Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

 

3 years of anticipation and it’s finally here. But the question that everyone’s asking is: Was it worth it?

As stated by Lex Luthor (as portrayed by Jesse Eisenburg), “The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world. Son of Krypton versus Bat of Gotham.” But was it really the best gladiator match?  Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice is a sequel to the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) opener Man of Steel, based 18 months after the events of Metropolis. As shown by the trailer, the Man of Steel brawl is shown from the point of view of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), bringing the events down to a human level, showcasing the effects it had on the city.

The basis of this film could be easily summarised by it’s title, however the build up is (only slightly) more complex. With Superman’s controversial defence of Earth 18 months ago, mankind is separated on the grounds of whether his presence, or intentions, , are beneficial or even good for the human race. Naturally, Bruce Wayne/Batman is siding with those who believe it to be a burden and potentially fatal.  As the debate continues, tensions rise and lives are threatened. On the Bat’s return, Lex Luthor’s intrigue peaks at the concept of two beings more powerful than himself, causing him to dig deeper into the mysteries surrounding the ‘war on freedom’.

The main topic surrounding this event is purely the scale of it. Being that the front-runners are arguably the two biggest superheroes of all time, it was immediately going to an enormous. However, when it was announced that it would also be featuring Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Lex Luthor, Doomsday, as well as appearances from The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher), it suddenly became one of, if not the most anticipated superhero film of all time, as well as one of the biggest. However when you watch it, you learn the scale does not quite match up to the amount it was hyped to be. Whilst The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg do appear, do not expect it to for more than a few seconds each. Also, whilst Wonder Woman does play a role in the narrative, it’s not quite to the degree that you might expect. In fact, the pure presence of these four is more of a set up towards next years Wonder Woman and Justice League: Part 1.

Of course half of the main line-up has already been established into the DCEU, leaving only Batman to introduce his latest form. With Ben Affleck helming the cape and cowl, he brings to life the comic version from The Dark Knight Returns, based on an older Batman that feels he has to return to duty to save his city. This is one of the best Batman story arcs which leads to Batman fighting Superman at a later stage, however this narrative gets no cinematic introduction. It’s fair to say that Affleck doesn’t have a huge fan base, and in all honesty I was frustrated to hear that he had been cast for the role, but to fair to him, he plays the role really well as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, bringing new styles of each that had yet to be explored. However the big issue with Bruce/Batman in this film is that he is painfully one-dimensional and is not explored anyway near as much as he should’ve been. Yes, he gets an origin story in the form of a montage to save the audience from sitting through the whole thing for the fifth time, however this prevents the audience from establishing an emotional connection to the orphaned billionaire. Continuing the earlier analysis, the Dark Knight Returns personality is that of an experienced vigilante veteran who has become bitter and negative as a result of what he’s faced, yet the only part of this that was translated onto the big screen was his bitterness but with no context or sympathetic reasoning. So, whilst Affleck does as good a job as possible, it is the writer’s that failed him in this instance.

Due to the lack of exploration of the Dark Knight, it meant that it felt very one-sided in the balance between Gotham’s bat and the Man of Steel, focusing mainly on Clark’s fight for freedom, balancing his duties and protecting Lois Lane, and his desperate moral dilemmas. For this reason it causes the film to feel more like Man of Steel 2 with Batman as a secondary minor antagonist, than Batman v Superman.

Whilst she did not get quite the screen time as expected, Gal Gadot’s portrayal of Wonder Woman is nothing short of amazing. Her mere presence adds a certain finesse and chic to the product, whether she is as her super-self or her civilian Diana Prince profile. As a rising star, Gadot is mainly recognised for her role as Giselle in the Fast and Furious series claiming her ability as an action star, and certainly proves her worth in this outing.

This film has been recognised as one of the darkest superhero films in existence, which is fuelled by the personalities of Batman and Superman, as well as the whole concept of a dangerous alien being’s presence and whether or not he should be trusted. In this whole charade, despite being the villain and reason for darkness, the factor that lightens the mood slightly is the despicable Lex Luthor. Offering a light hearted and whimsical approach to others in his form of arrogance allows the opportunity for the audience to be amused without losing the edge or the ever-increasing tension.

Not only is director Zack Snyder returning, but so is legendary composer Hanz Zimmer, however this time he is fully joined by cinematic rising composer Junkie XL aka Tom Holkenburg, credited with recent works such as Mad Max: Fury Road and Deadpool. Whilst this film is a mixed bag of results, the soundtrack is pure brilliance. Although her part is not as big as expected, Wonder Woman’s theme (Is she with you?) is the highlight of the score, showcasing Junkie XL’s ability and style as seen in Mad Max: Fury Road. And, naturally, Hanz Zimmer delivers as fine of a performance as always.

