So there has been LOT of things that have been going on, and I know that it's been a while since I have written, and I promise that I will talk about these things (Avengers Infinity War trailer, Fox/ Disney merger, Aquaman stills, and most recently the trailer release of Sony's Miles Morales Spider-Man animated film). However, there is something that I have wanted to write about and I have been outlining it for a while.
As you all are well aware of I was personally a big fan of Justice League. However, that did little to improve box office numbers for the film. Justice League is yet another film in the DCEU that has under performed and it's to a degree that there are reports of a complete reworking of the universe as they bring in a new chief producer now that Joe Berg has left the helm as chief producer. Ultimately it seems like the DC Studio cannot catch a break. Fans are pointing a lot of fingers: directors, CEOs, editors, the list can go on. That's what I wanted to talk about here today. I wanted to address the problems based upon what I have seen. However, I am not just going to be assigning blame, there are many at fault, but honestly pointing out the problem is only part of a solution, action is what truly solves a problem so I will also be listing ways that these films could have been done and in all honesty should have been. As a disclaimer before I get started I would like to say that I am a fan of the DCEU, I am not utterly disappointed in what I got, but that doesn't mean I can't be constructive and be able to point out the flaws in something I have enjoyed. With that being said, let's begin.
WB Production Company
Now there has only been a lot of hearsay about the over stepping of bounds that Warner Bros and their CEO Kevin Tsugihara have committed since the DCEU began with Man of Steel. I don't have much definitive evidence to throw out there, there is some but not a whole lot. However, it is very clear, to me, that while DC Studios was meant to be a separate entity from Time Warner, similar to how Disney is to Marvel, DC got far too involved in pushing narrative a certain direction in films, and in some instances took direct control over projects and made a huge mess of them. While there are concrete pieces of evidence in this, namely in seeing how much they meddled with League, there are other bits of this as well. If you go back to 2013, back when the announced Ben Affleck to be Batman and that Man of Steel 2 would be Batman vs Superman there were several interviews with Henry Cavill and Affleck about how the film was going to be. The pitch they gave the press, which I believe to be Snyder's true initial intention of the film is a whole lot different than what we received in theaters. In a past interview Cavill had detailed that the follow up to Man of Steel, which at the time was the untitled Batman and Superman film that would become Batman v Superman, would see Clark fully committed to his persona as Superman. Superman's arc in the film would be to reach out to a Dark Knight who was losing his way to try and help (evidently in this initial concept, Clark was inspired by Batman's crusade in his own crime fighting endeavors). Batman was supposed to be an antagonist of the film that is goaded on a crusade to bring down superman by Lex Luthor.
Ultimately this is not the film we received. Given that Snyder has claimed Superman to be his favorite comic character, it makes little sense that after the set up for the character he provided in Man of Steel, that he would make a complete back step in story line by having his narrative in the follow up film to be a horrific rehash of the same story we saw in the aforementioned film. While it's fine to show Superman is a figure of some controversy, it should never have been the focus of his arc and this pretty much reeks of WB saying make it like the Nolan films. While the realism of The Dark Knight trilogy that Nolan promoted worked really well to explore the psychology of Batman and his villains, the same approach works very little for a character who has almost zero realistic qualities, his very nature is so much beyond anything realistic that they kind of missed the point. The initial pitch definitely portrays a lighter film that would feel more true to form for a first encounter of Batman and Superman. Which leads me to my next point.
Ultimately this is not the film we received. Given that Snyder has claimed Superman to be his favorite comic character, it makes little sense that after the set up for the character he provided in Man of Steel, that he would make a complete back step in story line by having his narrative in the follow up film to be a horrific rehash of the same story we saw in the aforementioned film. While it's fine to show Superman is a figure of some controversy, it should never have been the focus of his arc and this pretty much reeks of WB saying make it like the Nolan films. While the realism of The Dark Knight trilogy that Nolan promoted worked really well to explore the psychology of Batman and his villains, the same approach works very little for a character who has almost zero realistic qualities, his very nature is so much beyond anything realistic that they kind of missed the point. The initial pitch definitely portrays a lighter film that would feel more true to form for a first encounter of Batman and Superman. Which leads me to my next point.
Rushed Narratives to Play Catch-Up
If the Marvel Cinematic has taught anyone in Hollywood anything, it's that world building in comic movies takes time. So many of Justice League and even Batman vs Superman's problems are in the fact that DC didn't want to put that work in. In it's second film, we not only introduced the big 2 characters of DC comics, but you pit them against each other in a conflict over the other's morality (not to mention also introducing Wonder Woman, and a very lack luster Doomsday fight). Then not 2 films later we get the formation of Justice League? That's not how this should have been done whatsoever.
