Hello everyone!
I don't really do reviews much on our channel apart from HISHE shorts.
That's because I don't really enjoy being on camera
and partly because I am usually working on HISHE videos.
But occasionally I do get really excited about certain movies and sometimes I do feel like sharing my thoughts.
So, if you wanna hear my opinion about 'Dawn of Justice'
I'll give you a quick summary type first and then we can dive into the spoilers section afterwards
if you wanna get in the real nitty gritty.
Okay, 'Dawn of Justice'... or some of you have been calling it 'Batman v Superman' for the last three years...
is the incredibly ambitious follow-up to Zack Snyder's ever so popular, universally enjoyed, not controversial Superman origins story...
'Man of Steel'.
I'm kidding. People loved to hate 'Man of Steel'
because it's so different from your classic Superman.
And 'Dawn of Justice' is just like it's predecessor.
It's an epic follow-up with so much stuff crammed into one movie that it's actually sort of feels lacking because of it.
"Does the movie suck? Did you hate it?"
These are the questions I've been getting.
Listen, if you want to banwag and hate a film, I think the DC Universe has lots of material for you.
But if you want to take the DC universe for what it is
and judge it on it's own attempts to maybe be a little different
I do not think the movie sucks.
It is, however, extremely joyless.
I think maybe it just never gets to that feeling we all want a superhero movie to have
but it is trying to get there.
Very slowly.
Zack Snyders DC Universe is very dark
and grim
and it takes itself very seriously
and I think that kinds of ruins it for a lot of people.
But that's what the movie is:
DC seems to be carrying on with what Christopher Nolan began
and in 'The Dark Knight' the theme is
the night is darkest before the dawn.
And if you look at the transition that is happening here
and this movie being the 'Dawn of Justice'
I hope that means we are in the dark stage
and things are about to turn into everything we have hoped for.
But, at the rate DC is moving, who knows, we'll just have to wait and see.
I enjoyed the movie for the most part.
It wasn't the greatest ever, but it was still pretty cool.
I think having to wait so many years to finally get to this point
really plays into a lot of the frustrations of this film
But perhaps that's what happens when you hype a movie for three years
expectations get a little...
out of control.
Anyway, is it worth seeing?
I think so.
Is it the greatest movie ever?
Näää.
So go, check out the movie for yourself
see what you think.
I think it's totally worth seeing
and ever seeing it twice I can say that I enjoyed it much more the second time
than I did on the first.
But that said
it is in no way a perfect film.
So, let's get into the spoiler's portion of the review.
Spoiler warning!
So click away now if you don't wanna have it ruined!
Okay, what did I enyoy?
It starts out great,
mindlessly floating boy Bruce Wayne in the bat cave.
I actually really liked seeing Batman's point of view during the 'Man of Steel' flashback battle.
It really put into perspective how a human world would view this battle taking place
from the ground level
and basically shows what everyone disapproved with about 'Man of Steel'.
I thought that was really well done
but ever that I don't feel like I ever really connected with Bruce Wayne as a character.
I think we are supposed to just be on board with his
"Yeah, screw Superman, he's dangerous"-idea
but it didn't really worked for me.
I feel like Batman should be smart enough
to actually, like develop some sort of Bat lie detector and just hook it up to Superman
and say: "Are you here to kill everyone?"
And then Superman would just be like:
"No... but I should ask you the same thing, Mr. Machine guns."
And then they would just awkwardly laugh
and then go back to being super-pals.
So yeah, um, Batman shoots people in this movie.
Or at least his car does.
I thought Ben Affleck was great as Bruce Wayne
but Batman does shoot people in this movie
and he dreams about shooting people even more.
Batman shooting people really threw me off
I didn't enjoy that.
To me, Batman shouldn't need firearms, but he uses several.
"But they were all bad guys, and... and Captain America shoots bad guys. So why can't Batman?"
Yeah, I get it. Batman is a ninja to me,
he doesn't need a pistol, even in his dreams.
"Did you like Wonder Woman?"
So, I thought Wonder Woman was cool.
She's just walking around among everyone, looking fine...
"Hey, Wonder Woman, where are you going looking so fi-"
... okay, I'll stop.
Her story was like all mystery, which I really liked,
but I also liked how she's just already out there and making things happen.
I'm excited to get to know her character better in following films.
"What is the thing about Lex Luthor?"
I surprisingly didn't hate it.
I know he's not like a traditional, more classy Lex,
but he is way more dangerous in this film.
I thought it was really interesting, like if Heath Ledger and Gene Hackman made a baby Lex Luthor junior, Baby Lex...
I mean, if Lex had more screen time, I think we could have earned more trust in his role.
But the movie seems to move really fast
so you're either on board with it or not sometimes
which is my biggest complaint.
Usually, in movies, and especially in this film:
Batman's having a dream right now.
