Rotten Tomatoes critics are full of it! Batman v Superman was good! spoilers!

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

"Batman ripping a sink from a nearby wall and using it to whack Superman in the skull could not have been a stronger metaphor for the film, in toto. There’s a part of me that hopes Snyder did it on purpose, because on some level he knew how absurd the whole thing had become."

 

 

What does this even mean? The idea of Batman fighting Superman necessarily requires an armored Batman and a severely de-powered Superman. To be a fight, it also necessarily requires them to hit each other with stuff. So, if it were something less mundane, like a particle accelerator, or something ironic, like a crowbar marked "Bat-Crowbar" it would have somehow been better?

 

I don't even get the criticism.

 

Kitchen sink maybe? Too much stuff crammed into the movie?

 

That makes sense. If, as a critic, you are going to be that glib and cutesy, you better connect the dots. At least for a guy like me to make the connection.

 

Not sure he meant it, but sl4ppy gets extra points for using the double entendre "in toto."

 

If you've ever been to Japan, or purchased a high-end sink, you'll know what I mean.

 

Also, "Bat-Crowbar" made me laugh out loud.

[Straw-Man]

"Batman ripping a sink from a nearby wall and using it to whack Superman in the skull could not have been a stronger metaphor for the film, in toto. There’s a part of me that hopes Snyder did it on purpose, because on some level he knew how absurd the whole thing had become."

 

Even a 25% is a gift/generous RT score for BvS... The Zach Snyder "experiment" should come to an abrupt end. Green Lantern was a better movie.

 

not a fan of b v. s, but I can't go there.

[Straw-Man]

Remember, these are the same critics that gave a steaming pile like AoU a decent score on RT.

 

Oddly, audiences gave AoU a better score on Rotten Tomatoes than BvS as well. I guess everyone is wrong about this movie but you.

 

i've attributed his attitude to it being really cold in alberta; i might stay out of sorts myself.

[MetalPSI]

It's been a balmy plus 13 Celsius

[kimik]

Remember, these are the same critics that gave a steaming pile like AoU a decent score on RT.

 

Oddly, audiences gave AoU a better score on Rotten Tomatoes than BvS as well. I guess everyone is wrong about this movie but you.

 

I have not seen BvS yet, but AoU was a horrible movie, same with Iron Man 2 & 3. I liked the first Iron Man and Avengers flicks, and GoTG, with Winter Soldier being good as well (however, the more times I see Winter Soldier on TV with the kids the less I like it). The other Marvel films have been otherwise - basically average popcorn films. Simple lighthearted stories with some humor and CGI mixed in. From a financial perspective it is a much smarter approach than what DC/WB is doing, but Marvel movies are so formulaic and simple now it is getting kind of boring. GoTG was fun because it was different from the traditional Marvel hero fare. Hopefully Civil War is better, but from what I have seen so far it looks like just more of the same........

 

 

[kimik]

Remember, these are the same critics that gave a steaming pile like AoU a decent score on RT.

 

Oddly, audiences gave AoU a better score on Rotten Tomatoes than BvS as well. I guess everyone is wrong about this movie but you.

 

i've attributed his attitude to it being really cold in alberta; i might stay out of sorts myself.

 

You are saying AoU was a good movie?

[NewEnglandGothic]

Remember, these are the same critics that gave a steaming pile like AoU a decent score on RT.

 

Oddly, audiences gave AoU a better score on Rotten Tomatoes than BvS as well. I guess everyone is wrong about this movie but you.

 

i've attributed his attitude to it being really cold in alberta; i might stay out of sorts myself.

 

You are saying AoU was a good movie?

[Straw-Man]

Remember, these are the same critics that gave a steaming pile like AoU a decent score on RT.

 

Oddly, audiences gave AoU a better score on Rotten Tomatoes than BvS as well. I guess everyone is wrong about this movie but you.

 

i've attributed his attitude to it being really cold in alberta; i might stay out of sorts myself.

 

You are saying AoU was a good movie?

 

yes. not close to the quality of the predecessor, but good nonetheless.

[ComicConnoisseur]

The proof in the pudding why Batman v.Superman is superior is many of us will be buying the r-rated version to see it over again.

I don`t think many of us want to revisit Age of Ultron.

Once was enough,same with Ant-Man!

