Our verdict on Batman V Superman: Dawn Of justice.
The capes of wrath…
This year, two heavyweight popculture titans are going head to head. Yep, Marvel and DC are both releasing sequels featuring a clash of their own superpowered good guys. Captain America and Iron Man have at least bickered on screen before, but Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice marks the first time that these title characters (arguably the most famous in comics) have shared space in a live-action film. This creates the instant aura of a must-see, regardless of what you thought of Man Of Steel, director Zack Snyder’s first Superman film and the starting point for Warner Bros’ expanded Justice League-centric universe.
Structurally similar to its predecessor, BVS:DOJ takes its time establishing its reality-grounded sci-fi setting ahead of the main-attraction dust-up. If the title clash ultimately disappoints, the worldbuilding that leads to it has plenty to offer. In the black (or very, very dark grey) corner is Ben Affleck’s grizzled Caped Crusader, a vigilante grown weary of the thankless, Sisyphean task of trying to clean up Gotham’s underworld. In the red-and-blue corner, Kal-El/Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) is holding down a job at the Daily Planet (tasked with covering sports when he’d rather be writing an expose on the Bat), while global opinion is divided on his alter ego, Superman: do his heroic deeds justify the collateral damage he causes? In the second prologue, after the obligatory recap of Bruce Wayne’s tragic childhood, a Wayne Financial building (containing several storeys of employees) is destroyed during Superman’s previous climactic battle with General Zod, an event replayed at ground-level in a thrilling new perspective on the destruction. From the wreckage, Bruce makes it his mission to prevent the extraterrestrial émigré from causing any more damage, by neutralising the threat.
Bat-fleck begins
Jumping ahead 18 months, Snyder continues the story at pace, with Lois Lane (Amy Adams, given more to do than you might expect) chasing a story in Africa, while Lex Luthor Jr. (Jesse Eisenberg) has a particular
interest in the Kryptonian vessels lying dormant in various crash sites worldwide. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) begins turning up at all the fancy soirées that Bruce finds himself snooping around. Jeremy Irons and Holly Hunter are strong additions to a cast already teeming with gravitas.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman films aren’t part of this canon, but that doesn’t mean their influence is not keenly felt (Nolan and Emma Thomas again exec produce here). Largely sticking with the grounded approach that made the Dark Knight trilogy so compelling, this isn’t a radical new interpretation of the Caped Crusader, so it’s a credit to Affleck – and the enduring popularity of the character – that it doesn’t feel too soon to have him on screen again. Aided by Snyder’s visual verve, its an extremely faithful take on the character, and, alone, he’s responsible for many of the film’s best moments: from taking on a roomful of goons in a hand-to-hand scrap, to an explosive Batmobile chase.
In fact, what’s perhaps most surprising is that BVS is at its best when its heroes are