Since having a child, it has become a rare occasion for my wife and I go to the movies together. On Easter weekend, however, the opportunity for a date night at the movies presented itself. So, Saturday night we went to see Batman v Superman.
In the Christian calendar, it was Holy Saturday, the day that we acknowledge that Jesus laid in the tomb.
I hadn’t read much about the film, and had only seen one or two trailers. I wasn’t sure what to expect but the film was filled with several unexpected twists. One of the most significant – spoiler alert – is when Lex Luther brings Doomsday to earth. For those who know the comic storyline, Superman dies killing Doomsday.
However, for those who attended the film without knowing that piece of the Superman canon, this would have been a surprise. Like the girl watching the film with her mother and older siblings in the theater that I attended. She was about seven or eight and was Team Superman all the way. Whenever Superman appeared on the screen, she cheered for him as if she were cheering on her favorite basketball player.
When you think about it, it’s hard not to cheer for Superman. Amidst all the talk of his crest meaning hope and that the world needs a Savior, we are drawn to what he represents in the midst of a dark world. In fact, it’s this sense of meaning that makes the outcome of Luther’s scheme of pitting god (Superman) against man (Batman) unexpected. As the sword-like hand of Doomsday pierced into Superman, the young girl wailed. I looked over and the girl had buried herself into her mother’s chest, visibly upset at the death of a hero.
Her hero.
Whom she loved.
It was one of those rare moments that reminded me just how sacred film can be. Still, what made this moment more sacred for me was that it happened to be Holy Saturday. It was the day that Christians around the world remember that, after his side had been pierced, Jesus lay dead in a borrowed tomb. The stillness and silence of Saturday creates time to wail at the death of a Savior. It allows us to bury our faces into the chest of our loved ones and weep the loss of a hero.
With the death of a hero, it seemed that all hope was gone. The Savior – whether it be Jesus of our faith or Superman of our films– was gone. And with the absence of hope, there is both a deep sadness and a deep fear that the darkness will take over. Without that hope, there is a sense that everything will fall apart. While this hopelessness is unspoken in Batman v Superman, it is felt by everyone from Martha Kent to Lois Lane to Batman as each grieves in their own way.
As the film ends, Lois Lane drops dirt onto Clark Kent’s wooden casket. Just before the screen fades to black, the dirt starts to rise. An appropriate foreshadowing on the evening of Holy Saturday.
Hope cannot be buried.
To say that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was one of the most anticipated films of the year would be a slight understatement. It may very well have been the most anticipated films of the year, but it was also the one with the biggest question marks. Batman and Superman are arguably the most iconic superheroes in our time. Their history spans seventy-five years of heroics. These are two iconic heroes that are polar opposites but who have withstood the test of time over and over again. They have had many adventures together, both in comics and other mediums. However, the one thing they have never shared is a live-action film together.
We’ve already seen Henry Cavill and Amy Adams in their respective roles. They carry themselves the same way as before, this time as a couple. The film tries to bring about their love story, but is too busy giving us other plots that it really never takes off and by the time it really blossoms, the film is over. However, I want to delve into the other three main characters of the film, Batman, Lex Luthor and Wonder Woman.
Ben Affleck, with all my fear that he would repeat his Daredevil act, was not a bad Bruce Wayne or Batman. He was an older and more angry Batman, but he handled the cowl better than expected. As a Batman fan, I do have to complain about the character on film. Batman has two rules: no guns and no killing.
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was nothing short of annoying. This was probably the most puzzling rendition of a Lex Luthor I have ever seen. The stories attempt to make everything in the film somehow connect, and all lead back to a plan set forth by Lex Luthor himself, was again out done by bad editing and frankly bad storytelling.
With all my reservations on the casting of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, she was actually the best part of the film. In every scene she was in (not enough, which was a shame), she stole the movie away from the main characters. Whenever she was on screen she had this presence that represented the soul and essence of Diana Prince. Finally Wonder Woman hits the big screen – but it’s in a film where she’s nothing more than a vehicle used for the purpose of telling us there is a bigger universe. Still, she is the one shining light in the film that was great. And all that was before she even donned her iconic outfit.
If you are a geek like me, the end of November and the start of December has been a time of joy. In a matter of a week, we have gotten the trailer for Captain America: Civil War and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Both set the internet ablaze, but it seems that only one truly stood out. The numbers speak for themselves. Last week when the Civil War trailer was introduced on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, it garnered sixty-one million hits. On the flip side, just a week later using the same venue to debut their now third trailer, BvS garnered only 23.2 million. That’s almost seven million less than the previous two trailers had. Maybe it’s because it is the third trailer and some folks have already made up their mind about whether to watch it or not, but either way, that is a huge difference in fan support.