Batman Vs Superman

[Anubis]

That having been said, word from the premiers in Mexico City and New York is positive.

[Ted]

Tickets booked for Friday night. Looking forward to it quite a bit.

[redheart]

First two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are grim

[Special K]

First two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are grim

One of them says it's not great but better than MoS. That's fine by me, I loved MoS.

[Ted]

Are they even real reviews?

[Sugar Ape]

Link? Can't see any reviews on the website.

 

It's 10pm UK time when reviews can be released so should be a shit load out later tonight.

[Trumo]

To this fella, it's a film about schizophrenia.

 

[RJ Fan club]

I'm not bothering, cos if Superman doesn't win by country mile then it's bullplop.

 

He would fucking murder him. Batman nowhere

[Special K]

I've read a couple of fan reviews on Reddit that are positively ecstatic. I'm sure the truth will be somewhere in between

[Sugar Ape]

Three stars from The Graun.
 
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/22/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice-review-ben-affleck-henry-cavill

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice review – Ben Affleck earns his batwings
 


The title gives you the first clue: originally intended as the sequel to the most recent Superman reboot, Man of Steel, this long-in-the-arriving superhero movie has been thoroughly invaded by DC Comics stablemate Batman (and, to a lesser extent, Wonder Woman). So much so that the caped crusader gets – and just about earns – top billing. The expansion of focus, of course, enables the film to serve another function: follow Marvel in setting up a stream of spin-offs and franchises – to which, again, the title nods, with its evocation of the Justice League, DC’s band of superheroes answer to Marvel’s Avengers. So there’s that to look forward to.

Quite how this film merges the stylistically and schematically distinct worlds of Batman’s Gotham and Superman’s Metropolis is arguably the most interesting aspect of Batman v Superman. Although each are differing takes on the same place – New York – they are presented as adjacent, divided by a river, Twin Cities style: the former dominated by the sleek skyscraper of LexCorp (the generically evil corporate entity run by Lex Luthor, played with Mark Zuckerberg-like puckishness by Jesse Eisenberg); the latter by the tumbledown noirish urban grime and the Bat searchlight that makes its appearance at key moments.

The two superheroes are also brought close together – though don’t actually meet – in a cleverly conceived establishing sequence: picking up from the final showdown between Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod at the climax of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman shows Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) racing around the shattered city streets attempting to evacuate his office workers as the apocalyptic battle rages in the sky. As an opening, it’s got quite a bit of punch, and proves a good way to tackle one of this series’ favourite themes: the collateral damage sustained as a result of epic superhero confrontations and the price paid by the non-coms below.

But the way films like this tend to be constructed – racing from one thunderous set piece to another, with only a few seconds of downtime between them – ends up militating against it. Added to which, it has to shoehorn in the key accessories of both superheroes. For Batman this means Alfred the butler (a very world-weary Jeremy Irons), a stream of Bat gadgets and the occasional interruption of gruesome bat-related nightmares; for Superman, it’s Lois Lane, Luthor/Zod and mighty acts of individual rescue. It’s a lot of ground to cover, making the resulting film feel both overstuffed and abnormally extended.

Moreover, the influence of director Christopher Nolan’s furrowed-brow Batman films – which addressed their characters’ tortured backgrounds and unhappy responsibilities – looms large, even if Nolan has drifted to executive producer credit on this film. It’s tough to take all the hardcore emoting seriously, particularly as the emotional heavy lifting is designed to be done by the occasional maudlin line in brief pauses between the explosions. For a film so concerned with its characters’ inner lives, there’s a fundamental disconnect going on here – enough to make you yearn for the lighter touch of the Marvel films.

But Batman v Superman is likely set to be monstrously popular, at least in its opening weekend. Affleck, whose appointment to the Batman role was so controversial among the Comic Con crowd, acquits himself pretty well: more careworn than any previous Batman, but bulked up enough to cope with the combat scenes. He leads a principal cast of considerable pedigree, packed with past Oscar winners and nominees (including Irons, Holly Hunter and Amy Adams). Director Zack Snyder, returning from Man of Steel, applies the degree of visual polish that the contemporary superhero film demands, even if subtlety is not his strong point. And Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) gets the introduction she needs to trigger the required interest in the inevitable standalone feature. All in all, job done, just about.