[NewEnglandGothic]

The proof in the pudding why Batman v.Superman is superior is many of us will be buying the r-rated version to see it over again.

I don`t think many of us want to revisit Age of Ultron.

Once was enough,same with Ant-Man!

Yeah, what was all the cheerleading with Ant-Man.

It wasn't terrible, but it was pretty bland.

When I got done with it, I had this feeling that I never had to watch it again (see Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor 2, etc).

[miraclemet]

honestly, which thread am I supposed to post my thoughts about the movie in? There are like 6 threads right now...

[zosocane]

honestly, which thread am I supposed to post my thoughts about the movie in? There are like 6 threads right now...

 

Create your own thread! At this point it doesn't matter.

[kimik]

honestly, which thread am I supposed to post my thoughts about the movie in? There are like 6 threads right now...

 

Create your own thread! At this point it doesn't matter.

 

. I will do that tomorrow after I finally see the film. Might as well fill up the whole first page of the Movie/TV/Video Games section with posts on the film that critics hate.

[kimik]

The proof in the pudding why Batman v.Superman is superior is many of us will be buying the r-rated version to see it over again.

I don`t think many of us want to revisit Age of Ultron.

Once was enough,same with Ant-Man!

Yeah, what was all the cheerleading with Ant-Man.

It wasn't terrible, but it was pretty bland.

When I got done with it, I had this feeling that I never had to watch it again (see Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor 2, etc).

 

AoU and Ant-Man were so bad neither of my kids have asked to see them again. They have even watched Iron Man 2 more than once.

[NewEnglandGothic]

honestly, which thread am I supposed to post my thoughts about the movie in? There are like 6 threads right now...

 

Create your own thread! At this point it doesn't matter.

 

. I will do that tomorrow after I finally see the film. Might as well fill up the whole first page of the Movie/TV/Video Games section with posts on the film that critics hate.

Topics you could focus on too,

The Ultimate Edition- What's going to be in it?

MTV Movie Award predictions- Is Affleck gonna get slimed?

...or even Batman v Superman 2?

[ComicConnoisseur]

The number one reason why I liked this movie!

It was not boring!

The Fantastic Four reboot was boring!

 

[miraclemet]

Before I get started let me say I liked parts of this movie. It was better than Green Lantern. It was better than some of the Marvel stuff. I like DC movies. Heck I might be the only person I know who liked parts of Superman Returns (I'll put the Spaceplane sequence up against ANYTHING Donner/Reeves did). Age of Ultron was muddled . Iron Man 3 was a letdown. So I was ready for a great movie, even with a little trepidation after the letdown of Man of Steel....

 

So my 35 thoughts

 

Batman Origin

 

1. So this version of the origin left out the main guilt component, where Bruce was the reason they left early (the movie showed them happily leaving the theater, so not even any alluding to it. So there's no reason for guilt, which is part of the Bruce/Batman motivation/drive.

 

2. Maybe it was just my impression, but didn’t it seem like Thomas Wayne lunged at the would be assailant? Was Snyder trying to show Wayne as the agressor? Again this is very different than all of the previous versions that show Thomas putting himself between the gun and his family, but not moving to fight the guy. This choice (assuming it was intended) makes sense with the new characterization of Batman as even more of an aggressor.

 

3. So wait, the batman origin story is told as a flashback (ok) untill the bats start make young bruce levitate, and then its revealed that the flashback is actually a dream/nightmare. So what part of the origin (on which we base our understanding of Batman) is real memory and what part is not?

 

 

Superman

 

4. About to be washed away? I’ll just slowly hover above you as the water rises so I can get a nice camera shot. Wouldn’t Superman move with a little more urgency? I think Snyder put this in to show “look Superman cares about people, he doesn’t let them die by the thousands while fighting Zod (oh wait he does)”, but look… what is going on when Superman is saving people? Its coming on the heals of adoration. The people who worship him (and make perfectly designed trademarked logos out of stones) get saved.

 

5. Also lets remember that Snyder thinks the number of people who died because of Superman is fine as long as its fewer people than the First order killed in The Force Awakens. Yes, fewer murders than the bad guys who kill entire planets and are portrayed as space nazis equals hero!

