A fucking dreadful, head-shaker of a film. Just... dire throughout. I don't think I can recall a film of this supposed calibre being so horrendously assembled and conceived; I just can't get my head around it. The premise of Bruce Wayne being outraged by the goings on in Metropolis from the end of the previous film is wonderful, and then it is completely and totally squandered in every way imaginable. It makes the first act of Man of Steel looks like the first act of L.A. Confidential by comparison - but the problem is much the same, i.e. what do these characters want and why? Bruce is upset, but Superman is... well, he wants to go on being Superman maybe. He doesn't really have a goal. He doesn't really have any fallout from the previous film, from killing Zod, he's just... Superman. Lois is investigating something, Lex... uh, Lex wants what? Does he have any real sort of gambit, any real grudge against Superman? The film spends so much time having him spout Terrio's hilariously lofty, student-level dialogue without giving him a boiled-down motive or quantifiable goal. This is poor for a 2.5 hour film.
The airs that this fucking film puts on are absolutely incredible - we've got this whole Holly Hunter subplot meant to suggest that we're still in this Nolanised world of real consequences and "What would actually" happen but as soon as this is jettisoned we're into cartoons in a cartoon graveyard - there is no modulation here but I guess there doesn't need to be; I would defy anyone into being suckered by the early suggestion that this is a serious film. I just don't see how you can with a film that so blatantly has its structure out of whack that it conceives of bloody dream sequences, the second of which is a set-piece (cause we need one see) which might be effective in giving us insight into Batman's mindset if it weren't so bloody naff, and the third one which might have a payoff in a film 3 films down the line!!! Cool! Unless they were the same dream. I honestly can't remember anymore.
If Ledger's Joker were sicced on this mob, he would have retired on grounds of boredom - no one in this film is any damn fun whatsoever (I'm tickled by the praise for Wonder Woman, who is literally nothing more than girl with sword and rockin' electric guitar motif) - also he might have thought the vacancy had been filled by Eisenberg, who seems to think he's playing the Joker and would be forgiven, actually, given the jar of piss sequence (which is one of the few moments that has any level of suspense of interest). If we must be totally free of irony we should be given something to digest and there is absolutely nothing to work with here, no comment on the characters that we haven't heard before, no slant that provides a fresh interpretation, no patina, no personality -- it's actually at a prequel level of palor when it comes to watching these players mill about, and I include Irons in this who is without a doubt the lamest Alfred ever. If you laughed at anything he said you are a Wrong Person and need to rescind your breathing right forthwith.
Given what the film looked like and who was cast I thought it might wind up being at the MoS level perhaps, which is to say not a good film at all but with occasional entertainment value and some slick visuals, but somehow Snyder regressing back to his Larry Fong comfort zone has not helped him one bit - I don't even think it's as visually strong as Sucker Punch to be honest, which is an indictment. At the end of the day I've paid to see too many of his films, so the joke is on me, but even Michael Bay, at his most fundamental core, can tell a story. This guy just plain can't, not to save his life. WB putting all their faith in this guy would be like if Disney and Marvel decided that... actually, no, they're yet to hire anyone as incompetent as Snyder - I was going to say Alan Taylor but basic storytelling isn't really his problem.
I see a Birdman clip was used earlier in the thread; I would have gone for the "cultural genocide" bit. I've been a bit outspoken in defending the genre of comic book films - I think they are just as good as the B-movie adventure serials or Westerns or swashbucklers or whatever that Hollywood used to churn out and have their place, but when you have something like this, totally free of irony, wit, or basic storytelling fundamentals, and it (inevitably) makes a ton of money, then that's quite sad. But then I'm probably mad; I loved Singer's Superman.