[Ted]

Looks like the early majority of reviews are basically saying it's OK.

 

Still looking forward to it, me.

[skend04]

9% on Rotten. That's not a good sign but then Zack Snyder directing is never a good sign.

[Cardie]

I'm not bothering, cos if Superman doesn't win by country mile then it's bullplop.

 

He would fucking murder him. Batman nowhere

 

If Superman didn't have an already well established weakness, perhaps.

[Sugar Ape]

Three stars in The Mirror and Independant and two stars in The Telegraph. Visually stunning but too convulted a plot seems to be the consensus. Still going to go and see it though.

[Trumo]

3/5 from Empire.

 

"There are moments that make the whole enterprise worthwhile, and introduces an intriguing new Batman. But it’s also cluttered and narratively wonky; a few jokes wouldn’t have gone amiss, either."

                                                                                   - Nick De Semlyen

[Cardie]

 

That the film opens with yet another operatic depiction of the young Bruce Wayne’s most formative trauma

 

 

Oh for fuck sake, how many times.

[Anubis]

Looks like the winner here will be a stand alone Bat flick for Affleck.

[Cardie]

Looks like the winner here will be a stand alone Bat flick for Affleck.

as long as we finally get to see an origin story.

[Anubis]

Den of Geek - 3/5 stars. Spoiler free review.

 

 

“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.”

 

So said Sean Connery’s ageing beat cop in Brian De Palma's classic thriller The Untouchables, and it’s an aggressive way of thinking which could apply to director Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Even compared to the Sturm und Drang of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, this latest entry in the DC movie universe is intense, bleak and relentlessly kinetic.

 

Ben Affleck plays the latest incarnation of the Caped Crusader, by now a grizzled crime fighter who’s grown sinewy and embittered in his middle years. Having witnessed the events of Man Of Steel’s conclusion first-hand, Batman (and his alter ego Bruce Wayne) has funnelled all his disillusionment, anger and sense of loss into the messianic figure of Superman (Henry Cavill again), whose halo remains tarnished after the previous film’s Metropolis-wide chaos.

 

Convinced that Superman is the equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction - that is, capable of going off and killing millions in the blink of an eye - Batman resolves to fight the super-being and stop him at all costs. Fomenting the tension between the two heroes behind the scenes is billionaire maniac Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), who has his own reasons for goading Batman and Superman into staging the mother of all wrestling matches.

 

Taking its cue from the indelible visuals of Frank Miller’s seminal Dark Knight Returns comics, Batman V Superman weaves a sometimes beautiful-looking opera about a man versus a god. In some respects, it delivers on some of the things that Man Of Steel (somewhat controversially) only glancingly portrayed: Superman leading his private double life as cub reporter Clark Kent. Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) bawling at Kent for obsessing over Batman’s vigilantism instead of writing about the latest football game. Superman saving Earth’s hapless citizens in some quite beautifully-realised montage scenes.

 

At the same time, we see how the older, angrier Dark Knight goes about his nocturnal vigilantism. Snyder gives Batman an almost demonic presence: here’s he is loitering in the corner of the room like a poisonous spider, waiting to pounce. There’s Batman lunging out of the shadows to terrorise the life out of his criminal prey. In between, we’re given a view into Batman’s private inner world: his ongoing grief at the loss of his parents; his nightmares, which are often so vivid and chaotic that even we can’t always discern between them and his waking reality.

 

Snyder, together with writers Chris Terrio and David S Goyer, introduce a version of Gotham and Metropolis where everything seems somehow spiky and dangerous. They portray Batman and Superman as two disillusioned, angry men whose rage is turned outward against the other. Even Jeremy Irons’ butler - and quartermaster - Alfred Pennyworth has a new line in world-weary, cutting humour.