 

Jimmy Olsen

 

6. Is this just a case of bad editing? Was there more in the original movie that allowed the audience to connect or at least recognize Jimmy Olsen before he gets shot in the head? Because killing someone and then having it be a big deal later "THEY SHOT JIMMY IN THE FACE" or whatever it was Lois was yelling about. I dont remember, because I didnt care, because when it happened I had no idea who he was. Im hoping this was just poor editing choices, but everything Zack is saying sounds like he saw it as just as much of a throwaway as the scene presents it. Im fine with killing off a character, especially for the sake of the story, but geeze man if you want me to care (as it was a point in the movie), make me care.

 

Ok and now here's my question. Zach Snyder is front and center defending this movie, but he didn't write it did he? So are all of these things (which I would think were outlined/defined in the -script) decisions he made? Did he help write the -script? (I dont see him on the imdb list) or did he produce it. Everyone is throwing him under the bus for this movie, but how much did he own besides directing (which I thought wasnt bad, especially the acting).

 

Wonder Woman

7. Thought she was the high point of the movie. But here's my question. Batman makes copies of the information that Lex has right? Lex still has it yes? He didn't wipe the hard drives did he? So what did Wonder Woman gain by getting a digital copy of a picture of herself from the past? Was it just that she wanted it? I got the impression that she wanted it to help keep her secret, but Lex still has it (assuming Bruce just made copies) right?

 

8. Im totally looking forward to a Wonder Woman movie, or really any super hero movie not directed by Snyder…

 

Alfred

9. Alfred is supposed to be a surrogate parent for Bruce. He’s not an engineer, he’s not M. I didn’t get any sort of “parent” feeling from the character. Nothing in the plot felt like this. He also acts as Bruce’s ethical compass, but none of this happens in BvS. It's like he's been mixed together with Lucious Fox, who also acted as a bit of moral compas in the Nolan movies... but not here.

 

Special Effects

10. Effects looked horrible to me. Like Suckerpunch grungy, but without the aesthetic justification that Sucker Punch had. This is the same Peter Jackson FX company that won 5 oscars! They've been falling short lately after a lot of early success... I thought their work on Fantastic Four was muddy/dark, and its the same here.

 

Plotting

11. Am I watching a dream? A delusion? A fever dream? A vision? An alternate future? It was never clear which one any of them was, so I could never contextualize it. And if you keep the audience in the dream too long without revealing it was a dream viewers begin to frame the scene and try to place it in reality. And since when did Batman start having the ability to see possible futures (ie Combat Batman vs Darkside flying things)

 

12. Why does Batman have to steal the Kryptonite? Doesn’t Lex want the two of them to duel it out? Isnt outfitting Batman with the one thing that can kill superman in Lex’s interests? So why have all those guys guard the kryptonite?

 

13. Ok I get creating Doomsday as a failsafe in case Batman doesn’t kill Superman… but why release him before you know if Batman was successful or not?

 

 

Huh?

14.Ok maybe I'll buy that Lex keeps his proprietary data in an unsecured room in Lexcorp in an act of hubris and belief in is level of security encoding... maybe... but WHY would his server farm (behind locked doors) have an external dong-ell available to attach to??!?

 

15. I don’t understand the Batman motivation for the Supers v Bats fight. It tries to seem like Bruce has “had enough” of Superman, but they are just meeting for the first time in this movie? In the books this fight comes on the heels of 30 years of back and forth and Batman watching Superman and his “golden boy” routine, but in the movie none of this happens. If his motivation is that Superman has killed thousands (from his MoS movie), then why doesnt Batman value life more? Why does he lead Doomsday into a populated city? Why doesnt he lead off with a kryptonite spear to the chest?

 

16. Why did Lex bother asking for an import license? He was bringing it in one way or the other.

 

17. How does Lex know who Batman and Superman are and he doesn’t better use this info to his advantage.

 

18. You’re telling me that Metropolis and Gotham are across a bay from each other and Batman and Superman haven’t crossed paths for however long Superman has been Superman? PS the timeline for all of this confuses me. Bruce Wayne is old, Clark is Young... but how long has he been Superman-ing?

 

19. For all of Superman's powers (including superhearing) there’s no hint to give away Scoot’s scooter going boom?

 

20. Why, in the big fight between superman and batman does Superman not just explain himself? He has multiple chances before Batman starts pounding him and gassing him.

 

21. Also if you have a kryptonite spear, definitely don’t keep it right next to you if you’re fighting superman, put it like 40 feet away.

