Batman vs Superman is all bite and no substance

Batman+vs+Superman+is+all+bite+and+no+substance

The movie that was an attempt to save the DC Cinematic Universe is a mediocre experience at best. “Batman vs. Superman” was the lead-up film to the new “Justice League” storyline in the DC Cinematic Universe.  DC in the movie department hasn’t been doing so well lately. They hit it off with the “Dark Knight” series and their Television Universe is doing very well, however, films in their past such as “Green Lantern”, “Catwoman”, some of the older  “Batman” and “Superman” films still seem to haunt them. The movie was a sequel to “Man of Steel”, and shows viewers the ground-level chaos of the fight between Khal-El (Superman) and General Zod in Metropolis, and lets us see the destruction and suffering of the citizens through Bruce Wayne’s (Ben Affleck’s) perspective. This was meant to explain why Batman and Superman are fighting. The film provides shoddy explanations for backstory several times throughout the film. Once again we get to see a Batman/Bruce Wayne origin story, which is still boring. A recurring point in the film are Batman’s “nightmares” which have no real explanation-at all-and don’t happen anymore in the third act of the film.  There are things seen in these nightmares that don’t make sense like strange winged bug-like creatures that only comic readers would recognize.  Generally things are not explained because the film was cut so it could be featured in a theater, this way fans will have to wait for the Rated-R dvd cut of the film with all the additional scenes. This can be chalked up to bad storytelling, but also unfortunate business complications. Later in the film, around the time the surprise Wonder Woman is introduced, the directors/writers try to jam in as much “Justice League” cameos as they can with a case file. Many viewers claim that Wonder Woman was the best part of the film and while I can see why they’d say that because they think the character was handled well, I don’t know if I agree. I believe that the visuals, costume design, and choreography are the best part of the film. The moodier scenes are justifyingly darker, the intense scenes have the correct feel to them, and the fight scenes are top notch. This is much like “Man of Steel”, where the action sequences were the best part of that movie. Overall, the movie fails in the writing departments, some due to theatrical restraints and others to bad writing. It succeeds, however, in the action and visual section. The movie is not bad; it’s a good experience if you can sit through the dialogue pieces to get from fight to fight.