Film Review: ‘Dawn’ is failure at its finest
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is the dawn of DC Comics. It is the inevitable rise of the sun coming over the horizon, the light in darkest night.
“Batman v Superman,” to sum it up in one word, is disappointing. I feel like a parent who has given his child chance after chance and can’t help but feel disappointment as I continue to watch him fall on his face again and again. I don’t want to feel it, no parent does, but after a never-ending cycle of atrophy, there’s no other emotion to feel.
“Batman v Superman” is a kid going crazy with a large supply of silly string in a matter of hours, or a Halloween enthusiast who’s really overdone it with the fog machines. At first you pity him; then you get bored with him; and then he’s just plain annoying and you want him to leave for wasting your time.
2016’s first major blockbuster feels like a live look-in at a brainstorm session. Everyone has some great ideas, but none were developed beyond that. The aftermath reveals a film with so much promise and yet so little evidence of said promise: the means but not the results.
Despite DC’s fatal failings, “Batman v Superman” isn’t a complete waste of time, and one can find some small solace in that fact.
“Batman v Superman’s” darkness serves as a sharp contrast to the general brightness to the Marvel legacies and leads to some original themes. Snyder, who has proven himself a director obsessed with the eye, directs action scenes like few others, and if you can make it through the moribund first two hours, you’ll find some entertainment.
It also delivers the best Batman fight scene you’ll ever see-but beyond that, nothing life altering. It’s fun to look at, but comes nowhere close to redeeming itself.
The true dagger of Warner Bros. attempted masterpiece is when you leave the theater. It’s when you realize the question you’re asking isn’t “What superhero film is ‘Dawn of Justice’ better than?” but “What superhero films are better than ‘Dawn of Justice’?” Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is untouchable. “The Avengers” would win a game of baseball with “Dawn of Justice” by mercy rule in the first inning. All the Iron Man films, both Captain America films, “Ant-Man,” “Deadpool,” “Man of Steel” and yes, even “Spider-Man 3,” the last and only other film I’ve ever seen on opening night, is better than this.
Snyder’s work should explode off the screen like a volcanic explosion of awesomeness. It should be monumental in size and stature. It should have silenced the critics and stunned audiences. Instead, “Batman v Superman” feels like an average action film that doesn’t leave the impact crater that it most certainly should have.