Why not just keep it simple, hit him in the head and keep going so Superman lives to bring on Darkseid? How does a non-kryptonite bomb kill Superman in space but yet the part human Doomsday doesn't even get a scratch after crashing down from outer space? Why does Superman have nazi-like troops in Batman's dream sequence while fighting with Darkseid's flying minions when they are mortal enemies? Why kill Superman when it serves no purpose other than just complicating future films and while it's easier to keep him alive? Why does Superman kill people when he doesn't have to? I understand Marvel is much farther ahead in their cinematic universe so DC is basically playing catch up. I get it. This is why they are doing Justice League first (other than Wonder Woman) then the individual heroes of Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg and Green Lantern Corps. Snyder ignored the main issue at hand when setting up the film this way and put in way too much information.
The reason Marvel is so successful is because they did each main Superhero film individually, got a back story, villain and tie in to the next film. It all led into the Avengers and wasn't a hodgepodge. Even Man of Steel did this it had the origin on Krypton, Superman on Earth, Zod as the villain and tie in to Batman v Superman with the easter eggs. This film saw Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg in it for a total of 60 seconds combined. Shown through surveillance footage and a dream sequence where Ezra Miller seems to travel through time as the Flash to give Batman a message, we still have zero idea as to anything about them. We have no clue on their location, their backstory in the cinematic universe, the villains in their own universe, why Cyborg is shown powered by Darkseid technology, why Martian Manhunter was just arbitrarily removed, why Superman kills when he doesn't have to and how they end up being members of the Justice League.
Even though Superman dies, it's obvious he's coming back. Not only is Henry Cavill listed in the credits, but you see the dirt on the coffin move for about a millionth of a second before the fade to black. Here's the thing though. The Death of Superman comic saw four versions of Superman return. We obviously aren't going to have Superboy, an iron worker, cyborg Superman or alien Superman come from the comics into the movie. No one's kidnapping his body and bringing it to the Fortress of Solitude to steal his power like the comic. He can't just "come back" with no explanation and fly into Metropolis like "Nah, just kidding fam". There is no sunlight in a coffin, so how does he come back to be able to move the dirt on it after he was stabbed through the damn heart? Why does he kill people when he doesn't have to? Now not only does Snyder need to figure out how Superman comes back, but also have it makes sense while tying in three brand new heroes, with backstory and a villain in Darkseid all in one movie? Yeah. Ok. Good luck. Even though Justice League is two parts, they still have to have some explanation of all of this in the first movie, and that's a huge undertaking. There was less in this film and it ended up a dumpster fire. How can they add more?
If you were just looking for another superhero movie with no expectations then fine, Batman v Superman was just that. If you are one of those where you don't believe comics should have any continuity (which also makes no sense), then you're in luck. If you were looking for a solid start to DC's cinematic universe in what should have been the setup to the Justice League and a solid plot point, then you are way off. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is nowhere near it and fails on every level other than being "just another superhero film". It was unfortunately a convoluted mess that drew from several sources of DC Comics culture, that are not tied together, while also adding original points of view. It all just made for a hodgepodge, rushed project that resulted in quite simply a bad film. In fact, my favorite parts were the hidden easter eggs you can find. There's an old Superman action comic on display and Vikki Vale also makes an appearance, albeit I wasn't aware of it I had been informed of it. It's hard to miss, but to be honest I was focusing on the lovely Ms. Gal Gadot and not the dialogue at the time.
I'm sure you're going to still see it – I expect you to. Hell, I'm still going to watch all the upcoming movies. It's just that Dawn of Justice fails by not only leaving so many empty holes in the plot, but so much of what the film does do fails to make sense. Even if the R rated Blu-Ray with the extra 35 minutes of footage adds some information to Aquaman, Cyborg and Flash, there is still the fact that so much of what happens doesn't jive and can't be rationalized.
As I said, I expect you to watch the movie. You're better off waiting until your friend picks up the Blu-Ray, however, in order to save yourself the money.
THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS OF SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS FOR BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I was looking forward to Batman v Superman since before it was announced. After all, Man of Steel pretty much gave away that it would be the next movie with easter eggs. I'm a big Superman fan, I own both the Death of Superman and Return of Superman comics from 1993 in their original packaging.
The inclusion of fellow founding Justice League characters Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg only got me more excited for the movie, and I was interested in seeing the direction DC would take them in their cinematic universe. I guess they just forgot about Martian Manhunter as a founding member, but that's OK.
Unfortunately, the many months of waiting came crashing down in what was a giant, convoluted pile of hot garbage.
