Let me tell you that I am as much as excited about this outing, as I am skeptic. My excitement is an obvious emotion as there is going to be lots of 'bang' and 'boom' in this movie. That means great visual effects. Also the fact that this is a reinvention for two of the most adored superheroes in the world. People would naturally be wondering about who is the strongest among these powerful and dark heroes. Also, somehow I am convinced through the trailers that the clash between these iconic figures is not of some random picking, but the story-tellers might have a good reason to put them against one another. The very fact that Superman is an alien and humans don't know much about him is reason enough for me. But, I am not sure if all this excitement would be enough to like this movie.
The main reason why I am skeptic about this movie is because of its predecessor, the 'Man of Steel'. Yes, like many others I would say that the movie didn't really come up to the expectations, blame the 'Dark Knight' trilogy for that. Maybe it was too dark for a Superman movie. Remember Superman, the man in bright blues and lipstick reds. I was watching the movie on TV recently, and I believe I felt that the 'S' on his suit almost looked black in some scenes. But, lets not keep delving in the past. The sequel could be a lot better. For one, there is Batman, and this hero has a lot more arc than the sunny Superman. Two, there is Wonder Woman; a lady superhero after all.
Why I am still skeptic is because of the sudden introduction of these new heroes in to this movie universe. At first I rubbished it off, as we have seen Batman over the years and that too repeatedly, that even the non-comic fans know of the origin story and motivations of Batman. Why would we need to see all that again? Introducing Batman just as it is would be fine. But then again, if you compare the movie situations of 'Man of Steel' and any of the previous Batman movies, there is a huge mismatch in the worlds in which they are represented. The obvious comparison would be with Nolan's epic 'Dark Knight' trilogy. Even though, it was dark and brooding, it wasn't as gloomy as I would think 'Man of Steel' was. It was a world where villains were calculating and mischievous crazy human beings, which is a little less far fetched from a commander from Krypton bent on changing the gravity of the earth to suit Kryptonians. Therefore, I would have liked to know more about Batman in this present universe before I see him banging heads with the alien superhero. One thing that I feel the director has done in regard to this is to introduce a seasoned Batman. Somebody who like Christian Bale in the last movie, had hoped to retire from his vigilantism. Also, I am sure that Zack, the director, has planned a little bit of back story too for Batman. All well and good. But, do we have the time?
Adding to that, we have Wonder Woman. We have Aquaman. We also have the Flash and maybe Cyborg. We haven't seen the new Lex Luthor before. There are so many characters whose introduction is going to be brand new here. Are we going to have that many stories fit into what I believe will be a movie little longer than two and a half hours? With actors like Amy Adams and Laurence Fishburne doing important roles from the previous movie, it would be a shame if they don't get much screen time too. I hope the movie shows just enough of the other super heroes as to explain why they are here in this movie to help Batman and Superman (except for Wonder Woman, of course, who will be in a decently good part of this movie), but should also be enough to make logical sense of it.
I am also skeptic about the director. Honestly, I have not really like any of Zack Snyder's previous outings, whether it be the glorious '300', or the critically acclaimed 'Watchmen'. I think I can say 'Sucker Punch' is the one I liked. With the 'Man of Steel' also not boding well with half the audience, I really did wonder why Zack was allowed to helm the sequel too. I just hope he did take feedback from the previous movie's performance and worked it out this time. There were news that Warner Bros.' 'BvS' preview with selected audiences didn't go as well as they had imagined. So, now they have sought help from Ben Affleck to promote the movie as hard as he possibly could, because in the end I think Batman is the star of this movie. Well, I did say that before. Ben Affleck could really don the role. That was the one I wasn't skeptic about. I wouldn't say the same about Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I am really skeptic about that one.
We also know from a shot in the trailer that the dead Zod reappears in the movie. There has been rumors defending Superman snapping his neck in the climax of 'Man of Steel' that the actions will be explained in its sequel. I am looking forward to that explanation, but I still think I might be disappointed in the end about how Superman overcame Zod.
With all these negativity aside, I am still rooting for 'Batman vs Superman' to be a good film. Warner Bros. is calling it intelligent film, and not the happy-go-lucky superhero movie like the Marvel's franchises. But, that remains to be seen, and even if it was they just have to turn back and look at their 'Dark Knight' trilogy and see what intelligent film making has given them. If 'Batman vs Superman' is in that league, its going to be ground-breaking, and Warner Bros. doesn't have anything to complain. But is it? Well, we will know in about a week. Till then watch the trailer for this huge mega budget movie.