Kyle JonesI didn’t enjoy Superman Vs. Batman: Dawn of Justice, and I submit our review of the movie plus subsequent episodes as evidence. Am I a critic for the sake of critique? Am I a disgruntled fanboy? No, not at all. Instead, I want movies produced by DC Comics to be as good – if not better – than those from the House of Ideas (Marvel).
Dawn of Boredom
Some warn against reading movie reviews prior to actually seeing a movie. As a rule, this advice proves sound and might have been easier before information became easily available. Yet, despite the reviews, I eagerly went to see the movie. Reservations about the choice to incorporate elements of The Dark Knight Returns didn’t keep me away. Reservations about the way Lex Luthor was portrayed in the trailers didn’t keep me away.
Batman
The portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman contradicted many of the views I had of the character. I watched as Batman plotted to take down/kill Superman and I asked myself: Is this how they (DC) want to portray the first meeting of Superman and Batman? (Thankfully, Afflec masterfully changed my perception by movie’s end.)
Lex Luthor
The portrayal of Lex Luthor contradicted many of the views I had of the character. As I watched, I asked myself: Are they (DC) trying to make Lex act more like the Joker than Lex Luthor?
(It should be noted that this character was Lex Luthor, Jr., but still….) Luthor serves as 
one of my main complaints against the movie.
Superman
I have no complaints beside the dark costume. He was as he was written for the movie.
Doomsday
Really? This is how you present Doomsday.
The Death of Superman
This story equals one of the biggest comic book events EVER. This is how you present it on the big screen?
The Martha Moment
Can you get any more corny?
Wonder Woman
The arrival of Wonder Woman, even in the guise of Diana Price, kept me in my seat until movie’s end. Otherwise, I would have left about 20-40 minutes into it.
The Snyder Syndrome
Superheroes do not have to be dark to be believable. Need proof? Look no further than Iron Man. Tony Stark is an alcoholic and, quite frankly, a narcissist. Additional evidence comes from my not liking Tony Stark/Iron Man as a character UNTIL seeing the movie! But, the Iron Man movies are fun and enjoyable. I take the opinion that Snyder equates real world as being dark. Would it be that, to make a hero believable, the world around him/her must be dark?
Back in June, in an article for Vulture, Kyle Buchanan covered the filming of Justice League. In that article, he quotes Snyder as saying:
“You really had to dig down on the darker parts of them to make them fight each other. I really do believe that with this movie, with Justice League, they’ve been freed of the responsibility to be in a place where they would fight each other. That’s liberating for us in making the movie, because now we have a single enemy with a single objective, and it’s really about uniting the team. That, to me, is a fun activity.”
Is it a cop-out to say that a hero must first fight in order to be a teammate in the future? If so, is this not a dark view on heroes?
While Captain America fought Iron Man, the reason and circumstance tremendously differed. I hope the fan backlash to Dawn of Justice serves as a much-needed antidote to the Snyder Syndrome.
Why Do I care?
DC has some of the oldest (in creation not in character age) heroes in comics on the big screen – soon to be together. Why do I care?
I’m a child of the 70s, and I remember DC characters before I do Marvel. Wonder Woman. The Justice League of America. Superman. Batman. The Flash. The Super Friends. The Wonder Twins. Gleek! Apache Chief. Dial-H-for-Hero. The Yellow Peri. Bizarro. Bizarro World. Bat-Mite. Robin. Wonder Girl. The Amazons. Hawkman. The Justice Society of America. The All-Star Squadron.
The list goes on.
I, like many, have invested our time (money) into these characters over the years. We are the ones who kept DC Comics in business over the years, to be brutally honest. All I want…all I ask…is for a movie to do JUSTICE to these amazing characters. The characters themselves….they deserve better!
Success. I hope for success as Snyder moves forward. He’s attached to the movies and, unless something changes, this won’t change. Give us all something that introduces these characters to a new generation while staying true to who (and what) they are. Let the boredom end, and allow a true Dawn of Justice to appear. Find that mix and prove that these characters aren’t some Depleted Characters and mere shadows of what could be. Instead, prove them to be the Distinguished Competition to Marvel!