LAST CHANCE, SPECIFIC PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD
After watching the film, it becomes devastatingly obvious that Christopher Nolan should have been the director choice over Zack Snyder. The Watchmen, 300 and Sucker Punch director gives the distinct impression that he just couldn't decide what he wanted to do. It's the clear example of quantity over quality, and it shows in the final product.
Let's start with back story, shall we? Metropolis and Gotham are like modern day Oakland and San Francisco located across the bay from each other. Ben Affleck's Batman is older now, as he states in the film, he's older than his father was when he died. Everyone in Gotham acts like Batman is a new guy in Gotham despite having been around before. Basically, it's like all of Gotham and Metropolis got selective amnesia when it comes to Batman. The movie has Batman acting like a straight up murderer. Nearly every bad guy Batman fights in this movie ends up dead. Whether it be by gunfire, exploding a car with the Batmobile or collapsing a building on them, Ben Affleck's Batman is basically just the Punisher in a cape.
He's the epitomy of zero f*cks given. It draws a bit from Frank Miller's Batman, but fails to tie in to the rest of the story.
Superman acknowledges killing people. In fact, in pretty much the opening scene he kills a bad guy. Sorry, but that's not Superman. Now, before anyone tries to pull the "Well, he killed Zod" excuse, he HAD to do that, ff he hadn't, the innocent family in the building would've been roasted by Zod's heat vision. He didn't have to kill this guy in Dawn of Justice. He could've used his breath to blow him away or even the super speed to he used to rescue Lois. Instead, he blasts a guy through multiple brick walls. Yeah, so that guy is dead. Do we see a dead body? No, but let's use common sense. Do we see every dead body in a movie? No, the guy is dead and Superman didn't have to kill him. We didn't see the bodies of the guys Batman killed, but they're obviously dead. This isn't Injustice. Joker is no where near this film and didn't trick him into killing Lois Lane. At the end of Man of Steel, Cavill's Superman was confident that he was the hero that Earth needed. In this film, all of that confidence has been removed and now he doubts himself again. Doomsday was revealed in the trailer. We know that Lex Luthor used Zod's body to re-animate him into the mutated monster. How Lex does this, however, leads to a huge hole in the plot of the film as well.
Lex takes Zod's body into the crashed Kryptonian ship from Man of Steel and lowers him into the water. He takes control of the ship with the crystal and uses a bit of his own blood, human blood, to create Doomsday. So that's right, Doomsday is part HUMAN. Doomsday is released on the city and of course the fight starts. I'm ok with small twists in plot points. Things like 'will Spider-Man use web shooters' or 'will it be part of his body like Tobey Mcguire' are insignificant. On the other hand, how Doomsday was ultimately created, damaged and killed in the movie made absolutely zero sense. Doomsday's twist in this film is that he gets bigger with nearly every attack. He absorbs energy and continues to grow. This wouldn't be a big deal, but remember: HE'S PART HUMAN. If you are part human, your only vulnerability can not be just kryptonite. Part of the fight sees Superman bashing Doomsday up into outer space. A knee jerk reaction by the military sees them launch a nuclear missile into outer space in attempt to hit Doomsday. Superman sees it coming and guides him into the missile – BOOM!
Now, here's the thing. This wasn't a kryptonite nuclear bomb. It was a good ole' fashioned, normal American nuke. So, it should just bounce right off of Superman right? Wrong. Superman is hit, dies in space as a result, and Doomsday comes crashing down from space, landing back in the city. Surprisingly, it's in the EXACT same part too. Part HUMAN Doomsday crashes from OUTER SPACE MILES above the Earth's atmosphere. He just gets back up and shakes it off like Taylor Swift. Superman only gets revived because the sun makes its way around the Earth, gives him energy back and he's right back in the fight. Apparently, Snyder is the only one in the world who knows that Kryptonite isn't the only thing that makes Superman vulnerable. Uh huh.
The only weapon able to kill Doomsday is a kryptonite spear that Batman was going to use to kill Superman. Wonder Woman gets Doomsday in the lasso of truth, Batman shoots him with a bullet that explodes into an aerial mist of kryptonite to weaken him and Superman grabs the spear. He gives Lois the typical "I love you" line in that goodbye tone of voice and takes off. Superman flies at Doomsday, spear in hand, and we're all thinking "Ok, right in the head and keep on flying. Doomsday will be dead". LOL, Nope. Instead, Snyder has Superman hit Doomsday dead in the stomach with the spear, therefore not killing him right away. As Doomsday starts to fall from his wounds, he grabs Superman and stabs him dead in the heart with his spiked arm. The result? Both fall on a pile of rubble EXACTLY like the Death of Superman comic. DEAD.
