What works, what failed with ‘Dawn of Justice, DCU, Superman, Zack Snyder
Warner Bros executives will be increasingly concerned as the poor Batman V Superman reviews will pour in and the box office numbers will disappoint. This is no billion dollar film and will not kick off the enthusiasm for several more DC comic book inspired pictures set over the next three years.
So let’s break it down for them, little by little, no reason to fear – no spoilers here.
Zack Snyder is in over his head
It begins with Snyder, given the keys to the franchise with minimal help from Christopher Nolan. Man of Steel gave the studio hope as the Marvel Cinematic Universe found box office success and continues to expand. The truth is; however, MOS was just not very good. The cursing, the bloated ending, Superman murdering Zod as Metropolis is destroyed – nothing felt like a good Superman story.
Snyder is obsessed with religion and God references, so I don’t blame writer Chris Terrio, either way, they have to stop. Using the God is good or powerful argument as motivation for Lex Luthor was just stupid. Jesse Eisenberg’s Luthor was billed as a Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg uber-geek, billionaire, but came across as a nerdy knock-off Cory Michael Smith’s Edward Nygma (Riddler) from Fox’s Gotham.
Solution: Get Snyder some comic book help. Warner has to stop pretending that the man who ruined the ending to Watchmen and hasn’t made an great film other than 300 is no Joss Whedon. Someone needs to comb the creators at DC to get someone who understands Superman to ensure they get it right.
The Justice League can’t be like Dawn of Justice, because it will be a disastrous third-rate Avengers film. Darkseid will seem like Thanos, the action is not impressive and no one cares about the characters.
The entire DC Universe revolves around Superman. Even those of us who are not big fans have to admit that. Cavill’s Superman is like a teenager lost in love, unable to function as Clark Kent and has incredible identity crisis issues.
Fix this first.
Watch the Richard Donner film to see Christopher Reeve’s montage of a night’s work, rescuing the city from bad guys and saving a cat from a tree. Listen to the dialogue about Kent being the super fast typist and talking with the president at the end of Superman II when he explained how he shared America’s values of life, liberty and freedom.
Superman is not a cold alien, like Bryan Singer tried with Superman Returns, he’s an orphan who will use his abilities to maximize the values that America has made great. Lois Lane is important, crucial to his life, but not to the detriment of hundreds, thousands, or possibly millions of lives.
Read Geoff Johns’ Action Comics #866-870 where this is stated as: “Your greatest power isn’t being able to fly or see through walls. It’s knowing what the right thing to do is.”
Up next: Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and Ben Affleck – what worked and what didn’t
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