Dawn of Justice Review Part II

Let us commence Part II forthwith…

Now those of you who read my previous post will remember (hopefully) the reasons I outlined for Batman wanting to kill Superman. Most all of them were pretty credible given that universe and its situation. However, they are all largely overshadowed by a different reason; one that is far more “in your face” and, frankly, annoying. And that is, Batman wants to kill Superman…because Lex Luthor is leading him on!

   Now wait a minute, you might say. What’s so bad about that? Sounds like a pretty good story-line if you ask me. Well, if we were talking about the Luthor played by Clancy Brown in the Justice League cartoon of the early 2000’s, you would be totally right! But we’re not. We’re talking about Jesse Eisenberg. Uncharacteristically weird, obnoxiously quirky, and appearing to have only hit nineteen the day before his annoying speech at that gala he threw, the actor’s take on this character was anything but right. Harsh words, I know, but it’s true.

   Lex Luthor is an accomplished business man, known for his quiet ruthlessness and overwhelming superiority complex. The thing is, the Lex that we knew (as in from comics and other media) has the persona to back it up! He’s a genius, more brilliant than Batman (but in a different way), and absolutely determined in whatever goal he wishes to achieve. He’s cold and uncaring, and capable of earth-wrecking plans, while at the same time being smart to avoid certain plans that he could undertake, but would pose too much of a risk of destroying the planet. *Cough* Doomsday. *Cough* Jesse Eisenburg brings none of that into his portrayal of the character. I get that they were going for “something different,” but if that something is garbage, well, it’s garbage!

   Never once at any point of the movie does it feel like this Luthor is in control of any situation. Not when it was revealed that he had been arranging all those little red notes and such to rile Batman up (really, ol’ Bruce should have considered that a bit more closely. He is the World’s Greatest Detective after all.). Not when he cheated and illegaled his way into getting a hold of General Zod’s body (that was just… How’d that random senator he was Jolly Ranchering around with even have the clearance he needed?). Not even when he kidnapped Superman’s mother and threatened to kill her if Supes didn’t fight Bats (there were so many ways out of that half-fermented pickle.). My point is, in the interest of being “different” (I guess), ol’ Zach took Superman’s arch nemeses, one of the handful of normal humans on the planet that can actually give Kal-El a problem, and allowed him to go off the rails. Luthor’s character arch is too jumbled and nonsensical throughout the entire movie. It took me watching it a couple times to even properly understand what his motivations for wanting Superman dead were. In the cartoons and comics, Lex hates Superman because one: Lex is jealous of him, of his awesome power and the fact that so many people look up to him with hope, and two: Superman was causing him trouble—exposing a plethora of Luthor’s many illegal activities and thus interfering with his businesses, foiling some of his exploits for power of his own, etc. In short, he showed Lex up to be the bad guy when, before, people had looked up to Lex. That’s understandable. That’s motivation. In Dawn of Justice, Luthor hates Superman because he doesn’t believe that Superman can be all powerful and be all good, and so wants to remove him before the “not-so-good” starts to show. (Gosh. I actually made it sound better in writing than it actually is on screen. Bad execution!)

   It’s a mistake they could actually kinda correct with a recast of the character and thus a change in tone. It would be a simple matter to do that and then bring across the sense that being in prison changed Lex, turning him into a more serious character or whatever. I’ve changed several original thoughts on this movie since I first saw it in theaters. I will never change my mind about Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor.

   

Now, about Wonder Woman….

   

That about sums her up.

Plot Holes.

So, I’ve already mentioned some plot-holes during my character analysis, but let’s see what else I can remember. (Slight (sort of) ranting ahead.)

   Metropolis and Gotham being next to one another is a thorn in my side. I know they did it so that Bruce’s story would have more weight and thus make more sense, but I don’t like it. Everybody knows that the two cities are leagues apart from one another. That’s why Bruce always plans a business trip with a private plane whenever Batman needs to go talk to Superman.

   What’s with the Gotham City Police Department and Batman’s relationship? At first it seems like they’re not on good terms, but then later in the movie Clark says something like, “The Bat’s activities are like a one-man reign of terror. And, as far as I can tell, the police are actually helping him.” Which is it?

And speaking of Clark, ain’t no way that fella still has a job at the Daily Planet. He never writes what he’s supposed to, he never does any investigative journalism, and he’s NEVER AT WORK! When Superman died, nobody noticed that Clark never come back.

   So, Luthor’s plan was to pit Batman and Superman against each other, deeming that one would kill the other (and apparently never suspecting that they might become super-friends instead), but more hopefully that Batman would kill Superman? Or maybe I’m stating that wrong. Was it more that he hoped that Superman would kill Batman, and thus show the world how “evil” he really is? Has Lex not been watching the movie he’s a part of? Ninety percent of the story is about the world trying to decide whether or not they like Superman at all! Most people actually don’t seem to very much anyway! And so what if Supes killed the Bat? Aren’t people all afraid of him and think he’s a vampire villain anyway? Furthermore, just how much did Lex know about Batman’s capabilities? Sure, he “let” him steal the Kryptonite, but what did he expect Batman to do with it? And what if Batman had killed Superman? Who would have stopped Doomsday? The monster would have destroyed the earth! (Just terrible!) Luthor should have more foresight than that.

