For those of you who didn’t ‘get’ the beginning referred to in the title of this blogpost, I am sorry I can’t help you. For those of you who did, that’s exactly what this movie is supposed to be about and everything else is just an incoherent hash of random emotions, dialogues, fists, punches and crashes. Is that a good thing? Most certainly not.
Dawn of Justice begins with a rather unique perspective – though its an ugly reminder of the metal mangled mess that Man of Steel was, it presents proceedings differently and was a refreshingly good idea. Unfortunately, like a lot of other stuff in the movie, its very superficial and doesn’t leave any impact, on you or the plotline (if you could call it that).
I am not one for a superhero face-off – I’d prefer them saving the world rather than bashing each other up. Still, there is potential in such a script, if the motives for each side were clear, you weren’t sure whom to root for and there was a philosophical angle that made neither a white knight. This one fails on all three counts. In fact, the big face-off happens for a laughably bad plot device and it would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. Speaking of laughter, well there’s none of it – there’s just dull, gloom and despair with plenty of brooding to boot. The best ‘fun’ lines are already covered in the trailers.
Nolan should probably thank Zack Snyder. After the soaring heights he achieved with the Dark Knight, Rises was quite underwhelming as the finale. However, with the Snyder version of the Dark Knight (or rather Bat of Gotham) you get to witness what depths the character could have fallen to and thank your stars that Nolan did it so much better. I wouldn’t blame Affleck – he does what he can, with his poorly written character. Henry Cavill is in no different state. He has shown us what he can do, given the right canvas (if you still haven’t seen The Man from U.N.C.L.E, you are missing something), but if you give him Man of Steel there is precious little that even he can do about it. Eisenberg suffers the same fate, whose Lex Luthor looks retarded instead of a maniac. The only one who looks somewhat sane is Amy Adams, who has a shorter part (than in Man of Steel) and does a decent job.
And then, there is Mr Snyder with his obsession of his original movie Man of Steel. Much as we hate it, he keeps taking us back to it, still failing to prove a point, if any. There is exactly one shock and awe moment and that too dies away in the dust, fumes and smoke. I am at a loss why this movie was made in 3D at all – there is nothing that feels like 3D except perhaps for the maple leaves in the opening credits. Also, I know its Han Zimmer, but that doesn't mean the background score has to start blaring for every single shot.
I would’ve written an even more scathing review, given how things were shaping up around the half way stage, but the latter half of the movie, some what makes up for considerable lost ground and the action depicted towards the end is quite well done. The premise it builds up to excites even more so there may be hope for this franchise still. Wonder Woman (they really shouldn’t have revealed her in the trailers) is perhaps the most refreshing hero on-screen though she has the minimum air time. Even her abilities are just assumed to be understood by the audience and much potential to establish her heroics is squandered away. That said, the ‘super-heroism’ (if there is such a word) is done quite well in the finale and that is probably the best reason to watch this movie. The effects are good, the action is realistic and well shot.
With his latest offering, Mr. Snyder joins my (so far short) list of directors whom I can neither appreciate nor understand (joining Mr. Mendes and Mr. Bhansali for company). Dawn of Justice doesn’t do ‘justice’ to either Batman or Superman..or for that matter the other characters it heralds the beginnings of. Let’s hope they have a better day in the sun - the dawn has cast more of a dark shadow than a bright light on the future of this franchise.
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