Now there's a random person in a portal in front of his computer.
Screaming at hand. Was that Flash? I don't...
Oh, oh... now he has a super Batsuit. I wasn't aware that was finished.
Okay, now they're fighting.
Now they're friends.
Now Zod is made a monster baby.
There is so much happening
that by the time we get to the whole 'versus' part of this movie
it feels sort of unsatisfying.
There is so much fan service being crammed in this film, that it almost...
it's too much.
So it's kind of a weird complaint.
"You're giving me too many things! Stop it!"
But anyway, I felt like the movie moved really rapid
and hardly cared about things when they were resolved.
But then they fight!
So the fight breaks out or... no.
It doesn't, really.
It's not even a fight, it's like a hostage-blackmail-scenario.
I really hoped that Batman was gonna be the instigator that causes Superman to snap.
That was gonna be the reason they would fight.
You know, so we could get that actual 'versus' who-would-win-in-a-fight-nonsence
that we've been waiting for this whole time.
But no, Lex has to kidnap Superman's mom,
and say: "Kill Batman or she dies."
And Superman is like "Ok, fine" rather than just throwing Lex into the clouds
for being a jerk after he threw Lois of the building.
So, to me right away, the fight is not fair.
It's pretty clear that Superman could easily destroy Batman if he wanted to
but he doesn't want to, so he doesn't.
And Batman just keeps hitting him with stuff and eventually
gets an easy Kryptonite layup for the win.
So the fight just felt a little pretend and weak to me.
After 'Man of Steel's' battle between Zod and Kal-El
they went all over the city and into space. I think we all thought Batman
would somehow have to hang with Superman in the same regard.
I didn't know how they would make that possible
because Batman isn't Zod, but I did not expect the 'versus' part of the movie to be in just one area.
For me, I think this is the biggest letdown.
People were expecting a 45 minute showdown between Batman and Superman
and they got really this eight minute tussle.
And a seriously quick resolution.
I just knew that this 'versus' title was bait when they put 'Dawn of Justice' under the logo
I just knew it. Sneaky Hobbits.
So, then what. Doomsday and Wonder Woman, CGI galore, CG goes from super-awesome to really cheesy sometimes.
Well, it is worth, when the Doomsday battle commences.
Once Doomsday enters the scene, there is like explosion after explosion
they'll like obliterate more and more buildings.
"What about the Justice League teasers? What do you think about those?"
I actually think they looked kinda like bonus web material.
I mean, I'm... I'm excited for them to finally be here, but I kind of wanted them to actually show up
in the movie and fight at the end... like, why not?
They just show up and start fighting.
Like: "Hi guys, I'm The Flash and I'm really fast, may I be of some assistance?"
"Kill that Doomsday monster!"
Well, maybe that would have ruined Wonder Womans enterance and time in the spotlight
so, I guess it's okay that they weren't in there.
Gotta have something for later.
So, they fight Doomsday and then something happens that did not really shock me at all.
Final spoiler warning!
Who am I kidding, you probably already had this spoiled for you somewhere on Facebook or Twitter, haven't you?
Alright.
Anyway, here it goes: Superman dies! Spoiler alert!
They finally got that Doomsday killes Superman storyline.
Superman sacrifices himself and after that the movie loses all of that momentum
and plays out like it's going to actually have a sad ending.
And I thought maybe, just maybe they were going to have the guts to go for it and leave it at that.
But no.
They show the dirt on Clark's casket start to float up at the very last second
just in case the death of Superman might be to much for you to bear.
You chickend out, you pansies.
Just in case this idea might send you into in imaginative direction and start assuming things to come
they reverse it all and remove all worries about Superman.
"You gotta Gandalf the White that stuff, dude!"
So, what are my final thoughts:
How should it have ended?
Hehe, "that comes later."
Overall I think the film was a beautiful,
very action packed,
extremely ambitious,
just... okay film
It has some really bold ideas, some really nice moments
but perhaps it tried to be too many things all at once.
'Cause I felt a little exhausted when it was over.
The theme seemed to be of Lex's perspective, that things of power are not innocent.
And God-like beings are never good.
If that was a theme, then really the movie is even more joyless.
And people don't want a joyless Superman.
But I'm hoping. Still hoping. That that was the point.
And that the night is always darkest before the Dawn... of Justice.
So, that's my handful of thoughts.
I'd love to go more into this topic but I got lots of work to do with our regular HISHE stuff.
So, let me know if you liked this review kind of thing and maybe we will do another one someday.
I'm sure many of you want to leave their own opions of 'Dawn of Justice' in the comments, so please, feel free.
I'm calling the movie 'Dawn of Justice' because it is not a 'versus' movie.
Anyway, feel free to get into it in the comments all of you wish.
Alright, that's it, I got to get back to work. So, thank you so much for watching!
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We will see you next time!
Bye!