Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Why All The Hate?

3. Hipster Luthor

Writing this out, it does seem that the main discussion points come from the acting choices and how they will treat the characters, huh? Lex Luthor is an important character; he is Superman’s arch-nemesis, the brain against his brawn, the Joker to his Batman – an ironic comparison, I know. What I’m trying to say is, get them wrong and the movie could go wrong. Villains always seem to suffer in terms of personality and motive in superhero movies, and not even an arch-nemesis is safe. Jesse Eisenberg is a strong actor, don’t get me wrong (Zombieland is a personal favourite of mine), but his movies often cast him as a timid teenager, socially awkward and generally, non-intimidating. Now, he is playing an arrogant and manipulative billionaire. This could be the role to help break his type casting, but could he pull this off? Because in the trailers so far, in my opinion he comes off as an arrogant and spoiled brat. He is a good actor so he could surprise us, but only time will tell…

2. Is That Who We Think That Is?

You have one of the most well known comic storylines finally on the big screen. Yet for some reason, you decide to include what many see and know to be Doomsday. You know, the monster famous for actually killing Superman? Why? It feels like such a throwaway villain choice, because let’s face it, he is gonna be there just for the heroes to make up and combine forces to fight him. His reputation and incredible savage nature could easily let him be the main villain in a future Superman (or even Justice League) film. But no, he appears to be the reanimated science project of Luthor’s. It feels like wasted potential to me (unless it gets set up for a return in a future installment).

1. The Hype Train

We all know that the reasoning behind trailers and promotional materials is to generate the build-up and interest in whatever they’re selling, but you need to strike a balance that still leaves questions and plot lines secret. This is where I feel Batman v Superman fails in that regard. While the newest trailer perfectly presents what to look forward to by focusing on the characters, its previous trailers seem to give huge and integral scenes away with no context. You have character reveals in Doomsday, city-wide destruction, fight scenes between the two protagonists, and mild confrontations between characters. You’ve pretty much seen the film already and not realised it. But despite this, the film has even more importance as this is essentially the foundation for all future films for DC to even compete with the Marvel cinematic powerhouse planned over the next few years. The success of this film can heavily impact the fanbase for its future installments, and it also has to set the stage for the Justice League. So much is riding on this movie, and I believe this expectation to succeed may be its downfall.

Of course these are just the thoughts and opinions towards a film that no one has seen yet, and it could be the masterpiece that some expect it to be, or the disaster that many see it as already. But until this film hits the cinema screens and the reviews and discussions begin again, these thoughts can place certain people in a bad mindset for this movie. But in time, we will see if these predictions are true or not…