As well as the music, the visual and special effects teams were at the top of their game. With explosions, gunfire, bat-jets, bat-mobiles, flying men and a monster, they never failed to supply the maximum level of realism as possible in a superhero film. Working in perfect harmony with these was Larry Fong, director of photography, taking advantage of each possible frame to deliver the best shots, expressing the narrative further than the script could go.

As this is a superhero film, it consists of multiple fight scenes which do not fail to deliver. Although they may not be the best that they could have been, they are still choreographed to a high standard, especially in bringing to life the great combat skills of Batman. For those familiar with and fond of the Arkham game series will nostalgically watch in awe as they recognise the combat style and mechanics.

For those of you think that the trailer gives away the majority and key parts of the film, you’re absolutely right. On the run up to the films release, the creators claimed that the trailers revealed very little of the main plot and that there was plenty left yet to be seen, but this simply was not the case. The main question of Superman’s power to destroy the world, the fight between the two main characters and the introduction of the monstrous Doomsday were shown in the first two trailers, and are the main events of this ‘knockout match’.

Overall, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is an enjoyable action feast featuring two of the biggest names in the superhero business. Whilst it does not quite size up to the hype and anticipation of which it was expected, the choreography, special effects, score and new style of characters make it worthwhile.

 

6.8/10

 

The following paragraph contains spoilers: As suggested by the title of the film, the main event is Batman fighting Superman, however don’t rely on that concept structuring the film as the fight itself only lasts for about five minutes. The main reason that they fight is that Lex manages to play them off against each other by threatening to kill Clark’s mother does not fight Batman. This causes the fight to end in a very sudden and jarring moment where Bruce learns that Clark’s mother is also named Martha, to which Bruce has flashbacks and stumbles backwards from shock. Then, all of a sudden Bruce goes from trying to kill Superman, to promising to save his mother as if the fight never happened. Whilst it is in Bruce’s good nature to help, despite his unconventional methods, the transition seemed too sudden, without any doubt of Clark’s intentions.

Captain America: Civil War Final Trailer Review and Breakdown

It’s here. At long last, the second and final trailer for Captain America: Civil War is here, and it’s beautiful.

It’s been nearly four months since the first trailer was released and this takes a slightly different approach, now focusing on the two teams; Team Cap vs Team Iron Man.  Watch the trailer here:

 

So, where do we begin? Let’s start with the breakdown:

It opens to a snowy landscape and a mountain range in the background, immediately establishing the enigma codes for the audience. As this shot transitions to a shot of two men opening a secure vault door, Steve Rogers’ voice overlays, “In this job, we try to save as many people as we can.” The following shot is what appears to be a style of cryo-chamber opening, revealing The Winter Soldier, with Steve continuing “Sometimes that doesn’t mean everybody.” A cut to black is the followed by a shot of Steve himself as Captain America as he finishes with, “But you don’t give up.” The introduction is then completed with the Marvel Studios titles. The trailer then returns with camera footage of the events that occurred during Avengers Assemble in New York, Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier in Washington D.C. and Avengers: Age of Ultron in Sokovia. As the footage is played, it is revealed that General Thaddeus Ross is showing a select amount of heroes (Team Cap) reasons as to why they should be put under legal watch and guidance. As the Sokovia footage is shown, Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch turns away upset. Witnessing her reaction, Steve acts by demanding “Ok, that’s enough,” to which General Ross replies, “Captain, people are afraid.”  As he finishes the sentence it shows a building being blown up, as well as a shot of T’Challa on the ground in a suit, amongst the rubble and falling ashes. It the cuts to a shot of Iron Man falling out of a helicopter and flying away, layered with Tony’s voice, “That’s why I’m here.” This shot is followed by a close up of Tony telling Steve that, “We need to be put in check.” It then returns to the setting in the previous shot, no revealing a helicopter flying over a massive wave, before revealing a secret base as Tony continues “And whatever form that takes I’m game.” Steve then replies, “I’m sorry Tony. If I see a situation pointing south I can’t ignore it. Sometimes I wish I could.” To which Tony says, as shown in the previous trailer, “Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth.”