   Um, why is the mother of Superman working as a waitress in a diner to make ends meet? Her son could walk on the bottom of the ocean and bring up a chest of buried treasure for her. He could tunnel down in the Congo somewhere and return with pounds of pure gold. Or he could just, I don’t know, fuse some coal into diamond with his bare hands? That’s messed up. #FairpayforMartha

   And speaking of Martha, that little scene with Batman and Superman when the spear was about to fall… *Sigh* Enough people have already said everything that could be said on that, I think.

   As for their fight, if those two became buds so easily, the tussle could have been avoided as easily as…

*Superman lands* “Bruce, Luthor has my mom!”

*Batman starts* “What?”

*Superman nods, and gives a sad look (in other words, his face doesn’t change).* “I need your help to save her. Her name’s Martha and—”

*Batman shouts and disables all his weapons. He puts his hand to his ear.* “Alfred, locate Martha!”

*Alfred from communicator* “Why would you say that name, sir?”

*Batman summons the Batplane and looks at Superman* “It’s his mother’s name.”

Fight over. No problem.

   And for my last thing, how did Luthor find out who both Batman and Superman were? We have no indication of how he did so, nor is it ever explained. He just knows. How? And why wouldn’t he use that against them when he was locked up or even before? Makes no sense.

   I could go on with the plot-holes for a while, but let’s say we leave it there.

Special Effects/Visual Aesthetics.

I have largely no complaints here. For the most part, the special effects were pretty solid. Superman’s flight was displayed pretty well. It looked like he was really soaring sometimes! I know about the Doomsday/Cave troll thing that people complain about, and that’s quite fair. There is a resemblance.

   But, as far as just being a big monster for our heroes to punch around on screen, he worked…in that capacity alone. Pretty much all of Batman’s scenes were great (better than they were in Justice League, that’s for sure!). The warehouse fight scene was absolutely flawless. For those timeless seconds of thug-beatdown, he was the Batman through and through. Wonder Woman’s (five seconds?) of fighting was decent, not bad for such a limited appearance as she had. I will hand it to Zach that he does seem to know how to deal out some realistic destruction on a huge scale. I mean, how would it look in reality if there were beings of such immense power pummeling one another in downtown Manhattan? Really, if the storyline of the movie had been half as good as the action and special effects were, we would have gotten a much better film. But hey, that’s just me…

So there you have it, my review in detail. This could have been longer, but I don’t really want to go on for that long with it. Something that should here be understood is this: Despite all my complaints, I like the movie. I looked forward to it for so long. I followed every new trailer, read every interesting article leading up to its release. It was the first time that Batman and Superman shared the big screen together, and it’s forever going to be a special thing for me. I bought the two-disc edition, and I’m going to watch it (for the sixth time?) soon. It might be flawed (it is), but by golly, it’s Batman V Superman!

Keep Strong!

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Is It Truly Love?

So can we just stop with the meaningless romance that seems to have invaded every sub-genre of fiction now in existence?

   

   What? Who doesn’t love a good love story? I’m glad you asked, because the truth of the matter is (and it might be a little hard to swallow) a surprising amount of people don’t like love stories! These peculiar individuals live among us, going about their day-to-day lives, yet becoming increasingly frustrated with the worthless cuddles and feels that so many writers feel the need to inject into an otherwise decent (unless, of course, it was already bad) story! (Before we go any further, it must here be stated that I neither claim to be nor deny to be one of these individuals. And I will furthermore say that I liked the story of Aragorn and Arwen, didn’t mind the puppy love of Meg Murry and Calvin O’Keefe (FROM THE BOOK, NOT THE MOVIE), and am quite fond of a certain short-story titled “They Met Under the Glinting Stars” (ahem). Now then…)

   

   There is a set of people who are tired of the stupid, senseless, and totally unrelatable “love” that has managed to seep into almost every story—books and movies alike. It’s no secret that this is basically all that the YA genre is now. (To those worthy authors out there who still write good YA, I mean you no disrespect, but know that you are in a minority.) From the idiotic half-crush half-WHAT? of books like “Uglies” (good gosh!), to the sudden and absolutely unformulaic “romance” found in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” to the literal eye-burning attempted cliché-bender in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “The Battle of Five Armies.” What is wrong with the world?? What happened to romance that built naturally between the characters, that was understandable, that was relatable? What good is a cliché bender if it’s rubbish? What good is a kiss snatched under the moonlight if the readers or audience are just left rolling their eyes?

   

   I fear that we, as a society, have lost touch—or perhaps patience—with true love. Wow. That sounds really bad, but humor me. How many books or movies that were written or produced within the last five years do you remember to have told a true, a natural, and really relatable love story? Lots of folks are tired of the same old, “hateful-and-petulant-and-selfish-and-under-eighteen-year-old-girl catches the eye of dark-or-green-eyed-muscle-bound-but-quiet-and-secretive-probably-troubled-and-also-under-eighteen-years-old-guy, they both meet in an academy or something, exchange a couple sentences, and three chapters down the road they both just totally neeeeed each other.” Enough!

