I know this isn’t technically a post about gaming but I thought, given all the fuss that the new Batman V Superman movie has been generating I’d give my thought on the film and the current fan backlash that seems to be growing. Before we go on just a note of caution that this article does contain some minor SPOILERS. So if you haven’t seen the movie I’d recommend coming back once you have or watch this trailer. OK so now that’s out the way...
I have seen the movie twice and I have to say that I did
enjoy. Now I’m not saying that it is a
perfect film, it does have its flaws (more on them later) but overall when I
came out of the cinema I felt rather satisfied, if not completely blown away
with what I had seen and on the second viewing of the movie I actually found
myself enjoying it more.
Perhaps I enjoyed the movie because I went into it with
rather low expectations. The build up to
the film had all been rather rushed and the marketing (Especially that second
trailer) had given away way too much of the film that I wasn’t really expecting
to see anything new. I also knew that DC
was rushing to catch up with what Marvel was doing with their MCU and wanted in
on the action by having their own DCCU.
However unlike Marvel DC were going to team all their heroes up first in
the justice League Movies and then do separate origin movies for each hero later
(With the exception of Superman who already had The Man of Steel under his
belt). This is a bit of an odd way to
do it but does actually echo what they did when they launched the new 52. There were also a number of unknown factors,
would Ben Affleck be any good as Batman? Would Jesse Eisenberg be a good Lex
Luthor, Why does Doomsday look like the Cave Troll from Lord of the Rings?
Overall I wasn’t expecting much from the film.
So what I have found strange is the hatred towards this
movie that a lot of DC fans have expressed.
Ok, so as I said yes it does have some flaws, for example the motivation
behind Superman not liking Batman is a little unclear and the scene when Wonder
Woman is checking her emails right before Batman and Superman first come to
blows felt very unnecessary and very out of content. But over all this is not a bad movie. If you want some examples of bad movies from
DC then just watch Batman & Robin and Green Lantern, Both of which killed
their respective franchises (Though Batman would be back years later under the
excellent guidance of Christopher Nolan)
I can also fully
understand people not liking the film because they didn’t like Man of Steel, as
tonally and visually they are very similar and if you weren’t a fan of Man of
Steel you won’t be a fan of Batman V’s Superman. However to say Batman Vs Superman is a terrible
movie really isn’t that justified (for example most people seem to agree that
all of the Batman bits were great and at the end of the day it’s not Batman
& Robin!). What I find even stranger
is that these fans seem to be blaming director Zack Snyder as the main reason
why the film is terrible and are even calling for him to be removed as director
of the upcoming Justice League films. This
is even more unfair when you look at what the fans are actually saying is bad
about the movie. Most of the negative
points focus around it being over long, being very slow, not making much sense
and cramming too much in. Not many of
the criticism are about how the film was actually put together in the sense of
the edited (thought they have been a few) or how it was shot, or the cast (With
the notable exception of Jesse Eisenberg) or any of the visual and audio elements
of the production.
OK so as Director he does have some control over the movie
and he is responsible for certain decisions made during production though what
people seem to forget is that the studio in this case Warner Bros (Who own DC
and also pay Zack Snyder’s wages) also have a big say in what they want to see
in their movies. For example you only
need to listen to Kevin Smith talk about his work on the cancelled Superman
Lives movie that was being worked on in the 90’s. Several studio executives (Who know nothing
about the character of Superman) wanted to make some very big changes to the
movie and include some rather questionable scenes, and at the end of the day
you either say yes to them or you don’t do the gig. I think this is exactly what happened in the
production of Batman V’s Superman.
Think about it. You’re
Zack Snyder and you get offered the director’s gig for the new Superman movie
which has been green lit following the massive success of the Dark Knight
Trilogy. You know that if you do it, and
it does well in the box office you’ll be offered other movies to so you say
yes. You make the film and it does well on
release (in terms of box office revenue). You’re told you can do the sequel but
then The Avengers comes out and smashes the box office records and the studio
decides it wants its own Cinematic Universe to compete with Marvel and get some
of that revenue coming their way. However
the studio is way behind Marvel (Remember they only have one Movie under their
belt and the Dark Knight trilogy which you can’t include in your new DCCU as
that was a self contained franchise with a definite ending and Christian Bale
has said he doesn’t want to come back as Batman)
So now the Man of Steel sequel has become a proto Justice
League movie. The studio wants you to introduce
a new Batman into the plot as well as give Wonder Woman her big scene
debut. Also the movie needs to introduce
the other Justice League members to the audience, because we haven’t made solo
films for them yet either oh and yes we also want it to set up the big story
arc for our future films. Now that’s a
big ask and as a director at this point you can either go back to the studio
and say “This won’t work it’s too much to put into one film” or you go with
it. If you go with the first option you
risk the studio ignoring your input and telling you to do what they say or you out
your foot down which pisses them off to the point where they fire you for not
playing ball (Remember they pay your wages).
For a big studio like Warner Bros to do that can have a big impact on
your future as they may never hire you again to make one of their movies. So I’m guessing that Zack Snyder went a long
with their demands as he didn’t want to lose his job or any future opportunities. OK so maybe this was a bad decision but if he
had left the studio could have got a truly
terrible director in to oversee the new DCCU (Just imagine Michael Bay doing a
Batman and Superman movie!).
So I think all this blame that is being put on Zack Snyder
is to lot of degree misplaced. If some
fans watch the movie and come out truly hating it (which is fine as everyone is
entitled to their own opinion) then take your anger out on the studio and not
the director. If Zack Snyder did have
full creative control over every decision in the movie (Like George Lucas had
when he made the Star Wars prequels) then yes you can blame him for the movie
sucking but the truth of the matter is that he didn’t have creative control of
the film. He was simply doing what the
studio wanted in fear of being fired. So
setting up a petition to get him fired and taken off the Justice League movies
is pointless. Whoever they would get to
replace him would still make the same movie, it just won’t be as visually
stunning as and it would have been if Zack Snyder had made it, and remember we
don’t know what thing Zack Snyder did fight for or was given free rein on (if
anything). For example they could have
let him do whatever he wanted in terms of costume design, and as much as you
may hate the movie you’ve got to admit Batman looked really cool!
 |
| You've got to admit Batman looks cool. |
If you are one of the people who did watch this movie and
hated it, and you want the studio to change the movies then stop watching the
films. Don’t go and see Justice League
when it comes out. Save your money because
at the end of the day that is all the studio wants. Demand a refund if you feel particularly annoyed. Hit the studio where it hurts. Once they realise their blockbusters aren’t
making much money they’ll have no choice but to make the films you want to
see. But if most people are happy with
the end result and go on to see the sequels and by the film on Blu-ray or DVD
then the studio will keep doing what it’s doing no matter who's directing it.