It then cuts to an action sequence of Cap chasing Black Panther, who’s chasing Bucky (who’s riding a motorbike) through a tunnel. Black Panther leaps off of a cars bonnet to swipe at Bucky’s wheel, causing them both off to slide down the road. This is then followed by Tony forming an ‘Iron Glove’ to block a point blank shot by Bucky. Over the top of these is Steve, “I know we’re not perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.”  Cap can then be seen running through a building that’s being attacked. After is a shot of Bucky as the Winter Soldier taking a shot at War Machine, scraping his armour and destroying his arc reactor, causing him to fall to the ground, to which Tony screams “Rhodes!”  As Tony removes his mask, revealing an unconscious/dead Rhodey, his voice-over to Steve announces, “I was wrong about you. The whole world was wrong about you.”

Next is a shot of a SWAT team exiting a van, before a civvie Natasha Romanoff takes them all on, successfully. After is a conversation between her and Tony at what appears to be the new Avengers facility (as seen at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron), to which he says “They’re coming for you.” “I’m not the one he needs to watch their back,” she replies before walking away.  Next is a shot of Cap in an apartment saying “This doesn’t have to end in a fight Tony,” before cutting to an internal location, appearing to be Bucky’s cryo-chamber room, in which Tony slowly turns his head to Cap, revealing a black eye, then knocking Cap down, closing his helmet and saying “You’ve started a war.” Cue the action shots:

• Iron Man flying whilst shooting from his shoulders.
• Cap runs through a building and gets carried by an explosion.
• Black Panther fights Bucky on a roof top, whilst being rained on by a helicopter turret.
• Black Widow witnesses a huge explosion on what appears to be an airfield.
• Scarlet Witch uses her powers to pin The Vision
• Hawkeye fires a cluster arrow towards in-flight Iron Man and War Machine, on an arrow is Ant-Man, who lands on Iron Man’s arm.
• Crossbones punches Cap, sending him flying.

After this, in the same location as the fight at the end of the previous trailer, Iron Man holds his hand up to Cap saying, “Stay down. Final Warning.” to which a beaten and bloody Cap squares up and says “I could do this all day.”  This is followed by multiple musically timed punches and hooks from Cap to Iron Man. Finally are three shots, the first displaying Cap’s team running to fight, the second being Iron Man’s team running to fight, and the final shot being the two teams about to clash. Cue the Captain America: Civil War title/logo.

Then, as an added treat, and in true Marvel style there is an after scene taking place in the main battlefield, which is introduced by Tony’s voice overlapping from the logo, in which he says “Alright, I’ve run out of patience. UNDEROOS!” From this a web comes down onto Cap’s shield before taking it away, revealing Spiderman landing on a van with it, “Hey everyone.”

 

Right, so that’s the breakdown complete, now to look into more detail.

A few characters have appeared in this trailer that either didn’t appear at all, or get much screen time in the first trailer.

1. The first of which was Scarlet Witch. Her reaction to the footage being shown by General Ross was short, but was hugely effective. Despite the fact that she changed direction and sides in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it shows how she has developed as a human being and that even though she assisted in saving the people of Sokovia/the world, she still dreads even thinking about the event. She can then be seen again when she is maintaining Vision. The fact that she is simply holding Vision in place instead of crushing him may hint towards the concept of their feelings towards eachother, and their relationship that was within the comics. This was hinted towards at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron when Vision saves her from being disintegrated on Sokovia. She will undoubtedly play a significantly bigger part this time round.
2. Next is Black Panther who made a couple of brief encounters last time, but can be seen to be making a bigger disruption this time when he is fighting Bucky and knocking him off of his motorbike. As it stands, it is likely that he will be the rival of Bucky, causing him quite the problem.
3. Vision only makes a quick appearance as stated earlier when he is being held down by Scarlet Witch. Whilst it is unclear how big a role he will play, he is rumoured to be a significant piece.
4. Crossbones finally gets to show his input into the beatings bank of Captain America, and although it’s only a brief shot, it is seen to be in the middle of a town, surrounded by a lot of civilians. This could suggest that either Crossbones or Cap will be in the town (most likely Cap) when the other appears out of nowhere causing a fight to begin before the crowd can escape safely.
5. Ant-Man is yet another who was suspiciously absent from the previous trailer, but has made his mark with the awesome moment where he rides an arrow that Hawkeye fires, as also seen within the comics. From this he seems to have settled into his team to the point that he’s discussed tactics. His new helmet style shows that he not only means business, but is preparing himself for some Avenger grade duty.
6. Back to the other team with War Machine. Not having much part in the trailer, his dilemma from the first is explained, whilst maintaining enigma codes for the film, especially whether or not it will be his last appearance.
7. Finally and by no means least is Spiderman. With his MCU debut long over due, his cameo trailer appearance confirms his allegiance with Iron Man, which means that there is going to be an origin of their alliance, so prepare for a lot of Spiderman!

