Things have been ridiculously busy lately but, I managed to finally go out with the wife last Friday and see Batman vs. Superman. I’ve been thinking about it ever since and needed to get my thoughts out. Besides, the blog is WAY overdue for an update.
First things first, my public apology to Ben Affleck. Ben, I’m sorry I doubted you. When they made the announcement that Affleck would be playing Batman, I was not happy.
Affleck as Batman … yeah … no thank you.
— Ben Rollier (@batfandotcom) August 23, 2013
I’m not particularly against Ben Affleck. I just didn’t think he could pull it off. That said, my position has always been that I want what’s best for the character. I wanted him to knock it out of the park and prove me wrong.
After my statements on Batfleck the other night. I feel that I need to clarify my position.
— Ben Rollier (@batfandotcom) August 26, 2013
Affleck isn't whom I would've picked and I'm VERY concerned about whether or not he can handle Batman, let alone Bruce Wayne.
— Ben Rollier (@batfandotcom) August 26, 2013
That said, I sincerely hope he proves me dead wrong and does a fantastic job. I'll be the first to admit I was mistaken, if he nails it.
— Ben Rollier (@batfandotcom) August 26, 2013
Well, he did it, in my opinion. He was pretty much Bruce Wayne come to life and I really liked him as Batman. Easily tied with Christian Bale for my favorite Bruce Wayne & Batman.
Overall, I really liked the movie. It was great to see DC’s big 3 on screen together. Gal Gadot made a great Wonder Woman and I’m excited to see what she can do in the upcoming films. I’m a big fan of ‘Man of Steel’ so, I thought Henry Cavill did a great job as well. The visuals were stunning. Jeremy Irons was great as Alfred. Jesse Eisenberg was an annoying Lex Luthor but, I think that’s to be expected. A little more than previous representations of him on film, I think they were trying to highlight how unstable he really is.
I really only had 2 major issues with the movie.
First, the editing. The movie jumps around A LOT. I feel like better editing would’ve made movie flow a lot better. Maybe the extended 3+ hour cut will resolve that. To be fair, they’re trying to squeeze quite a bit of story into this film, to setup for Justice League.
Second is the Flash vision that Bruce has (not the security footage). Wow. What was that even for? It had no bearing on the story, you could barely understand what he was saying and his costume looked TERRIBLE. Again, maybe the extended cut has some sort of tie-in with this scene but, it shouldn’t have been in the theatrical release.
The whole “Martha” thing made me chuckle a little bit but, I didn’t think it was that big of an issue.
I’m definitely excited to see what’s next!
Have to completely and utterly agree, when the announcement of batfleck came out I was more than skeptical but that has certainly changed. I thought he brought the batman/Bruce that the comic books have contained, brilliantly done!
When Affleck played a good Daredevil, I wanted to see how he’d do as Batman!
The movie definitely had pacing issues, and the Flash vision is part of the reason Batman was so convinced Superman was evil: “You’re right, Bruce! About all of it!” That, along with the desert vision (not just a dream), convinced him he needed to KILL Superman, regardless of what cooler heads tried to tell him.
I agree with the rest of your review. One thing you didn’t mention is that Eisenberg never really got to shine as Lex; he was always a bit too awkward. I hope the extended cut fixes that.
Have you seen the Ultimate Edition? I think it’s a definite improvement over the theatrical release, though still not what it could have been.