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Batman v. Superman RT Thread: like standing ovations in rain

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Mariolee

Member
For those who have seen it, would any amount of editing (ie no addition of new scenes but cutting out or rearranging of existing scenes) save this film?
 
You guys read this Walter Chaw review?

You should read this Walter Chaw review. I'm hit & miss on the guy (he's basically the kind of critic Faraci seems to be clawing towards when he overreaches like he does) but while this thing is long, and takes diversion after diversion, he hits on some pretty fucking interesting thoughts regarding Snyder's interpretation of these characters, and the reason this film might resonate with audiences even though the criticisms are all on point:

where the Japanese had their kaiju eiga, films about "strange beasts" or "monsters" that are sometimes heroes, sometimes not (and always destroying cities either way), we developed superhero movies about "strange beasts" who are sometimes heroes, sometimes not, and always destroying cities. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (hereafter BVS), there's a moment where Superman is referred to as a "monster." Batman is called that throughout--often by the very people he's helping. I don't think director Zack Snyder did this on purpose, though I do think it doesn't matter what Snyder intended. What he's done with this film is create the perfect monster for us in 2016. BVS is the most unpleasant, unsettling big-budget action/adventure movie to hit the friendly neighbourhood cineplex since Spielberg and Lucas's film maudit classic Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom....

...It's interesting to me that this film and the upcoming Captain America: Civil War will be dealing with the consequences of levelling cities, packed to the brim as these franchises have been with city-levelling 9/11 iconography. It's interesting, too, that this iteration of Superman continues to have no problem with killing people. He demonstrates this early on when someone holds a gun to the head of lady love/professional hostage Lois Lane (Amy Adams). My response to that was a "well, of course he could kill anyone he wanted to at any time" horror. This is symptomatic of a movie that doesn't seek to explain the ways of God to men, but imposes upon gods the petty weaknesses and tunnel vision of their creations. It's an attractive teleology vs. theology argument. Except that for this avowed atheist, pop-cultural Superman was the only divinity I ever truly believed in. What I'm really trying to say is that BVS will make its $1.6 billion, because as a culture it's not only the Superman film we deserve, but also the one we most ardently desire...

...Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) declares that the American conscience died with "Martin, Bobby, and John." He's admonishing one of his idealistic reporters, but he may as well be addressing anyone left in the audience hoping to see the hero who protects us. The biggest lie, Luthor says, is the idea that power is ever innocent. How terrible that he's right. How terrible that this truth is the truth in a Superman film. How fascinating that Snyder's better Watchmen adaptation is BVS.

There's a lot more at the link, but holy shit what a review. It's fucking fascinating to read.

edit: Inferno, you dog! You beat me!
 

shira

Member
DC should replace Zack Snyder for future pictures. Especially if they want a successful franchise like Marvel. Aside from dawn of the dead remake zack snyder hasn't made a good movie. which was years ago. Ever since he discovered slow motion spam his movies gotten worse and worse. I really hope DC replace him for their upcoming movie. This movie will make money the first weekend sure it has batman on it. But will fall of quickly. If DC have any chance against competing with marvel they need to replace zack snyder ASAP.

Batman is what sells. Just make Batman movies. Forget all these CG power based heroes and make what sells. It's fine. You don't need a whole DCCU. Just make a billion every 3 years instead of trying to make 2.5 billion every year.
 
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Darkman 1 was awesome tho t_t
 
DerZuhälter;199039508 said:
Intermission right now. It's bad so far. The editing is all over the place. Baleman was a surgeon compared to Batfleck.
Cavill has been extremely incompetent and unlikable. Michael Cera is ridiculous in his portrayl of Luthor. Something between hammy 60s villain and .com CEO.
Jeremy Irons is solid though.

Iron Man 3 inspired twist. Eisenberg isn't actually Luthor. It's Michael Fucking Cera!
 
I mean look at the Nolan Batman trilogy - not the most cheerful movies, it's all powerful, heavy stuff, no goofing around Avengers-style here. Even Winter Soldier looks at the seriousness of these movies and goes "damn!". However, Nolan is a director who understands that the viewer can only take so much of constant bombardment of oppression and seriousness, he understands how to create characters in whom the audience would be invested. Therefore we get some humorous passages, some quiet moments with Alfred, Rachel. Characters get a moment to breathe and the movie has scenes where the main plot stops so that the movie focuses on character development instead.

