Dawn of Justice draws the audience into this dark cinematic DC Universe. Continuing the dark tone set in Man of Steel. Very serious and dark. Oh Zack Synder.
Gritty and in some case more realistic than the Marvel Universe, we are introduced to a Gotham and Metropolis feeling the aftermath from the battle between Superman and General Zod which caused catastrophic damage. We first meet a grown Bruce Wayne as he rushes towards the battle. Fast-forward 18 months and Bruce Wayne is determined to find a weapon or a weakness against this alien (Superman) who he feels will eventually turn against humans. At the same time, reporter Clark Kent is determined to expose the Batman for the vigilante he is.
Along with that we have Lex Luthor determined to defeat both heroes and prove his might and sets up the “biggest gladiator match,” and unleash the Kryptonian monster Doomsday.
I think that about sums up the plot. Okay now because I didn't like this film that much, I will just start with that. Here is the thing that doesn't work for me with these DC films - aside from the “Dark Knight” series, they are just not fun to watch. I don't want to feel depressed or darkness when watching superheros. I'm not saying that it needs to be silly comedy, back to the 1960’s version of Batman, but let me feel some type of hope that they have a bit of a happy life. Was the sun shining at all during this film? Were we just dealing with nighttime scenes the whole time? This is my main gripe with this Superman character. These heroes are supposed to be light and dark. Superman is the character of reason, justice and hope - filled with color and light. Batman lives in a cave and has a vigilante dark side to him - fight first and ask questions later. This Batman was much more violent than Christian Bale's Batman. But Superman geez… smile a little more when you are saving humans or something.
The fight between them was good. I loved the Easter egg nods to the pages ripped right from the “Dark Knight Returns” graphic novel. The actual fight the best part for me. I even liked the fight with Doomsday. However, I didn't like the look of Doomsday - a giant turd-looking thing. But I will say there was a major plot hole to me during that fight. Why is it that Superman can't swim out of the water when he's next to the kryptonian spear yet minutes later he can fly with it into the chest of Doomsday? Parts of the movie shines a light on the DC universe to come. I saw a glimpse of sun rays on a very, very dark cloudy day. I liked the teases of the characters to come, however they have to make it brighter for the Justice League film to work. There needs to be more light in general - The Flash is bright, Aquaman is bright, even Cyborg is bright. Brighten it up damn it. However I don’t yet have faith they will be able to succeed. We will find out next year with the solo Wonder Woman film. Speaking of which was a lot better than I thought she was going to be. She was strong. A goddess and looked good in her costume. She was the only one who could hurt the Doomsday monster without the aid of kryptonite. I loved how electric guitar ripped into the soundtrack as soon as she joined the fight, and suddenly there was a change in the whole movie. Unfortunately, this change didn’t happen until the last 20 minutes of a 150 hour movie. The pacing and editing of the film were completely disjointed. Dream sequence after dream sequence after dream sequence. You want to confuse someone? Good job! The only dream sequence that I did like was the flash forward to The Flash talking to Bruce. That was cool!
One good aspect of the film to me (and this might sound morbid) was the death of Superman. I told myself that if Doomsday is in this film for more than five minutes then Superman is going to die. That's how it happens in the comics and that's how it happens in the film. However I don't necessarily like that he died in the second film of this universe. It's a little too early. He should have died in Justice League. You should feel some type of sadness when a major character dies in a film but I felt very little. I was just happy that they didn't make him invincible to Doomsday but again it was a mistake to do it this early in the DC universe. Give the audience enough time to build a relationship with the characters in the universe before you kill one of them off. Do you think it would have been more of an impact if they killed Iron Man off in the second Iron Man film? Yes it would because the audience built a relationship that they loved with Iron Man in the first film. Not many people have come to like this new Superman yet. He was still learning his powers and learn to care for humans. Another note is that I feel the Superman and Clark Kent characters need to be more defined - they need to be two individual characters. The audience has always said that Clark is basically Superman with glasses. Come on! Don't prove their argument to be true. Make them different! The comics can do that with making Clark Kent clumsy. There is no other difference here! Lois and Clark lacked chemistry in the last movie and even less in this one. Lois exemplifies the damsel in distress. BUT THAT'S NOT LOIS AT ALL!! If they actually killed Lois I wouldn't have even cared.
Now on to Lex Luthor. How many times did I cringe when he was speaking? I thought he was the most annoying character of the film. His motivations were so unclear and his personality was too close to a psychotic Joker with his little puns and jokes. Weird and horrible! One last peeve, Superman and Batman movies should be superhero films that the whole family can see. I'm not saying campy, but something that kids can look up to as justice holders. This is not a film that you can take a child to see and that is kinda depressing. A moment I will never forget is when I saw The Avengers movie for the second time and this kid next to me died with laughter so hard when Hulk grabbed Loki and smashed him into the ground. The joy in that kids voice is what i'm talking about.
2 1/2 Stars. Just disappointing for a film that I've been anticipating for so long. It just wasn't fun to me. Besides the Dark Knight trilogy, I've struggled so hard to like these DC films, but end up folding my arms questioning why it has to be so hard to make a good DC film. If they are trying to make these films fit today’s world and society, they must see the world different than me. I try to see the good in the world. Yes, the world is messed up now-a-days - with the most recent tragedy in Brussels - but it's not like that all the time.
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