Zack Snyder
pissed me off with his outrageous fight scene between Superman and General Zod
in Man of Steel. In that movie, Superman allows General Zod to
wreak havoc on Metropolis; thousands die because of Superman’s self-imposed do not kill rule. I’m usually a big fan of these kind of rules
in fiction, whether it be D'Artagnan’s
honor, MacGyver’s no gun code, or Dennis
Hopper’s 50 mph policy… these all
present challenges which make the stories more interesting. But in Superman’s case, his unwillingness to
kill General Zod makes him a hypocrite at best, and quite possibly an accessory
to mass genocide.
Bruce Wayne is pissed too. Therein
lies the motivation behind Batman V
Superman, it doesn’t matter who you are; you don’t want to piss of Bruce
Wayne or (spoiler alert!) you’ll have Batman to contend with. The opening scenes of Batman V Superman show Bruce Wayne helplessly witnessing the
destruction that is being rained down on Metropolis by Superman and General
Zod, from that point on it becomes his mission to eliminate Superman. On the other hand, as we spend time with
Superman it becomes clear that he is offended by Batman’s vigilante brand of
justice. Superman’s holier-than-thou
attitude is our first indication that Zack Snyder has chosen sides. This is an interesting premise; two men with contradicting
philosophies cannot be good neighbors, there’s only room for one hero in the
Twin Cities of Metropolis and Gotham.
Had Zack Snyder tightened his focus, this could have been a great movie; but
for better or worse Lex Luthor is added to the mix – he’s either the catalyst
or the third wheel, depending on your point of view. I personally found Jesse Eisenberg’s
performance as Luthor to be distracting and unnecessary. While his character fit into the plot as an
instigator, someone who was stirring up the feud between Batman and Superman,
his motivation for doing this was never satisfactorily explained. Additionally, Eisenberg’s performance was
heavily reminiscent of Heath Ledger as the Joker; his psychotic behavior seemed
out of place. I realize that all of
these characters and plot lines are being pulled from a variety of source
material. If you try to make everyone
happy, you’re bound to fail. But I would
contend that making a great film, telling a good story, and presenting
convincing characters will always trump trying to make fan-boys happy. I wish someone would tell that to Zack
Snyder.
Overall I found this to be a much better movie that Man of Steel, and I can sum it up with two sentences:
Batman hated the end of Man of
Steel just as much as I did.
Man of
Steel lowered my expectations so low that Snyder’s next film had to be better.