   Now in the interest of ensuring that this post is informative—instead of just, I don’t know, some kind of unhinged rant—I would like to list a couple (or maybe three) things that matter, ACTUALLY MATTER, when putting romance into a story. 

#1. Romance can’t be forced.

   Sounds like a no-brainer. But seriously, people need to stop thinking that it’s daring to just shove two characters who have no chemistry whatsoever together because…plot. It’s not daring, it’s annoying and unbelievable.

#2. It has to be both relatable and realistic.

   Do you remember the names of all those lovers and such that the Greek and Roman gods had? Of course you don’t, because who cares about the love-lives of the Greek and Roman gods?! In order to appreciate romance between your characters, your audience/readers must first feel for the characters themselves, and then be able to imagine themselves or someone they know in the situation you’re presenting, or at least believe in total absolution that your characters really are in love and not just smooching because…plot.

#3. A hateful character, or a character that doesn’t belong where they are, always ruins the feels. Always.

   I don’t think I really need to go into this one all that much. Suffice it to say that there is a certain red-headed elf that appeared in a certain movie concerning a certain hobbit whose presence therein—and lack thereof in later installments—can never be either explained, nor forgiven. I mean it.

And that’s all I have to say on that for now. Maybe somebody will actually briefly consider what I had to say (ha!), or maybe not. But I said it, and even as true love doesn’t repent over its existence, neither shall I repent over these words. But I’d like to know what you guys think. Let me know!

Keep Strong!

Fantasy Stereotyped

I know, I know, this might rub a few people the wrong way, and for that I’m sorry (I guess), but it’s something I’ve kinda been thinking about both previously and lately. So here goes:
 
    Fantasy is great, ain’t it? Ain’t it grand? The wondrous escape that it provides to our desiring psyches, while at the same time (if done well) presenting viewpoints and/or troubles that we face and question in our own world in a thought-provoking manner, simply can’t be beat. So many, many, many (many many many) different fantasy tales have been written and told through the passing of the years, that it is truly impossible to keep track of them all. However, all follow a common thread or two—or five or six, depending on the author. This is all well and good; I mean, after all, there’s nothing new under the sun, right? But (there’s that word again) there is something—one of the threads I mentioned, if you will—that rather bugs me from time to time: The generic uses of certain fantasy races along with the “stereotypical” actions and attitudes thereof.
 
   What do I mean, you ask? I mean that so many people who write fantasy often—not always, but often—conform the races that inhabit their worlds to the usual depiction. For instance, elves are likely hands-down the most often used race (besides humans) in fantasy tales. How many books have you read wherein the elves that were part of the story were physically superior to humans, so veeerrryyy much more beautiful and elegant than humans, and so much wiser and more skilled in magic than humans? More often than you can remember, I doubt not.
 
   This is great for some stories, and even more than some if the story is still good enough, but when this becomes the norm, the allure of having a new race involved in your story is diminished almost at once. Just how many times are we gonna read the wise elf—always older than our protagonist (and more beautiful)—lecture and lecture about how violent and uncouth humans are, while simultaneously doing a backflip and firing four arrows off a longbow??!! This kind of thing gets repetitive, and done without or with little skill, it’s just downright annoying.
 
   Obviously, it is no small thing to stand out and be separate from the crowd, yet this is what needs to happen more regularly in fantasy with regards to fantasy races. Now, there are some folks who have done some interesting things and broken off the beaten path; in my experience, it seems to be indies who do it most. To my most recent memory, author Michael J. Sullivan had what I thought was a most welcome original concept for the elves in his story. (I know that there are others, people, he’s just the one I could readily remember.) His elves were not as strong and beautiful as elves so often are, and they were, get this, slaves to the uncouth humans of the land for some time. A nice historical background that was. By the way, now might be a good spot to mention that it isn’t elves alone who fall victim to this problem. Dwarves, dragons, gnomes (meh), and, yes, even humans, have, and are still being, what I like to call fantasy-stereotyped. (That is now copyrighted. You can’t have it.)
 
   My fellow authors, it is a struggle to be original, yet it is our lot to struggle to be as original as we can be nonetheless. You know, there was a time that I thought that fantasy writers should just ease up on using elves and dragons and dwarves for a while altogether. Give them a break and use humans or something else. Yet I have since progressed to the reality that, while it still might be a good idea to give these creatures (especially those pretty-pretty elves) a break, it is not necessarily necessary. Just use them originally. It doesn’t even have to be totally originally, just make them different somehow. Make their ears point downward instead of upward, give them dark skin (and not just so that it can make them an outcast/oddity to the other elves), make them mutate into four-foot tall frogs with rabbit ears whenever they eat the peanut-butter soup of our protagonist. Just do something different that will stand out to the reader. You don’t know how huge a favor you’ll be doing to your readers, and to all elves, dragons, dwarves, gnomes, and other victims of fantasy-stereotype out there.

Keep Strong!