Director Zack Snyder swings big with “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”. Unfortunately he only lands a base hit.
"Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” is like receiving a bad Christmas gift from a loved one. You know they spent time and money trying to give you something awesome, so you try to put on a smile for them as to not hurt their feelings. The only place one percent equals one hundred percent is the DC cinematic universe helmed by Zack Snyder. The dichotomy of Batman, The World’s Greatest Detective inability to do math yet “Dawn of Justice” also delivering the most dynamic Caped Crusader in terms of fight choreography and photography is a microcosm of the failings of this film. There are moments that will make audiences smile and cheer during “Batman V Superman”. Unfortunately there is not enough of them in this 150 minute slog of a blockbuster. There are some bright spots in the film like every time Wonder Woman graces the screen and when Batman dispenses with a warehouse full of criminals. However one expects more from a film with the resources Mr. Snyder had at his disposal. What’s surprising is a film that tries so hard to fill every frame with gravitas does not have many moments that makes the viewer swell with emotion. One would expect the contrary from a film that
borrows so heavily from mythology and theology.
Instead of embracing the modern mythology that are comic book super heroes Zack Snyder creates a nihilistic noirish world devoid of humor and joy. In this world the spectacle of super heroes does not illicit joy but rather fear and carnage. Warner Brothers is hell bent on setting their universe apart from Marvel Studios tonally.
“Batman V Superman” is so grim and serious it does not even have an end credit stinger despite movie goers’ coming to expect them at the conclusion of comic book movies. Ironically the final scene before the credits would have actually been a great post credit stinger. Zack Snyder probably thought a post credit stinger would undermine the serious tone of his film. After all Zack Snyder is fond of saying, “This isn’t your daddy’s superman.” “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” and the Zack Snyder film “Watchmen” are both films that are so faithful to their comic book source material they bring entire panels to life. Despite their faithful adaptations both films do not achieve cinematically what the source material achieved in the world of literature.
Zack Snyder captures images beautifully but he can’t fully articulate the nuance of the literature. His shots are gorgeous but not as dense with meaning as the literature they are based on. It is all style and no substance.
Taking several comic book storylines and merging them into one plot was successful in director Chris Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy. Unfortunately this methodology did not work well for “Batman V Superman”. The plot is bloated with too many plot threads and as a result none of them are served adequately.
“Batman V Superman” has been lavished with praise by fans at early screenings and shredded to pieces by most critics. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between?
It’s not the steaming dumpster fire that critics at the New Yorker and NPR hale it to be. But in the same breath it’s hard to call “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” a good movie.
Art should make you feel something whether you love it or hate it. “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” commits perhaps the biggest sin in art. Its art you just don’t care about.
Adapting a seminal work of literature
can a trepidatious proposition for any filmmaker and Jay Oliva the director of
the animated feature The Dark Knight
Returns (2013) and delivers a direct adaptation of Frank Miller’s The
Dark Knight Returns. While live action Batman adaptations tend to take
elements from the source material and construct an original story Warner
Brothers the parent company of D.C. Comics has been producing straightforward animated
adaptations from some of its strongest and most beloved stories in recent years.
One of the strongest elements of the source material is Batman’s internal
monologue however I do agree with the director’s choice not to use it in a
medium like film that is more about show rather then tell.
The choice of adapting Frank Miller’s
magnum opus for an animated feature does not take away from the work’s
gravitas. In a world where CGI special effects dominate many feature films
released by the major studios many of the stunts and set pieces we see in
modern film making are animated. The choice of making the feature PG-13 allowed
the filmmakers to stay true the source material.
The Dark Knight Returns (2013)
is a unique version of the hero’s journey because it starts with a hero who’s
retired a decade earlier. The end of the hero’s cycle concludes with the hero
returning with knowledge or skills to help the community. Clearly Batman in his
many years waging a one man war on crime has used his knowledge and skills to
help the community. But we know from the title The Caped Crusader is not done
yet.
The underworld is a
typical motif in the hero’s journey. Batman works in a cave below Wayne Manor.
However, the Batcave is not a typical representation of the underworld. Carrie
Kelly asks Alfred where Batman is going when he wanders into the depths of the
Batcave. Alfred responds, “To find his strength”. When Batman is dug out of his
grave by Carrie Kelly he again chooses a cave as the place he starts his new
life.
The story starts with a traditional
narrative device commonly found in the hero’s journey: the refusal to the call.
