vs Night, right? So, this again goes against the movie. Superman does not connect to viewers. We have loved Superman for years, but we don’t feel much for this character in the movie. 

Lex Luthor is not Lex Luthor, his character is almost like Joker. Then why use the name Lex? Why not just use Joker’s character instead? Lex is a worthy villain of DC Superheroes, both Batman and Superman. But his character in this movie is not a brilliant scientist, but more of a psychopath with some scientific tools he luckily got hold of. Not at all impressed. 

Wonder Woman is refreshing and really good in this movie. Her character shines out even with two of the major superheroes in the movie. She has very small role, but she is exactly what the fan wants to see. 

To summarize, they wanted the story to continue from MoS, and lead to upcoming Justice League. They did this job, and for the continuity, this movie will be called the prequel of Justice League series. But in its own standalone movie, it is a disaster. You just cannot make a dark movie with lots of changes in basic nature of comic book superheroes, and use lame excuses instead of solid logic for story turning points. As a fan, I am disappointed, and going to watch The Dark Knight Returns part 1 and 2 again today, to get myself into normal mode. Similarly, the funny and lame logics given everywhere in the story has made normal viewers sick of this movie. They were even making fun of Superman and Batman!! This has hit so low, that some of the audience who have never even seen a real comics in their life, were praising Marvel over DC in theater. 

I have kept myself from spilling any beans in this review, and once you watch it, you will understand how hard it is not to curse them for all those spoilers. There are so many weak points, I just can’t count. I will come back to vent my anger after a while, when I can writer spoilers. Till such time, I am grunting offline.