 

22. So wait Lex creates both Doomsday and the thing that can kill Doomsday? Genius military engineer couldn’t think of a failsafe for that? Couldn’t encase Doomsday in Steel? Mix in some human DNA to make him krypto-resistant?

 

Ben Affleck

23. I really thought Affleck did a good job Maybe the best Bruce Wayne portrayal I can think of...

 

Lex Luthor

24. The real hero of the movie. He has a plan, he as an arc, he executes his plan and it all comes to fruition. Wait are we not supposed to be rooting for Lex Luthor?

 

Oops

25. So Aquaman was totally doing that thing where he is trying to not look like he's holding his breath but he's holding his breath.

 

26. Batman reacts to Superman saying his mom’s name (when Superman is really just talking about his own mom), but we have NO INFORMATION IN THE MOVIE TO LET US KNOW THAT! NO Where is there a mention of Martha by name. (and as an aside this was the one moment that took me out of the movie more than any other, the way Affleck played the "wait what did you say?" sounded like Pete Holmes in the Funny or Die youtube clips)

 

Ugh

27. Nice trailers in the middle of the movie. So all of the characters have icons, Im assuming designed by Lex, so if these icons carry forward, we’re using iconography that the bad guy designed? Ok maybe I can create a narrative that these files are military and it’s the military branding… but still. Watching someone watch something else is far from thrilling...

 

28. Time travel is never good. Flash shows up to warn Batman. Tells him specifically that Lois Lane is the key (except she’s not, Marth is the key to ending the fight) and then tells him not to trust someone, but doesn’t say who. Hey buddy you name dropped Lois, why not the other person too? And then Batman wakes up, from another dream, or was it?

 

29. So Batman and Superman both get portrayed as having no regard for human life/humanity, so why are they positioned opposite each other? Shouldn’t the be teaming up to go on murder sprees?

 

30. Remember kids Batman isn’t a murderer, hes a man slaughterer! (per Zach) If you are going to kill people left and right turn into the skid!

 

31. Love when Batman decides to lead Doomsday back into downtown Metropolis, Snyder makes a point to have someone say that downtown Metropolis is empty at this point… cause you know how New York city is empty at 9 o’clock? Oh wait it isn’t? And why cant Batman just go bring it back? I get why Superman doesn’t go and get it, he should stay clear of it. Oh wait he does go and get it a few minutes later? How about the super-human who is also not a kryptonian gets it (Wonder Woman!), no? Ok.

 

Why oh Why?

32. Whoever wrote the movie thought they were being smart. Take the main criticism of MoS (“so much violence and disregard for human life!”) and put it at the core of Batman’s reason for why he wants to take Superman down. But that positioning only works if Batman doesn’t have the same disregard for human life!

 

33. Man Snyder has a big hard on for 9/11 imagery (see MoS). between the ground level shot looking up at the plane, oh wait I mean Superman hitting the building, and then Bruce rushing into the debris cloud. Using 9/11 imagery is just cheap story telling to elicit a reaction from the audience that hasnt been earned in the movie.

 

Ok there are good things!

34. Everything Wonder Woman is and does is great (the stupid photo plot point isn’t her fault)

35. Gail and Ben are very good actors and do well with the they are given

36. The final battle with the three of them together is great and makes me imagine a good movie is somewhere here in this bad movie.

 

 

final grade 5/7... kidding (inside joke)

 

2 stars (out of 5). Worth a red box re-rental when there's nothing new. Wont be buying it for my DVD collection. Not going to make a point to revisit it, but I wont turn it off if I stumble across it on HBO.

[Brian48]

I like the little touches they put in. In the dream sequence where Bruce/Bats was a full blown soldier not opposed to killing, he whipped out the same 1911 type pistol that killed his parents and started shooting the enemy with it. Everyone else was using a more modern design.

[miraclemet]

... In the dream sequence where Bruce/Bats was a full blown soldier not opposed to killing....

 

as opposed to the rest of the movie where he's also not opposed to killing?

[Straw-Man]

I like the little touches they put in. In the dream sequence where Bruce/Bats was a full blown soldier not opposed to killing, he whipped out the same 1911 type pistol that killed his parents and started shooting the enemy with it. Everyone else was using a more modern design.

 

my favorite little touch was the appearance of the end credits.