What’s interesting is the film’s refusal to the call and subsequent answer to
the call is all internal conflict. The refusal is based up the protagonist’s
(Bruce Wayne/Batman) promise which is strongly implied is due to the death of
Jason Todd (Robin). Perhaps prophetically the source material was published
several years before the in continuity demise of Jason Todd via a one nine
hundred number.The Batman persona can’t
be quashed no matter how much Bruce tries to drown out the calling of the bat
with booze. When he’s drunk Bruce Wayne is called to the place that birthed
Batman, crime alley. It’s not the bat signal or crime that’s the call that
Batman answers it’s his own conscience. He can’t refuse the call to be Batman
because he is Batman.
Batman deals with four antagonists in The Dark Knight Returns (2013). Two Face,
the Mutant Leader, the Joker, and Superman. Batman has a large rogue’s gallery
who test the Caped Crusader in a variety of ways. The choice of antagonists and
the order in which they are confronted are not chosen at whim or happenstance
they fulfill a specific role in the narrative structure of the hero’s journey.
These four antagonists appear in different and distinct chapters in Batman’s hero’s
journey. In this film there are three distinct versions of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
In flash backs we see the figurative death of Bruce Wayne that gives birth to
Batman. We see the symbol of Batman remerge in present day Gotham and how the
idea of Batman transcends one man. Finally we see Batman challenge a demigod
using Gotham City to power himself via the lamp post in crime alley where
Bruce’s childhood ended and his quest as Batman began. When Batman challenges a
demigod he shows his superiority and cunning showing Superman he could of
killed him if he chose to. This leads to the Dark Knight resurrection and him
finally able to shed Batman and Bruce Wayne to be a mentor, leader, and father
figure.
What role does the antagonist Two Face
play in the hero’s quest? Harvey Dent was formerly Gotham City’s district
attorney. His physical and mental scars are too great for him to overcome. His
coin is still a twisted version of law & order; everyone’s odds are the
same and fair. Bruce’s desire to help Harvey by funding his treatment is a
coping mechanism for Batman’s own fear that he may cross the line into full
psychosis. Also, dealing with Batman’s hope for redemption that even after all
these years and all the chaos and carnage left in his wake he can find
redemption and put the trauma of his parents’ death behind him. Later on in the
film we see his disdain for the lapdog Superman has become and his hatred for
the death and misery the Joker brings but we also see him truly pity for Harvey
Dent.
Batman sees part of his own psychosis
in Dent and his treatment being unsuccessful strikes close to home. When Bruce
Wayne the public financier of Harvey Dent’s treatment speaks at news conference
about Harvey overcoming his demons we the viewer who know Bruce Wayne’s alter
ego know how weighty this statement is. Decades have passed since a young Bruce
Wayne made a vow to avenge his dead parents but he is still plagued by the
trauma. Clearly of the four antagonists Batman faces in The Dark Knight Returns (2013) it makes sense the first one would
be Two Face. In his apprehension of Two Face he confronts his own compulsions.
When Harvey laments, “Nothing can fix what I am.” Batman’s response is, “You
and me both.”
Following Two Face Batman takes on a gang
of marauding teenagers who are running amok called the Mutants. Typically along
the hero’s journey he will face an Ogre. The Ogre often causes the hero to use
his cunning and guile to defeat the beast. The mutant leader represents such
this aspect of the cycle. Batman can’t beat the mutant leader with brawn or
viciousness. When Batman gets his rematch he uses his knowledge of anatomy to
systematically immobilize and cripple the Mutant leader. He uses his cunning by
having the fight take place in thigh high mud negating the Mutant leaders speed
advantage. However the Mutant leader as an obstacle doesn’t lead to
transcendence like the next two obstacles do.
The next opponent Batman must overcome
is The Joker. What is The Clown Prince of Crime’s role in Batman’s Knight’s
quest? When we first meet the Joker he’s
in a near cationic state. Once he realizes Batman has returned to Gotham he
starts his crime spree by killing everyone in attendance at the filming of a
late night talk show. Has the Joker pushed Batman too far? When Robin asks
Batman how will he fight someone as monstrous as the Joker? He responds,
“Simpler than I've made it. There's nothing wrong with Joker that I can't fix,
with my hands.” However, in the end, despite the Joker stabbing him repeatedly
Batman does not murder the Joker he only paralyzes him. The Joker is able to
finish the job continuing to break his already broken neck and kills himself
causing the Gotham P.D. to pin the murder on Batman. This course of events
takes Batman to the next phase of his journey he is now exiled. Batman has
always been an outsider. But now with commissioner Gordon retired and Batman
accused of homicide he has cut all ties with law enforcement or government agencies.