 

With the character posters released, the simple direction of which they are looking tells of their team, as shown in the montages below:

   vs  

(left – Team Cap: from top left to bottom right – Ant-Man, Falcon, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Winter Soldier)

(right – Team Iron Man: from top left to bottom right – War Machine, Iron Man, Vision, Black Widow, Black Panther (Spiderman’s poster was not created as his first appearance was in this trailer))

Overall, Captain America: Civil War is looking to be an enormous hit and incredible addition to the MCU. Directed by the Russo brothers who brought us Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it is sure to have you on the edge of your seat.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Sebastian Stan as James “Bucky” Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Scarlett Johannson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes/War Machine, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Paul Bettany as the Vision, William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross/?, Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spiderman, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones and many more characters to be revealed on release.

Captain America: Civil War releases on May 6th 2016 in the US, and April 29th 2016 in the UK.

 

London Has Fallen Review

 

When London Has Fallen was announced, I, as did many, reacted with initial thought that it was automatically going to be a desperate sequel doomed to fail and reek of desperation. However, it proved not to be the case.

Based an unspecified amount of time after Olympus Has Fallen, after the sudden death of the British Prime Minister, all of the world leaders gather to attend his funeral in the centre of London. Naturally and understandably after previous events, US President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) decides to take Mike Banning (Channing Tatum), who is the Secret Service agent currently serving as head of the Presidential Protection Division. Whilst in London, on the day of the funeral a terrorist organisation decide to unleash havoc onto the streets of London, targeting the worlds leaders in an attempt to exact revenge for a past mission.

For a die-hard-esque action-flick it actually challenges a current and very real concern of terrorist takeover and attack on the free world. Although idea that a plot to take out the world leaders in one place at the same time sounds a bit exaggerated, the sad truth is that the modern world isn’t too far from that exact event. With groups such as ISIS at large, committing global crimes and plotting horrific murders, this exact problem is a potential reality waiting to happen.

The main problem with audiences nowadays is that they’re constantly looking for every film to the next biggest and best. They look for every plot hole or problem and use it as a reason to hate it. London Has Fallen doesn’t try to the best film, it doesn’t try to be the most original, it is simply an action romp that allows the audience to submit themselves to manly violence, guns, explosions and one-liners for 1hr 39mins .

Naturally, with Gerard Butler in the driver’s seat, there’s going to be cheesy yet brilliant quips, genius tactics and brutally dominating combat and fatalities. In the previous film, Banning (Butler) starts out as a disgraced Secret Service Agent and former presidential guard, until he is trapped inside the White House during a terrorist attack. Using his abilities and skills he manages to save himself, multiple civilians and the President. As a result of this he is reinstated as presidential guard and close personal friend. Now, following through to the attack on London, Banning uses those same skills, tactics and quips to defend President Asher.

However, a significant difference this time is that with the open world setting of London, this time President Asher is along for the ride, providing more than just a hostage role, he even decides to get involved in some of the action. Whilst to some this makes the concept seem even more ridiculous, it actually benefits the film greatly and adds another dimension to Banning’s protective regime.  It’s also nice to see Eckhart play a bigger part than just the ‘damsel in distress’ and start fighting back, tired of the enemies sh*t.

As a pattern in this film, another clever but not exactly original aspect to this film is the set pieces within it. Sure to frustrate those who refuse to accept that films can’t always be 100% original, it borrows themes and climactic moments, delivering them in impressive manners and at its own pace.

My main issue with the film was its approach to CGI. At best it was average and acceptable for an action film that mainly uses muzzle flashes and grenade explosions as its main form of effect. However, at certain points the CGI appears half done and as if they forgot to go back and finish it off. Fortunately those moments do not last too long and do not detract too much from the film itself.

For those who like to have the film compared to previous films, it is best described as a cross between The Purge: Anarchy and No Escape.  You’re probably questioning what the significant difference in style is between those two films, however without surrendering the some key plot points I am unable to clarify them. On the bright side, they will be obvious when you watch the film.  Sharing similar motifs and tension building techniques, it continues to keep you on the edge of your seat.  It also shares a controversial atmosphere that some would describe as ‘xenophobic’. Although most would describe it as unnecessarily targeting demographics, it actually uses stereotypes and a committed narrative angle to maintain the terrorism, without surrendering the plot for the sakes of some over-sensitive viewers.

All in all it is not the best film, nor is it the worst. What it is, is an action escape that deals with a real life issue in a die-hard manner, the way that every man wishes that he could take down the enemy. An enjoyably aggressive feast.

7/10