Batman and Superman square off. (INQUIRER)
BATMAN (Ben Affleck) challenges Superman (Henry Cavill) to an all-out duel to the death in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
It’s been two years since the public arrival of Superman in 2014’s “Man of Steel” when an aerial fight between Kryptonians Superman and General Zod laid waste to the entire central city of Metropolis with thousands killed and millions in property damage. At the street level of the battle, enter millionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, sprinting through the city streets in vain to save those doomed to perish in the remnants of his Wayne Financial headquarters.
The superhuman battle ended with Superman snapping the neck of his fellow Kyptionan.
The ramifications of this battle loom large in “Batman v Superman” as Wayne, a middle-aged crimefighter, dons his bat costume each evening to save Gotham City from the underworld’s baddest of the bad. Affleck is a much “meatier” version of the previous one presented by Christian Bale in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” with gadgets galore as Batman zooms around Gotham in his single-seat Batplane.
With his “stately Wayne Manor” laid in ruin from own previous battles against the sinister forces of evil, Wayne and his faithful butler and former SAS agent Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons) toil away the hours in the massive superstructure known as the Bat Cave, located hundreds of meters below the depilated residence.
The world at large hails Superman as a hero and adores him as a “God amongst mortals” but Wayne surmises that the Man of Steel, with his unchecked powers, could be the most diabolical force for evil in the world. Wayne believes that only Batman, himself, can stop Superman from coming “unhinged” and running amok.
The production values of “Batman v Superman” are amazing. The film was originally slated to come out last fall but pulled from release so the producers and film editors could fine tune every millimeter of Warner Bros.’ most important summertime blockbuster and it is superb.
“Batman v Superman” is truly the dawn of the Justice League and nine more DC superhero movies are planned, stretching out over the remainder of this decade, and beyond.
But here’s the rub: “Batman v Superman” has to generate $800 million at the global box office just to break even from its massive production and marketing costs.
That is a tough money mountain to climb and should this film falter, so too will be the forthcoming DC Comics movie “universe.”
But the match-up between the God-like Superman against the all-too mortal Batman is akin to you or me stepping on an ant. In this highly stylized comic-book world, Superman could drop kick Batman to Mars long before the Caped Crusader knew what hit him. Against the backstory of this overwhelming superior “Super Man,” enters insanely crazy industrialist Lex Luthor, played with a lusty glow by Jesse Eisenberg, who sets the stage for this Batman/Superman beat down by providing Wayne with newly discovered Kryptonite (a radioactive remnant of Superman’s home world) … just enough to weaken the Man of Steel and give the flying rodent at least a fighting chance.
The first and second acts of “Batman v Superman” are very strong, culminating with two major fight scenes, including the tearing down of the already collapsing Wayne Manor; but it is the third and final act with the introduction of Luthor’s hideous creation of the monstrous Doomsday (from the bodily remains of Zod) and the warrior princess Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) where “Batman v Superman” goes more than off the rails.
A film about these two titans going after each other like alley cats on a hot tin roof is more than okay but with Warner Bros in a pitched battle to introduce its own world of heroes and villains against rival Marvel Studios which since 2008 has raked in more than $3 billion for its spandex-suited films, director Zach Snyder throws absolutely everything at you to introduce a comic book world that has much more than Batman and Superman shoved inside.
Besides Wonder Woman, there’s Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and if you blink you will miss the Flash as well. It’s overwhelming the number of superheroes and key characters being introduced all at once, so much so that you forget why Batman has a “mad on” against Superman … and when Doomsday
arrives, both have made up and it’s all kisses all around.
It’s the battle of the century with Batman squaring off again Superman. How it will end is anyone’s guess but you can just bet there will be numerous more DC superheroes coming to a theater near you… very soon.
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