Batman has become an enemy of the state.
What is Superman’s role in Batman’s
hero’s quest? Batman challenges a demigod and rises from mortal symbol to
mythic status. He challenged a demigod and showed that despite his mortal
limitations due to his superior will, cunning, and intellect he is Superman’s
better. Before the drug that stops Batman’s heart that allows him to fake his
death takes effect he tells Superman, “I didn't have to go easy on you. A
different binding agent, a stronger mix... I want you to remember that. I
wanted to remind you to stay out of my way. In all the years to come, in your
most private moments, I want you to remember the one man who beat you!”
He confronts Superman in crime ally
where Batman was born and where Batman will also meet his demise. At first he used a mechanized bat suit to
battle Superman.Later on he draws power
from Gotham City. The light post where Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered now
figuratively and literally powers Batman, and lastly he uses a kryptonite arrow
he devised utilizing both his patience and resources the same traits a young Bruce
Wayne used to mold himself into the Batman. Upon resurrection he is no longer a
one man war on crime. He is now a father figure to Carrie Kelly the new Robin (and
in my opinion the best Robin). He is a teacher to the former gang members who
he will now not only teach his ways to but impart his code, and leader to both
Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Robin, and the former gang members. This chapter in
the source material is entitled The Dark Knight Falls. Despite Superman despite
being a demigod he kowtows to the federal government. He appears to be the only
super hero left on Earth until Batman’s return from retirement. Batman
acknowledges to Clark that he operates outside of the law but he also makes
clear he will not be stopped from acting. Young Bruce Wayne made a promise and
Adult Batman won’t let himself forget the promise he made over his parents’
corpses in crime alley. Even the combined might of a demigod and the United
States government cannot break his will.
It’s Batman’s resurrection and return
to the Batcave that finally lets Bruce and Batman shed the oath he made to his
dead parents and begin anew. Instead of a vigilante and outsider he is leader,
mentor, teacher, and father. Alfred’s death and the burning of Wayne manor
helps reinforce the idea that the last vestiges of Bruce Wayne and his decades
old promise are put to rest. Once in the new cave his final remarks to Oliver
Queen are, “I spent ten years trying to die, this will be a good life.” Batman
has transcended life and death and is ready to be a steward to the next
generation and embracing life for the first time since his parent’s murder.
In The
Dark Knight Returns (2013) Batman rises from folklore to epic myth. Bruce
Wayne was a man but Batman is a man, a symbol, and epic myth. Batman is not
only part of Gotham City but draws his strength from the city itself. He exists
to inspire and lead his city. He is happy to dwell beneath the city and teach
the outsiders and disenfranchised of Gotham City a code and tools to allow them
to give back to their community. The Dark
Knight Returns (2013) takes a character that because of marketing and
publishing must internally be living his second act and gives us his omega
story in the epic mythic tradition.
Like most enduring works Batman is both
transmutable and constant. His origins, ideology, and methodology have stayed
relatively consistent considering over the past seventy years. The Batman’s
epic tale of one man’s war on crime has been told by dozens of creative teams
in a myriad of mediums. In an era where technology has progressed to the
potential of being omnipresent how does a vigilante who also happens to be the
owner of a large multinational corporation fit in to our society? Batman
swinging from rooftop to rooftop maintaining vigilance over Gotham City’s many
dimly lit alleys may fill us with pride and admiration as one man dedicates his
life to protecting the innocent and making sure no child of Gotham endures the
trauma he has endured. But what if the Batman is no longer a lone vigilant
light house in a sea of chaos and crime but the spider atop a net of
omnipresent surveillance?
