If you’re like me, you have always found Batman intriguing and Superman a little stiff. Mind you, both lead double lives, but Batman’s is of choice and Superman’s of necessity. With no incentive to venture from Wayne Manor, the billionaire philanthropist chose his nocturnal war on crime. Superman requires a cover story—he’s an undocumented alien and needs a cover just to live in Metropolis. The psychological complexity of the masked avenger was already implied when Batman was nothing more than cheap pulp. Superman, on the other hand, has usually been depicted as a one-dimensional, extraterrestrial embodiment of truth and justice
Bringing them head to head, not as allies but as enemies, could be an interesting concept but arrives instead as a naked marketing scheme in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Henry Cavill is predictably dutiful and dull as Superman. Ben Affleck is buffed and grim as Batman. The plot, for all its drawn-out convolutions, can be summed up in a phrase: Those two superdudes just don’t like what they’ve heard about each other! In his guise as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, Superman hopes to expose Batman as a sadistic vigilante. In his Batman alter ego, Bruce Wayne plots to bring down the caped crusader. Their collision is abetted by the film’s most interesting character, Lex Luthor.
Every generation gets the Luthor it deserves and here, Jesse Eisenberg plays the corporate villain as a tennis-shoed, motor-mouthed Mark Zuckerberg—a techno savvy millennial who wants the world. Warning of the danger of treating the alien Superman as Earth’s savior, Luthor plots to gain possession of Kryptonite. His schemes mesh with Batman’s fear that the all-powerful Superman might eventually turn from the light to the dark side.
Well, then what? Superman swoops in to rescue girlfriend Lois Lane from ISIS-style terrorists in Africa, sparking a congressional investigation from the platitude-spouting Sen. Finch (Holly Hunter). Luthor gets his hands on the Kryptonite and the body of the evil General Zod. A mysterious woman keeps turning up (could she be…Wonder Woman?). Things explode, buildings shatter, skyscrapers tumble, more explosions, debris scatters, cars race and smash through streets—all of it weightless and without consequence. The thin yet overblown scenario serves as skeletal support for the unimpressive, seen-it-before visuals.
Yes, in the background lurk memories of 9/11, anxiety over terrorism, questions over how to combat evil and archetypal allusions to mythology (what are superheroes but Olympian demigods and what is Lex Luthor but a trickster?). Still, nothing adds up to much beyond the promise of a sequel.
What lifts the film isn’t Cavill’s Superman or Affleck’s Batman but Eisenberg’s Luthor. He’s obviously having too much fun playing the superbaddie. “My R&D is up to all sorts of no good!” he announces with relish, eyes gleaming like a lunatic child on Christmas morning. Jeremy Irons is fine as Batman’s faithful servant Alfred, but one suspects he is overqualified for the part.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
1 star out of 4
Ben Affleck
Henry Cavill
Directed by Zack Snyder
Rated PG-13
