Okay, Hollywood. Why do you people keep letting Zack Snyder direct things?
Despite having made only one, arguably two, good movies, Zack Snyder — who also directed “300: Rise of an Empire” — is now the Joss Whedon of the DC universe, much to the chagrin of fans everywhere. In the last decade, Snyder has ruined both the Watchmen and Superman, and with his latest effort, he decided to ruin the Caped Crusader as well.
After the deeply polarizing “Man of Steel,” predictions were mixed as to the potential for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
While critics have been laying waste to the film, with it reaping a whopping 29 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, audience reactions have been more generally positive. Seventy-three percent of respondents liked the movie, in a strangely large break from the critic community.
After a $170 million opening weekend, Snyder and Warner Bros. can afford to not care whatsoever about critics’ opinions. That being said, DC is rapidly falling behind Marvel in the terms of cinematic output because, while people are looking forward to the Justice League movies, the Avengers are a worldwide phenomenon. The Marvel cinematic universe is the highest-grossing franchise in history, and DC is a steaming heap of garbage.
There hasn’t been a truly good Superman movie since “Superman II” in 1980, and it’s becoming clearer that Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill, who starred in “Man of Steel,” are not the answer to reversing the trend. Knowing that, it is sad to see that Snyder is signed on to direct both of the upcoming Justice League movies.
His shameless devotion to absurd CGI action is on display in all of his movies, but it is most blatant in his superhero films. “Watchmen” had the same problem, but it is exacerbated severely here.
The most egregious example comes when Doomsday shows up toward the end of the movie. He looks ridiculous, kind of like 1998 Godzilla and a pile of rocks had a crazy night in Vegas. Then they fight, and it never ends.
The ending Batman vs. Superman vs. Wonder Woman vs. Doomsday fight doggedly carries on, featuring a very apathetic Ben Affleck as Batman, obstinately refusing to be wrestled into making narrative sense. It almost makes sense, but the way Diana Prince/Wonder Woman flies in to save the day is just infuriating.
But nothing is worse than Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as Lex Luthor. The last man to take on the role was Kevin Spacey, who might just be the greatest villainous actor working today. Eisenberg, whose last big success was playing a satisfyingly punchable Mark Zuckerberg, is so wrong for this role it will make your head spin.
Eisenberg plays Lex Luthor less like a complex villain and more like a cut character from “Mean Girls.” For all intents and purposes, he is Regina George with some added bloodlust, and the sheer incompetence of Luthor’s character from both an acting and directing standpoint is staggering.
Really, though, who cares. Reviewers have been spewing vitriol at this flick from the second it came out, and who can blame them. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is a stain on the already tainted legacy of the DC cinematic universe, and with Snyder at the helm for the foreseeable future, it seems unlikely that circumstances will improve.