 

Affleck may have been a controversial choice for some, but it’s hard to argue with the commitment he brings to the performance; convincing when he’s suited up and breaking villains’ faces, and bringing a Bond-like smoothness to Bruce Wayne, he’s a more than worthy successor to Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader.

 

If there’s a problem with this incarnation of Batman, it springs not from Affleck, but from the movie’s glum tone. The heroes spend so much of the movie locked in their private emotional labyrinths that, even in their day-to-day guises, Batman and Superman are guarded, scowling enigmas. Clark Kent lacks the affable, unassuming quality that Christopher Reeve bought to the role. In fact, Cavill looks so poised, commanding and conspicuously muscular in his Clark guise that it’s a wonder why Perry White doesn’t shout at him for spending more time down the gym than at his desk.

 

With Batman and Superman weighed down with suspicion and turmoil, it falls to Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor to bring a few moments of levity. Either sociopathic, high on energy drinks or both, this version of the supervillain is undeniably watchable, though his fast-talking, mischievous persona more immediately recalls the Joker or the Riddler than the brawny Lex from the comics.

For the first hour, Snyder manages to balance the grounded and fantastical elements of his DC heroes. The director finds a clever way to introduce Bruce Wayne as a bystander to Man Of Steel’s events, bringing us back down, chillingly, to street level where we see Metropolis’ destruction through Wayne’s eyes. We’re shown in no uncertain terms that those cataclysmic events have real, painful consequences on flesh-and-blood humans. Superman may want to be a force for good, but his strength soon becomes something to fear more than admire. “He’s accountable to no one,” a character in the movie says; “not even to God.”

 

The harsh world Snyder creates may not be to everyone’s taste, but it undeniably has weight and a sense of its own reality. Most intriguingly, it makes both heroes seem elemental and borderline frightening; there are moments in Batman V Superman’s first half that wouldn’t look out of place in a horror movie. Here, Batman and Superman aren’t characters to be afraid for, but to be afraid of.

 

Having established all this, Batman V Superman gradually overloads itself with sub-plots and extra characters - some you’ll know well if you’ve seen the trailers (such as newcomer Gal Gadot, who’s very good), others small surprises we’ll leave you to discover for yourself. It’s arguable that few if any of them improve the plot in any meaningful way; in a film which trips effortlessly over the 150 minute mark, they often feel like lead boots on a story which is already hefty in scope.

 

By Batman V Superman’s final hour, the multi-pronged assault of swirling visual effects, relentless action and Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL’s apocalyptic score begin to drain the senses. Like Man Of Steel, the last act reaches a level of mayhem and fireworks which goes on for so long that it starts to feel not so much like a crescendo but a exhaustingly violent war of attrition.

Explosive, visually stunning and sometimes thought-provoking, Batman V Superman is undeniably a feast for the eyes and ears. Yet as the final credits roll, the overwhelming sensation is not of satisfaction, but of shell-shock. Like Snyder’s divisive Man Of Steel, Batman V Superman goes for a maximalist approach which is likely to thrill some and alarm others. Once again, Snyder brings a gun to a knife-fight

Read more: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/batman-v-superman/39387/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice-review#ixzz43fzGwceW

[Joe Strummer]

At two and half hours I'm out.

[Scott_M]

Lots of 2 & 3 star reviews.

 

From what I've skimmed, they all say Snyder puts on a great sceptical that's cold & lacks heart - did anybody expect anything else? He's a shit Michael Bay. All their films look good but are emotionally retarded - although at least Bay does stumble on the right emotional note at times, like Armageddon.

 

I'll be waiting for a HD copy on Exodus before I bother with this.

[Section_31]

Three stars in The Mirror and Independant and two stars in The Telegraph. Visually stunning but too convulted a plot seems to be the consensus. Still going to go and see it though.

I bet film makers are gutted Nuts has gone bust, they always gave everything five stars.

[chris71]

So, without giving too much away, who wins?

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Superman has to win, surely. He's superman for fuck sakes.

[Section_31]

Superman has to win, surely. He's superman for fuck sakes.

 

Batman might have a kryptonite gun or some shit.