I purposely waited till see what the box office response was going to be for Batman v Superman in week two to express my thoughts on director Zack Snyder and writer David Goyer. I wanted to see if this reimagined Cinematic Universe for DC had a real future or was it destined to fail. As of this writing, the numbers are not good. It is estimated that BvS has plunged nearly 80% from its opening week the worst such turn out for any comic book related film.
Two things became abundantly clear after I viewed Man of Steel again and sat through some of its special features and then seeing BvS later that night. One, both director Zack Snyder and writer David Goyer don’t seem to understand who Superman is and how to portray him on film. But worse than that, they don’t seem to care about Superman altogether. Now, let me begin this defense of the Superman character by stating that I’m about as big a Batman fan as they come. I do call myself The Dork Knight after all. But it would be irresponsible of me to not acknowledge the reason why we even have superheroes to begin with. That reason is the last son of Krypton. Make no mistake; there would be no Batman, no Wonder Woman, no Justice League or no Avengers for Marvel without Superman. To say he deserves respect would be an understatement.
When Zack Snyder burst onto the scene by adapting Frank Miller’s 300, I saw a director with an incredible sense of visual storytelling. He impressed me. There’s an old saying that the highest form of flattery is imitation. Zack’s style was being copied in our filming projects such as for example, the Starz original series Spartacus. He then directed the long awaited Watchmen. As a kid from the 80’s I remember reading Watchmen and loved it. For the most part, I was very pleased with this adaption. I’ve learned throughout the years to take film adaptions with a grain of salt. Source material is just that. With that said, despite some missteps and pacing issues that have often plagued Snyder’s films, he did a fairly good job in bringing Watchmen to the big screen. Perhaps that has more to do with Alan Moore’s masterful writing than anything else. Then came Sucker Punch. Which lived up to its name in how the audience must’ve felt after walking out of the theater. But hey, every director has his/her own Howard the Duck moment.
When I heard Snyder was going to helm Man of Steel, I was ok with it given what he did with 300 and Watchmen. I was even ok with David Goyer coming on board as its writer. Goyer had some collaborative work on Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and the success of that series gave hope for this one. I was wrong. The first strike against the MOS was the reveal of Superman’s costume in the summer of 2012 . It just didn’t settle right with me and for so many others. Not only was the red shorts gone but the whole look was just darker and it didn’t feel like Superman. True with the launch of the New 52 comic book line by DC Comics, Superman’s look did change and this mirrored that change. Why the choice to make it so dark and grim looking? As silly as it may sound, when something isn’t aesthetically pleasing, it becomes a problem for hardcore fans. This cosmetic difference was a harbinger of things to come.
The Snyder-Goyer Effect!
When Man of Steel was finally released in June 2013, I sat in the packed theater on opening night and it didn’t take too long to realize this was not the Christopher Reeve Superman of the late 70’s and 80’s. This was very different from the film my mom took me to see when I was a young boy. Truth be told, it wasn’t even Bryan Singer’s version starring Brandon Routh in the underappreciated, Superman Returns. What we got instead was a Clark Kent who came across as a self-doubting man-child. He was even a bit petty at times in the way he handled certain things i.e. how he dealt with the harassing trucker at the diner and what he did to his ride. For ordinary humans like myself, we all want to see the bully get his/her comeuppance. But Clark/Superman is so much more than that. He’s able to rise above that. He’s someone we strive to become, someone we inspire to be more like. The problem with this Clark is that he almost reminded me of how Hayden Christensen played Anakin in the Star Wars prequels. But unlike Hayden, I like Henry Cavill. Or should I say, I like the casting of Henry Cavill. It’s the writing and directing that I hold responsible for this portrayal. Before I continue to dissect what went wrong, let’s look at what was good.
The Good
Unfortunately, there’s not much to say here other than the casting was quite good across the board. Henry Cavill is Clark Kent in terms of both looks and charm. There was so much potential to make him the definitive Superman and they missed the boat. Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White were excellent choices, as well as Russel Crowe as Jor-El and Michael Shannon as Zod. The casting of Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman even though was much maligned in the beginning turns out to be one of the strongpoints of BvS. The same can also be said of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Albeit she only had about 10 minutes of screen time, it still represented the best 10 out of the nearly 150 that was filmed. And say what you will, but Snyder does know how to frame a picture visually. He knows who to capture the moment. From a narration standpoint however, he leaves much to be desired. As for Goyer, I think he works best as a contributor and not as the architect.
