By Camila Bagley ’17, Contributor
Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman was a brilliant movie on paper. With big names like Henry Cavil, Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg and Amy Adams leading the film, along with the addition of Wonder Woman to the franchise, the movie was shaping up to be on the same level as Marvel’s ensemble piece The Avengers. However, the great battle in Batman vs. Superman was not, as the title may suggest, between Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne, but between good actors and atrocious writing.
The film consisted of more plot holes than plot and character motivations. Entire pieces of dialogue were left unclear to the audience. The movie opens with Superman appearing in “Nairomi, Africa,”, after having saved Lois Lane from possible terrorists. He then starts being blamed for deaths occurring at the scene. After this point, without ever even attempting to suggest a link as to why the world would suddenly believe a man who they revered as a hero would massacre innocents,the public begins to fear Superman. Why would a man who can shoot lasers out of his eyes even bother to kill them all with a bomb or a gun? From this point on, only more inconsistencies follow, from Batman’s bizarre unexplained dream sequence, to Lex Luthor magically being able to command a Kryptonian ship. The movie only succeeded in being believable because it confused the audience so much that these major plot holes couldn’t even be addressed.
Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams, was written in this movie as a plot device and a not very believable love interest of the film’s lead. Adams managed to deliver a solid performance despite being cast as a completely static character. The “damsel in distress” treatment of the character would have been bearable if hadn’t been so completely unnecessary. Superman saves Lois in Nairomi, and soon after the world begins to blame him for the deaths that occurred there. Then, Batman declares Superman as his enemy. The scenario repeats itself later on when Superman is blamed for the bombing of the courthouse . This meaningless “damsel in distress” treatment of Lois Lane also occurs again at the end of the film, after Lex Luthor tricks Superman into thinking he kidnapped Lois only to have also kidnapped superman’s mother as well. These completely unnecessary and major plotlines showcase the film’s flaw: its own ambition.
The redeeming quality of Batman Vs Superman is best embodied by the scene in which Bruce Wayne unlocks Lex Luthor’ s files on the other high profile super heroes around the world. A fast moving cut, showing heros such as AquaMan and WonderWoman, flashes before the screen for a heart pounding minute as the audience gets a taste of what the Justice League will assemble into. Although the film was inept in creating and maintaining an interesting storyline, the creation of the Justice League is interest enough to propel this movie past its status as a flop; so long as it is followed by better written and developed movies in the Justice League Series.
Image Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice/