Nolan also crafted some genuine excitement. The hand to hand fighting was weak, but I'll be surprised if any of the Batmobile stuff in this sniffs the chase sequences in Nolan Bat films.
 
For those who have seen it, would any amount of editing (ie no addition of new scenes but cutting out or rearranging of existing scenes) save this film?

Remove all the JL parts as they are glued in badly. That'll take the length down at least 45 minutes or so. There might be something salvageable left then. Remove Doomsday, make the movie about Batman v Superman like the title suggests.
 

nOoblet16

Member
So pretty much same issue as Man of Steel, the film never stops to take a breather from loud music, oppressive theme, seriousness and main plot.

Man of Steel was disappointing because of that, not because the movie was bad quality like Fantastic 4.


Just imagining if Affleck had been given the directors chair after joining this project.

It probably would have been a lot better movie.
 
We need a Shazam V Superman movie next, where a brighter, less serious and quipping Shazam throws the whole dark and gritty DC universe into the sun.
 
For those who have seen it, would any amount of editing (ie no addition of new scenes but cutting out or rearranging of existing scenes) save this film?

Wonder Woman could be taken out of the movie entirely and nothing would be lost. As in, you could specifically edit out her scenes from what was shown in theaters and not be left with much less of a mess.

All of the dreams and Justice League stuff is even easier to cut.

So is Pa Kent.
 

Nerokis

Member
Zack Snyder directing.

The rush to push out an ensemble film.

Man of Steel being a mixed bag.

It always required a suspension of disbelief to think this would be a great movie. Ben Affleck, some cool trailers, etc. helped out with that; the negative reviews aren't surprising whatsoever, though. Even the last few trailers rarely made the movie look good. The non-fighting potion of the Batman v Superman rivalry was always dangerously close to being nonsensical and cheesy.

I'll still watch this with a glimmer of hope that it will pleasantly surprise me. But yeah, gotta wonder what's coming to come of the DC cinematic universe. It's not good for comic book movies in general that such a big player seems to be so mishandling them.
 

HowZatOZ

Banned
For those who have seen it, would any amount of editing (ie no addition of new scenes but cutting out or rearranging of existing scenes) save this film?
Not really. It was well placed and I felt like the story telling was actually consistent with a typical superhero movie. Then again I seem to be the minority in the Internet who actually came out liking what I saw despite the critics telling me it's a pile of shit. But that's what opinions are for :)
So pretty much same issue as Man of Steel, the film never stops to take a breather from loud music, oppressive theme, seriousness and main plot.

Man of Steel was disappointing because of that, not because the movie was bad quality like Fantastic 4.




It probably would have been a lot better movie.
I found it to be the exact opposite in that it went out of its way to have breathing space for characters when they were needed. It was actually paced extremely well.
 
I have no idea what's up with RT. Liked it more than Avengers 2. Went in expecting much worse.

I'm going to guess that while AoU was a hot mess it still had all the characters you loved joking around and doing things you love. It doesn't make a lick of sense and by the time an AI robot-man comes out of a box because Thor used his magic Hammer to open it with lightning you're past the point of trying to make sense of it all. However, it's still a fun ride and watching Hulk smash and Iron-Man quip witty banter still puts a smile on your face.

I'm going to guess that BvS does not put a smile on anyone's face at any moment.
 

MC Safety

Member
I enjoyed this review:

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/batman-v-superman-is-v-bad-1766555948

Here's a snippet:

"A fun thing you could do during the two and a half hours you spend watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is count the number of times some rando blurts out something like “It’s uninhabited!” or “It’s after five, so downtown’s nearly empty right now!” whilst Batman and/or Superman throw various bad guys (and/or each other) through various walls. No civilians were harmed in the making of this loud, droning, incoherent, and bonkers deadly serious film, in sharp contrast to 2013's Man of Steel, wherein Superman spends the last half hour bonking giant buildings full of innocent people together until they explode. "
 
You guys read this Walter Chaw review?

