Before I get into this let me give mini reviews for each
movie. Warning: Spoilers for each film.
Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice is definitely a mixed
film. I still enjoyed it but the problems are there. The main issue is the
pacing of the film. There are a lot of cool moments with each big scene however
in between each scene can be jarring at times. The fight between Batman and
Superman, I was expecting to be more of a tie and Wonder Woman would come in
and make them shape up. Nope, Batman clearly towered over Superman and was
about to kill him until he mentioned Martha. I liked it as Batman came to realize
that he was going to kill someone’s son, a man without parents can also be as
traumatic as a mother without a son. This clicks and makes Batman realize that
everything he has done made him feel like he was the murderer that gunned down
his parents. The final fight with the trinity I thought was well handled and it
was just great seeing the trinity on screen together. I am mixed on the ending,
I see where they may go with Justice League, but I thought it maybe too soon
for them to kill off Superman, at least have Supes be in a few movies to have
that kind of impact.
Score: 7/10
Captain America: Civil War was just amazing; it is easily
one of the greatest Superhero films of all time, up there with The Avengers and
The Dark Knight. If I had one minor complaint, it was the beginning where they
did a bit of built up seemed a little slow, however when it gets going it is
full of greatness. Each character has a great moment especially the airport
scene, we got a smart mouthed spidey, Giant Man, Black Panther’s persistence,
and everybody else delivered great spectacles. I have to say this was RDJ’s
finest performance to date, the ending broke my heart when he watched his
parent die and someone who he trusted knew but didn’t tell him. At first when
how things were going to go down, I thought Zemo would just hack into his armor
and make him fight, nope, he exposed Tony to what happened and in that
revelation Tony lost it and took it out on Cap and Bucky. I liked how that was
the final fight, there was no winner, and the team was broken and divided,
until at least Infinity War. Also, while their is a lot of Avengers in this film, it still manages to keep the focus on Steve which was nice as I was worried it may become an avengers film.
Score: 9/10
Now I am one of those folks that don’t like to compare
films, especially DC and Marvel since they are doing their own thing. While in both movies both sides have their philosophical
differences and are being manipulated by the villain. While they both broke
what I was expecting their fights to end, I feel while Cap and Tony still had
focus in the conflict, Batman and Superman seemed to lose their conflict with
the pacing of the film. Batman still had his focus, albeit losing his way in
the darkness and his obsession of defeating an alien that could destroy
anything. Superman doesn’t trust him because
he is a vigilante that’s outside of the law, however he does the same thing so
it loses a little focus, it seems that the writers had to give Superman more of
a reason to fight so they had Lex kidnap his mother. As I said in the mini
review, I did like how it didn’t end the way I was expecting it to, however it
did seem that Batman became a little too friendly towards the Man of Steel, it
would have been nice that he was still weary but trust him to face the evil
that is lurking over them.
With Civil War, I was expecting them to hash it out and then
fight the bad guy, however when Tony came in and made a truce with Steve, I was
thinking to myself, ok, Zemo will hack his armor and that will make them fight.
Nope, the footage of Bucky killing his parents, and Tony went crazy. Tony was
going dark and would do anything he could to kill Bucky, at first I figured he
would understand it wasn’t Bucky in control but with Steve also holding back
the information he lost the trust of somebody he saw as a comrade and a friend.
When he yelled out “He killed my mother!” That was it, it was the anger of
losing someone he loved and RDJ’s delivery made you believe it. Sure Cap won
the fight, but Tony in a way won the war, with Cap’s team incarcerated. However, with the team now divided, it seems
their maybe an understanding, as Tony let Steve and Bucky save his friend’s
from Ross’s clutches.
I think Civil War handled their villain as well better; sure
Zemo may not be memorable as Loki or Red Skull but his focus was handled in a
good way. He wanted to destroy the Avengers from the inside after his family
perished in Sokovia. After it was all said and done, he would kill himself but
Black Panther didn’t want to give him that satisfaction, let him live in the
hell he caused. Zemo all around, felt consistent in the film which is more than
I can say about Lex. I like Lex Luthor, Kevin Spacey’s performance I thought
was the highlight in Superman Return’s, he was goofy but he had that darkness
in him that I like in my villains. Eisenberg, did ok, he was manic but it was
all of a front for his true motivations, to destroy god and maybe create one of
his own. While not straight forward, I like this motivation it added layers to
him, however, it was because on how manic he was that left me polarized. If he
was serious in the end when he confronted Batman, I probably would have liked
him, but then he started to yell “PING PING PING” in a goofy manner that I fell
out of it.
So over all, I feel like the tone, characters and villains
were more consistent in Civil War then they were in Batman V Superman. With a
three hour cut of the film, maybe the movie would feel better paced, or should
have a Batman film before had to help establish him before the conflict. Oh
well, onward to Justice League and Infinity War.
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