The Bad
So much is focused on the character traits of Superman that must not forget what makes him “human” even though he is not. That leads me to Jonathan Kent. I have long said that Jonathan Kent is to Clark what Alfred is to Bruce Wayne. They represent the moral compass that helps shape who these men were and who they become as heroes. Clark is an alien from another world but it’s Jonathan who gives him his most human qualities. He teaches him about right and wrong. It’s Jonathan’s belief that Clark was sent here for a higher purpose. This is why seeing this version was so disappointing. The best thing about the character in MOS was the casting of Kevin Costner. But the dialogue and the depiction of the character was so insulting to any fan of Superman that even I as a Batman fan was turned off and angered by it. The first instance came when young Clark saved a school bus full of children from drowning. Clark exposed his powers to many of his classmates. And while it was dismissed by the Kent’s as nothing, Pa Kent had some interesting if not disturbing opinions on how Clark should have dealt with the crisis. When Clark asked if he should have let them die, Jonathan replied with a “maybe”. What??? On what universe would Jonathan ever suggest such a thing. Look as a parent, I understand fully the want and need to protect your child. We all know that Clark is no ordinary child but to even contemplate sacrificing innocent lives, especially children, goes against everything the character of Jonathan Kent had ever stood for.
If that wasn’t enough, the other instant that made so many shake their head was Jonathan’s death scene. A tornado has hit Smallville and everyone driving including Clark and his parents try to huddle under an overpass with several other families. When the family dog is trapped in the car, it’s Jonathan and not Clark who attempts to make the save. The dog lives and Jonathan’s ankle gets crushed. Barely able to stand let alone walk, Jonathan stops his son who has super speed and strength mind you from saving him. Never risk exposure even if it means your Pa’s life, I guess that was the message. Yet another WTH moment in a script that had many such moments. I truly believe it’s these types of beliefs and actions or in Clark’s case inaction coupled with indecision that shapes this Snyder/Goyer creation of Superman. So between seeing how both Jonathan and Clark Kent was being depicted, it just furthered my belief about how much Snyder and Goyer didn’t understand this hero at all. It’s almost as if Snyder always had his sights set on something “bigger and better” (Batman and the Justice League), that Superman was just stepping stone to get there. It’s a shame because there was so much potential. Which now leads us to…
The Ugly
Now, let’s talk about that “incident”. You know the one, the one with General Zod. Before we talk about “the scene”, let’s talk about the collateral damage that pretty much leveled Metropolis. I think back at my personal favorite Superman film, Superman 2 which coincidently also featured a battle between Superman and General Zod. But in that one, Superman saw the damage around him and the innocent lives that were being destroyed and took the fight elsewhere. The loss of life was kept low because of his decisiveness to take the fight away from Metropolis thus saving many of its citizen’s lives. Because that’s what Superman does. He is selfless and heroic.
This makes his decision in MOS to choose to kill Zod mind blowing and shocking. There were no other alternatives? This was the only solution? That’s what the team of Snyder and Goyer would have us believe. Snyder likes to look at his heroes as “grounded” in reality. Nolan’s Batman was grounded in reality. This is not. Warner Brothers/DC seem so hell bent on making their universe edgier than Marvel’s, that they miss the whole point of what makes comic books so much fun to read and experience. I’m sure the success of Marvel’s Deadpool helped with that decision. Problem is, an R Rated Deadpool makes sense given the character. Even a PG13 pushing gently towards an R for Suicide Squad also makes sense. But a Superman film with those types of restrictions doesn’t make sense to me or any other fan. It’s just not who he is.
And to show you how hypocritical Warner Brothers and DC are, despite what CCO of DC Comics, Geoff Johns may have us believe, the climax and events of MOS are directly linked to the narrative of BvS. It’s the very basis of Goyer’s story. So no, BvS is not the first film of the DC Universe. That distinction goes to MOS whether we like it or not.
In Conclusion
For me even as an admitted Batman fan, Superman was always a beacon of hope and in today’s messed up world, that’s the hero we should be getting not some character who sees killing as a viable option. Snyder and Goyer went out of their way to explain that the “S” on Superman’s chest stands for hope. At the time, I was very accepting of that. I’m still waiting for that hope to appear. Sadly the closest thing we have from a film standpoint to represents some of the ideals of Superman comes ironically from the Marvel Universe and Captain America played by Chris Evans. Not exactly what I’m sure Warner Brothers or DC had in mind.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