The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, USA) does not directly adapt one specific Batman
comic book or story line. Story elements from various comic books and graphic
novels that span the characters history are referenced in the film’s plot. The
Joker’s plot to kill important Gotham citizens is also his plot in Batman #1
(1940) and screen writer David Goyer has cited The Long Halloween
(1996-1997) as inspiration for his depiction of Harvey Dent; however in Goyer’s
version it’s the Joker who gets to light the mob’s money on fire changing the
meaning of the scene. In Goyer’s version of events the Joker is setting the
mob’s money ablaze because he is above money he is a “better” class of
criminal. In the source material Harvey Dent sets the mob’s money ablaze to
further cripple organize crime and help clean up Gotham city. Clearly the
obstacles and moral quandaries the Caped Crusader must overcome in The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, USA) are not new ones. What is a 21st
century problem is Batman’s solution to his obstacles in this film. Wayne
Industries, similar to a modern day telecommunications giant, can tap into the
cell phones and devices of the citizens of a large American city. Because Bruce
Wayne is a benevolent oligarch he knows this is too much power for him to wield
and places a check on his power, namely Lucius Fox.
In a post 9/11 America how we respond to depictions of the Joker’s terrorist
acts take on a different meaning. In the story line A Death in the Family
(1988-1989) the Joker literally blows up the second Robin Jason Todd. The
aftermath of that story line often centers on Batman being driven closer to the
edge, losing control, and becoming more ruthless in his tactics. In The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, USA) both the citizens of Gotham and Batman himself
begin unraveling as a result of the Joker’s terrorist acts. A question that is
posed often in modern American politics is where do we strike the balance
between safety and liberty? Batman must face the same question in The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, USA). The Joker is such an outlier that this is the
one time Batman must usurp the privacy and rights of Gotham’s citizens. Batman
doesn’t go as far as declaring martial law but he does recognize the precarious
nature of one man holding so much power. He shares this power with the man he
trusts to shepherd his large multinational corporation Wayne Industries. In
both cases Wayne depends on Lucius Fox to be the check on over reaching power
that can be potentially destructive.
The two modern American problems of capitalism and surveillance are
examined in The
Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008, USA).Wayne Industries has the power
to run amok and ruin lives or uplift the citizens of a city with projects like
mass transit. Despite his formidable intellect Bruce Wayne cannot maintain his
one man war on crime and makes sure that the corporation that operates with his
family’s name maintains ethical practices while filling its coffers to satisfy
its board members. Lucius Fox is the man Bruce entrusts with the company that
bears his family name. Mr. Fox is a benevolent industrialist like Bruce Wayne
and serves both as Q and M to Bruce’s James Bond. Batman later extends this
trust in Lucius when he wire taps the entire city. Like Gandalf Batman knows
despite his best intentions this power may corrupt him and he needs a mortal to
both to wield and later destroy this extraordinary power. Both Lucius and
Batman are rewarded for their faith in each other.
When can civil liberties be suspended? The Joker’s thesis is anyone can be like
him given the right circumstances. Perhaps this is why accusations of insanity
are one of the few accusations Christopher Nolan’s depiction of the Joker takes
umbrage with. He’s not crazy he’s just a guy who has had a bad day. Even though
virtually everyone would agree the Joker’s alignment is chaotic evil, I wonder
if Nolan’s Joker (played masterfully by the late Heath Ledger) might argue that
he is in fact chaotic neutral? After examining The Dark Knight
(Christopher Nolan, 2008, USA) I begin to feel more ambiguous on whether or not
the Joker was successful in his plans to push Batman over the edge. During my
first screening of the film I felt confident that despite the Joker’s rampage
he did not defeat The Batman because Bruce would not violate his moral code and
snap the neck of the Crown Prince of Crime despite the Joker murdering one of
Bruce’s loved ones and committing wanton death and destruction throughout the
city. He proved the joker wrong as did the citizens on the two ferries wired
with explosives. However my creeping feeling of ambiguity comes from my
realization that the joker did force Batman to spy and violate the rights of
the citizens of Gotham City. The Joker forces Batman to choose safety and order
over liberty and chaos.
Batman is the hope that good people given the opportunity would do what is
right. Batman is single minded in his goal; he foresakes his own happiness and
desires to stand up for those who cannot help themselves. Bruce Wayne was once
helpless to protect those closest in his life. Batman strives to never feel as
impotent as that little boy crying in terror in crime alley all those years
ago. Batman has replaced young Bruce’s inability to protect his parents with
Batman’s need to protect the city of Gotham. FDR believed his place in society
came with a responsibility to help those around him especially the
disenfranchised. Batman takes this ethos and adds the psychology of a
traumatized young boy who refuses to ever feel powerless again. Every fiber of
his body is dedicated to protecting Gotham City and sometimes even Batman must
puts checks in place to protect him from himself and who better to check the
power of Batman then the voice of god himself Morgan Freeman who portrays
Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
