Went to see "Superman vs. Batman" last night. There were parts I liked and parts I didn't like. Not sure which won out. I was mostly very confused. Oh, and for entirely different reasons than for "Deadpool", but this isn't really the kind of superhero movie you'd want to take your kids to. I'm not sure it would be traumatic, but most of the themes are generally adult enough that they might not even really understand it.
I think I liked the second half of the movie better than the first half, and it's a very long movie, 2 1/2 hours plus. I thought the first half was very disjointed, jumping around a lot, and it pretty much presupposes that you know the entire backstory of both characters. The thought "style over substance" popped into my head a few times, where the directing and composition choices were very stylized but I didn't think the plot was particularly there. I thought it got better as the movie developed, and usually, that's because they've spent the first part of the movie introducing you to new characters and situations, but since that didn't happen here, I think that's what made it more unexpected. There's a part of the movie where I was a bit frustrated and annoyed that I couldn't understand what a character was saying because of the trappings of the circumstances of that character. I have no idea who that character was, and I couldn't hear most of what they said, and I have no idea how it fit into the story. It made me want to read the script to fill in those holes.
For me, the best thing about the movie were two stellar acting jobs. Jesse Eisenberg was incredible. The subtleties and nuances were amazing, and he did a lot with a character that we know fairly well. Amy Adams was also really good. Even though I don't think they always gave her good stuff to do, I always believed her and was interested in her.
My absolutely favorite bit was so partly because it came as a surprise.
I thought some of the major themes were really interesting, and in particular as it related to Batman, I wanted to see more of that. But I think they tried to do too much in this film, weaving in too many things, so none of them were given their full due, and that doesn't even include the role that Wonder Woman plays in the film.
Oh, one point I didn't understand about something Lex was involved in.
I thought Ben Affleck was ok in this film. I'd read an interview a couple weeks ago about his take on the character, and I liked it because it was a little different. There was definitely that, a much darker side to him than we've seen in Batman, but I'd have liked to have seen more of that. I was excited at that same time when I found out Jeremy Irons was playing Alfred. Very different person than we've seen before.
I thought Henry Cavill was ok too, but even though much of the story is about him, it's more specifically about what other people think of him, so I didn't think he had as much to do. One thing that annoyed me about his character development, in spoilers.
I liked Gal Gadot in this film, and I'm actually now interested in seeing the Wonder Woman film. This is definitely not your Lynda Carter Wonder Woman. I knew I recognized her from stuff I'd seen but couldn't place her. I just looked her up, and I knew her from the Fast and Furious franchise. I liked her in those a lot.
Holly Hunter - Her physical appearance in this film concerns me. She looks unhealthily skinny. And her speech pattern has always bothered me and still does.
And now that I've seen the film, I can read the reviews and reactions from others.
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