You should read this Walter Chaw review. I'm hit & miss on the guy (he's basically the kind of critic Faraci seems to be clawing towards when he overreaches like he does) but while this thing is long, and takes diversion after diversion, he hits on some pretty fucking interesting thoughts regarding Snyder's interpretation of these characters, and the reason this film might resonate with audiences even though the criticisms are all on point:



There's a lot more at the link, but holy shit what a review. It's fucking fascinating to read.

edit: Inferno, you dog! You beat me!

No other review has filled me with such abject terror and dread. I feel like a character in a Lovecraft story, being warned of the horror to come, but in a cruel and sort of hilarious twist of fate I'm still going to it.

Jesus.
 

Nabbis

Member
If you saw it already, chances are you're sipping the Kool-aid, since you went to an early screening.

I went in cause our group of friends wanted to watch something. Didn't even want to see the film due to the low first impressions.

Im also not from US, it's not even the first screening for the public.
 

Radian8

Member
If you saw it already, chances are you're sipping the Kool-aid, since you went to an early screening.

I feel exactly the same and not sipping any Kool-aid, got free tickets to press event.

I'm scratching my head over the reviews, it's like they are making it out to be utterly irredeemably bad which it certainly isn't.

All of the people I saw it with enjoyed it.
 
I noticed Blue Marvel's been getting a push lately. Leading the Ultimates, just replaced Superman on that one Sufjan Stevens album cover, etc. It's not as hamfisted as the ones they're giving to the Inhumans and Carol Danvers, but I can tell they've got some big plans for him in the future.

With how bad Supes is bombing right now, wouldn't shock me to see them making him their focal point of the MCU reboot.

God that would be awesome.
 

HowZatOZ

Banned
If you saw it already, chances are you're sipping the Kool-aid, since you went to an early screening.
Ah yes, the whole you've seen it early so therefore you can't judge it appropriately mindset. I mean come on, there's no need to jump so far in logic that its impossible to accept people actually did enjoy it.
I'm going to guess that while AoU was a hot mess it still had all the characters you loved joking around and doing things you love. It doesn't make a lick of sense and by the time an AI robot-man comes out of a box because Thor used his magic Hammer to open it with lightning you're past the point of trying to make sense of it all. However, it's still a fun ride and watching Hulk smash and Iron-Man quip witty banter still puts a smile on your face.

I'm going to guess that BvS does not put a smile on anyone's face at any moment.
It was actually just that, but to me felt like better pacing than Avengers 2. It had its light hearted moments and the crowd I was with had quite a few chuckles and out there laughs. The humour is obviously different to Marvel's formula but it works I feel and that will probably be a sentiment seen in the general public's reaction.
 

inky

Member
I enjoyed this review:

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/batman-v-superman-is-v-bad-1766555948

Here's a snippet:

"A fun thing you could do during the two and a half hours you spend watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is count the number of times some rando blurts out something like “It’s uninhabited!” or “It’s after five, so downtown’s nearly empty right now!” whilst Batman and/or Superman throw various bad guys (and/or each other) through various walls. No civilians were harmed in the making of this loud, droning, incoherent, and bonkers deadly serious film, in sharp contrast to 2013's Man of Steel, wherein Superman spends the last half hour bonking giant buildings full of innocent people together until they explode. "

But people told me they were proud of the destruction in MoS and the movie was elevated because it showed everyone the cost of war, this inescapable fact Marvel-trained audiences do well to ignore.

On the other hand,
apparently both Batman and Superman murder people left and right, so what's the point of all this random lip service about civilian casualties?
 
Holy fuck at that sentence. Chills were had.

Which one? there's like four or five single-sentence napalm bombs contained in that thing.

I mean, look at this:

When White wonders aloud if Clark clicks his heels together to be transported back to Kansas, in my head I'm thinking that The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, the year after Superman was introduced in Action Comics, and that Thomas Frank has wondered aloud--and famously--what happened to the progressive idealism of Kansas to make it the wingnut capital of the Midwest. It's a loaded jab that speaks to what a pussy I am to cry at a new Star Wars film that reminded me of the old one in every meaningful way. That time is over. More, it never existed in the first place. Glory to the Superman movie that removes hope, and every memory of hope. Every shred.
 

sephi22

Member
Is anyone making a list of all the thread titles? It is one of the best running jokes I've seen by the GAF mods in a while, and I'd love for it to be preserved.
 
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