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I'm just fine with a darker tone and some thoughtfulness. If I want to see yuks and dance-offs, I'll go watch a Marvel film. I don't need to see Bruce dance the Batusi again

Darker tone - man of Steel - really? The comedic space opera of the first section on Kyrpton made John Carter of Mars look like a serious documentary............. Look at me I am mad scientist ninja with my own space dragon.............

And once again, you dip into "I have no idea what Mr. Morden is going on about" territory.

Yes, MoS had a darker tone..especially toward the end.

I think if you compare the way the threat of Ultron vs Zod was presented to the world, Zod was far more menacing.

He was on all channels, threatening world destruction if Supes wasn't handed over.

Supes also straight up killed Zod...a fellow Kryptonian...in a pretty hardcore way. Sure..we see so many movies where people snap necks...but they do so with so little emotion. That is where this is "darker" than other movies...we see the choice Supes has to make...one of the hardest and most difficult of moral choices.





Ultron was limited in scope and threat. The public had no knowledge of him. He was also presented as a robot, and so de-humanized in our eyes. When he was defeated it was a very "comic book" ending he met. The "darkest" (and arguably one of the dumbest) parts was Quicksilver dying.

 gorgon wrote:
And once again, you dip into "I have no idea what Mr. Morden is going on about" territory.

You do recall Supermans dad right? Who for no apparent reason had a Space Dragon to fly about on and in a society where people were selected for their one role in life was not only the best scientist in the whole wide world but also could easily defeat the best solider they had in single combat. I assume he was exiled to his oh so special tower cos he was a loony.

That was not dark - it was Flash Gordon style space Opera - that and the oh no we are all going to die - if only we had some way to escape - like on these giant spaceships we have loads of.............oh yeah lets do that - I figure the only person actually left on Krypton when it blew was the mad scientist's mad wife.

The earth centred stuff was much better but the death of Sups "dad" was pretty badly done and made little sense

After a dull and tiresome fight scene where the two main protagonists took turns to drag each other through buildings - yeah Superman killed a guy who happened to be from his planet.

The fact that they would have killed thousands previously is apparently no big deal?

Quicksilver dying saving a child is much more heroic and arguably darker than guy kills other guy he had no emotional connection with to stop him killing people. Sups put down a mad dog....nothing more. It was highly noticeable in the Avengers films that the main focus of the team is saving lives whatever the risk to themselves

The talk between Vision and the last Ultron is nicely done - about his fear of death.

still its all subjective in the end...................

I really hope the new Sups / Batman film is good - the Wonder Woman stuff looks ace, the Batman ok and the sups stuff better - but the Lex stuff looks horrible sadly.

To be fair, Jor-El's whole reason for having a natural birth for his son was to break free of the Kyrptonian class system, so it's not unreasonable that he's something of a polymath in protest.

Kal killing Zod is not 'dark' because they have any kind of connection, it's dark (if that's the right word for it) because it represents the final end of his race, it's also significant as it represents him choosing humanity over Krypton, his new home over his birthplace... I'd also replace the words 'dull and tiresome' with 'epic and visually stunning' in describing the fight. Better than anything in Marvel, I reckon.

Comparing DC to Marvel is something of a dead end, though, I think. Even going back to the comics, the approach taken by each is completely different; I find Marvel are more about the story, DC tend to focus more on their character's internal conflicts and they're a lot 'greyer'. The 'Marvel=fun, DC=miserable' stereotype (just compare DC's Flash series to Marvel's Daredevil, the complete opposite is true) is oversimplified, but there is a notable difference that carries over to the films.

It isn't the final end of his race, necessarily. The ship with the rest of the rebels (Commander Faora) etc were sent back to the Phantom Zone, if I recall correctly.

They escaped once before, perhaps may do so again.

True, though I recall some of the technobabble about merging the two Phantom Drives would destroy them, so they'd be trapped in the Phantom Zone even if they were technically alive (been a few months since I last watched it, though, so I may be misremembering). Kal making the choice of Earth over Krypton is the important part of the scene, I think. The concious decision to kill Zod is what marks that.

Well, those 6 bullet points have made me pretty much super positive about the film. - It was the end chunk of the film I had issues with.

I had a theory a while back about how the Batman VS Superman fight would end that might fit in with that "tear up a little" point.
My theory was, Batman would eventually overpower Superman to the point of, at least, the only way Superman could defeat Bats would be to kill him (ala Zod).

Except, instead of doing that, Clark stops.
"Do it. Just do it. If you truly think I'm a threat to this world, your home, your city. Do it, kill me. <Insert big speech here>"

Batman raises fist, ready to strike... Grabs his arm and helps him up instead. Yet, Batman, being Batman says something like, "If you ever step out of line..." "I know."

 TheMeanDM wrote:
It isn't the final end of his race, necessarily.

But Clark didn't/doesn't know that.

He also destroyed the space ship that represented the last chance to seed a new planet (i.e. it had a genesis device on it) when he laser-beamed down the ship that Zod was flying. The whole ending of the film was him not only defeating the evil plan, but doing so in a way that would prevent any chance of salvaging part of Krypton, since he was more focused on saving human lives. (I know that there is a lot about that scene that seems to focus on killing and not saving, but I mean that he could have tried to keep the ship intact, but instead took it down quickly.)

Those six bulletpoints above are really enticing. I loved MoS on a recent rewatch, but felt that the final fight scene against Zod should have been cut (i.e. he should have gone into the Phantom Zone as well, ending the film 5 minutes earlier), so to hear that this is like MoS but minus that final scene is really encouraging.

http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/batman-v-superman-early-screening-audience-reactions/3/


bodes well.


Not long now, actually getting kind of stoked...

The buzz does seems positive.

I'm going on Thursday evening. I probably need to go on spoiler lockdown since I think the early screenings start today...?

I'm more hyped now. The trailers ranged from meh to awful. Seeing it with my friend on Friday 1st, so I've got to be careful to avoid the spoilers in the reviews of it from the critics (because fanboys, in my experience, tend to proclaim films as the greatest thing since sliced bread, regardless of how good the film actually is).

I'm going with my wife and some friends to a midnight showing (in 2d) on Thursday. Really excited for it. I sat and rewatched Man of Steel last weekend in preparation, a film which I like more with every new viewing, though the final fight with Zod is still one fight too many, I think. The noise that Ben Affleck and Gal Galdot have done a good job is reassuring - since we are apparently going to be seeing these characters a lot more on the big screen, going forward.

Also, interesting that the audience reactions don't mention the other JLA members. I'm curious to see how much screen time people like Cyborg and Aquaman really get.

Reviews are coming in now...they are not pretty. Not being crushed, but generally poor reception. Which is not that surprising to me.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/batman_v_superman_dawn_of_justice/

Yeah, I rate the critic's reviews more.

Probably will see it, but not nearly as buzzed as I was at the weekend.

Sigh...so much potential. It sounds like they should have stuck with Luthor, no need for Doomsday/Darkseid (they should be a Justice League enemy, not just Bman+Sman). Wonder Woman being good is a plus though.

40% on Rotten Tomatoes? 48% on Metacritic? Think I'll stick to the CW's Arrow and Flash.

Depends who you hear it from. I just watched a video on YouTube where the guy said it was all kinds of awesome. Then again I watched a video where the hosts panned it as barely watchable. *shrugs*

That is exactly why I set very little store by reviews, they're the opinions of individuals and there are going to be as many different angles as there are reviewers. I for one can't see how this film can be anything less than stellar, given the trailers, the premise, the source material... But equally, I can see someone who's seen exactly the same things about it as I have, and reached the conclusion that it's going to be a bloated, overcrowded, overly dark mess.

It's a film with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in, to me, that is just such an awesome thing to finally see on the big screen that I pretty much know I'm going to enjoy it, regardless of how well it's been made (though I have a great deal of faith that it's going to be an excellent movie in its own right).

It's going to be a commercial success, because you've got two of DC's most iconic characters duking it out and a whole lot of supporting characters including Wonder Woman (who I hear steals the show), Doomsday (has been getting negative reviews) and Lex Luthor (described as a marmite performance).

Batman and Superman alone should rake in the money of the fan boys to get to the $800m box office. Anything less is a flop, considering that Deadpool, it's competition at the time of posting, garnered almost $750m on about a fifth of the budget that BvS had.

Going this weekend and looking forward to it.

 KingCracker wrote:
Depends who you hear it from. I just watched a video on YouTube where the guy said it was all kinds of awesome. Then again I watched a video where the hosts panned it as barely watchable. *shrugs*

Yeah, the reviews are *all over the place*. They can't even agree on individual elements of the film. Reviewers who liked it mostly praised the cast. Other didn't like the film but felt the performances were good. And others didn't like the film and really bashed the performances.

Even individual reviews are disjointed. One of the reviewers from Forbes spent 1000 words laying into the film, then closed by praising its visuals and saying he was still looking forward to the rest of the DCEU. The other Forbes reviewer gave it a positive review. WTH?

I do think that some critics just have it in for Snyder, and at this point WB would almost be better served by just putting the 'Alan Smithee' label on anything he directs. The reviews would probably tick up a bit as a result.

I haven't seen it yet, but it kinda seems like that early "review" I posted from the EW(?) guy might be on target -- if you liked Man of Steel, or liked MoS except for necksnaps, you'll probably like this one. If you didn't like MoS at all, it might not be your movie.

Although a friend of mine pointed out how many critics said it was better than Man of Steel...but then rated it lower than what they gave MoS. I dunno. I tend to think this movie is largely critic-proof anyway.

Yeah I'm thinking of going and seeing it soonish next week or so. I'm thinking I'll walk away enjoying it

Bound to be let down sooner or later: Deadpool and 10 Cloverfield were both epic. Might as well be let down by Batman, and then raised up again by Suicide Squad!

 curran12 wrote:
Reviews are coming in now...they are not pretty. Not being crushed, but generally poor reception. Which is not that surprising to me.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/batman_v_superman_dawn_of_justice/

From the reviews, BvS is Daredevil (movie) meets Sucker Punch.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 gorgon wrote:
Yeah, the reviews are *all over the place*.

Even individual reviews are disjointed.

What you are seeing is that an overwhelming critical consensus that the movie is pure fething gak. That's the truth of, it and any drunk reviewer will tell you so one-on-one in a dark closet.

However, as Suicide Squad is coming out (and is likely to be a home run), they don't want to be blacklisted for trashing a half-BILLION DOLLAR movie (because that's how Hollywood rolls), they need to find a silver lining, the one little nugget of chocolate in the barrel of gak, and play it up. If they're normally kissing butt like there's no tomorrow, but calling out imperfections, then that's a "positive" negative review.

That is the difference between BvS versus F4, where the critics were free to take the glove off and slap the F4 team around.

I don't listen to or read reviews.

If I see a trailer and I like what I see...I figure I will enjoy the movie.

Not listening to others has allowed me to enjoy more movies than most, I am sure.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have enjoyed films like:
Prometheus
Chronicles of Riddick
Amazing Spider Man 1, 2
Spawn (though admitttedly that is more of a "tolerate it" level)
(Just to name a few)

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't see plot holes or glaring instances of deus ex machina....I just don't tend to get worked up about them to the level of ruining the movie for me.

 TheMeanDM wrote:
I don't listen to or read reviews.

If I see a trailer and I like what I see...I figure I will enjoy the movie.

Not listening to others has allowed me to enjoy more movies than most, I am sure.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have enjoyed films like:
Prometheus
Chronicles of Riddick
Amazing Spider Man 1, 2
Spawn (though admitttedly that is more of a "tolerate it" level)
(Just to name a few)

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't see plot holes or glaring instances of deus ex machina....I just don't tend to get worked up about them to the level of ruining the movie for me.

Anymore it feels to me like most reviews don't actually have anything to do with movies being "fun to watch" or "enjoyable" and if I read them I feel like I'm reading a paper in a scientific journal: lots of technical jargon and analysis relevant to other people in the field (how was the editing, cinematography, sound, special effects), but no real focus on "will it entertain me while I turn of my brain and shove $10 popcorn in my face and wash it down with "$8 soda".

I can read review after review about a performance sports car that has crappy engineering, needs frequent trips to the shop, has crappy gas mileage, horrible emissions standards, and it will take 5 days to special order replacement tires from Italy. But none of that answers the question of "is it fun to drive". And movie reviews are the same way, most of them don't answer the question "so what, is it fun to watch?"

There is a reason why there are a number of movies on Rotten Tomatoes with a 30% Critic Rating and a 80% Public Rating.

Well, I've gotten myself (even more?) hyped for the film, Batman: Bad Blood just arrived today and I watched that, thoroughly enjoying it. - It's the best of the Batman&Damien animated storylines that have been so far.

My spoiler-free review of Batman VS Superman. (I gave in and went to the midnight showing)

If you're not a Batman/Superman fan: The film is messy and confusing and probably won't convince you to like the film.

If you are a Batman/Superman fan: You'll love it, it's awesome, a great experience. Go see it in the cinema!

If you're a Batman/Superman MEGAfan: You will love it, but will have *major* concerns about various plot decisions.
Or
you'll hate it, it's an abomination to the legacy of Batman / Superman but at least Wonder Woman was on the big screen at last and was awesome.

So I went to a midnight screening. I enjoyed it, and had fun watching it and discussing it afterwards, but it was a really weird movie. I would say that it is a 70% movie; not bad, but not exactly good either, sort of in the middle. Mainly because individual scenes were really fun and interesting, but the overall package was poorly constructed. The editing is really hopeless in places, and the first half of the film feels like a series of stuff, rather than a plot, as a result. It is a film that would have been better either with less content (and a tighter focus) or with more content (and more space given for stuff to breathe). I'm interested for any potential Director's Cut, as that would show how much of the 'connective tissue' of the film was left on the editing room floor.

The acting is generally good. Lex Luthor is a disaster though, and he rivals Dr Doom for 'miscast villain'. Alfred was fun, but didn't have enough space to work in. I also felt that Henry Cavill was a bit unconvincing as Clark Kent.

The fights are good, but poorly located: you get none for large periods, then loads of them strung together. The film would have benefitted from breaking them up a bit.

The film ends in an interesting place, and it sets up the next films very nicely, I think.

Spoiler stuff in the spoiler tags:


That is all that I have for the moment. Overall, I enjoyed it, and found it interesting and fun, but I am predisposed to like it. The film has serious flaws, and not everyone is going to enjoy it, especially if they are expecting Captain America 2 or Antman. I would say that it is worth the price of a cinema ticket.

I'm probably going to go see this tomorrow. I have very low expectations but I really, really enjoy going to the movies. Partially it's because I am able to really escape into them, partially it's because I didn't get to go almost ever when I was a kid, but mostly I like hoovering up a pound of popcorn and a bucket of soda.

There hasn't been anything good out since 10 Cloverfield Lane and I am hot to go.

 Frazzled wrote:
Bound to be let down sooner or later: Deadpool and 10 Cloverfield were both epic. Might as well be let down by Batman, and then raised up again by Suicide Squad!

Yes, Yes, and oh man, Yes. I cannot wait for Suicide Squad.