Regardless of what you think, Man of Steel was a good start to this universe, I completely back most fans in their assertion that the criticisms of Superman's first outing in this universe are lazy. There are minor problems, but nothing that truly degrades the story telling. The film is just a different take on Superman's origins that is more stylized to appeal with a modern audience. However, while I agree that Superman meeting Batman should have been the focus of the second film, the story of Batman and Superman fighting one another is one that, in order to set up properly, needs an additional aspect of familiarity between the two characters. That's not to say that their first meet should be smooth, but the point of the film shouldn't have been about Batman trying to bring down Superman, but instead should have been about Superman trying to reach out to a Batman who is lost in the dark and has rebuked all forms of help. By the end of the film the two should be established as allies, if not an uneasy friendship beginning.
If you wanted to do death of Superman, that should have been it's own film. Superman's sacrifice against Doomsday is a compelling story that deserved it's own film. Personally I like the idea of Superman dying before the League is formed. It adds a lot of tension when Bruce and Diana form a Justice League', but the threat is just too much for them to handle, the tension presented by a lack of a Superman would have been great, and allowing Superman to be the extra umf they needed to beat the bad guy I feel is the right move. That being said, Batman vs Superman is a film that requires both of these characters to have developed a rapport with one another. Otherwise the fight's emotionless. The thing that always makes their scuffles so compelling is that they see one another as brothers. Neither of them relishes the idea of having to fight one another, however, both of them have known since the beginning that some day their different views on how justice is to be served were going to bring both their worlds on collision course. I mean hell, one of the big points made about Batman in the DCEU is that he's older and that this mission is a bit too tall an order for him to handle physically, he's ONLY human after all. So have him create something that allows him to maintain his relevance in the mission that might set the other League members on edge, something like, I don't know, Brother Eye. This spout of fandom leads me to my next point, and this is going to piss a lot of people off, so I ask only that you read what I have to say.
Regardless of what you think, Man of Steel was a good start to this universe, I completely back most fans in their assertion that the criticisms of Superman's first outing in this universe are lazy. There are minor problems, but nothing that truly degrades the story telling. The film is just a different take on Superman's origins that is more stylized to appeal with a modern audience. However, while I agree that Superman meeting Batman should have been the focus of the second film, the story of Batman and Superman fighting one another is one that, in order to set up properly, needs an additional aspect of familiarity between the two characters. That's not to say that their first meet should be smooth, but the point of the film shouldn't have been about Batman trying to bring down Superman, but instead should have been about Superman trying to reach out to a Batman who is lost in the dark and has rebuked all forms of help. By the end of the film the two should be established as allies, if not an uneasy friendship beginning.If you wanted to do death of Superman, that should have been it's own film. Superman's sacrifice against Doomsday is a compelling story that deserved it's own film. Personally I like the idea of Superman dying before the League is formed. It adds a lot of tension when Bruce and Diana form a Justice League', but the threat is just too much for them to handle, the tension presented by a lack of a Superman would have been great, and allowing Superman to be the extra umf they needed to beat the bad guy I feel is the right move. That being said, Batman vs Superman is a film that requires both of these characters to have developed a rapport with one another. Otherwise the fight's emotionless. The thing that always makes their scuffles so compelling is that they see one another as brothers. Neither of them relishes the idea of having to fight one another, however, both of them have known since the beginning that some day their different views on how justice is to be served were going to bring both their worlds on collision course. I mean hell, one of the big points made about Batman in the DCEU is that he's older and that this mission is a bit too tall an order for him to handle physically, he's ONLY human after all. So have him create something that allows him to maintain his relevance in the mission that might set the other League members on edge, something like, I don't know, Brother Eye. This spout of fandom leads me to my next point, and this is going to piss a lot of people off, so I ask only that you read what I have to say.
Zack Snyder Should Not Have Been Put in Charge of these Movies
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| Storyboarding in a Batman Gauntlet Can Probably be Ruled You Out as Being Impartial |
I am just going to get right to the point because tension is probably bubbling at this point. The fact is that in many ways Zack Snyder is responsible for literally every good thing that as come from the DCEU: casting decisions, character treatments, you name it Zack probably had a hand in it. However, the big problem with Zack is the same reason why he was so great. He loves these characters so much, in fact he loves them too much for him to be objective about focusing on the parts of the movie that are essential, such as plot. If you look at almost every review for a DC film, even Wonder Woman, the weakest link in all of them is narrative. DCEU gets praise for two major things: Character portrayals and epic fight sequences. This just serves as a testament that while Snyder was making these films, he was so overwhelmed by making these characters come to life from the panels of a book in an amazing way, that he forgot that in order to get them on the screen there is the issue of a narrative that drives them to that appearance. I am not saying that Snyder shouldn't have had his hands on these films whatsoever, I am saying that he should have acted like George Lucas in the original Star Wars films where he produced, gave input, and helped shoot a good deal of the scenes, but script and directing were someone else's job entirely. When you care about something so much, it becomes impossible for you to be objective about that something, for instance if I were a director I would never accept a job to direct a Captain America or Spider-Man film. This is because ultimately I love both characters far too much that I would literally only care about making those characters look good, and my narrative would end up suffering because of it.
Ultimately the DCEU has been a roller coaster of mixed emotions for a lot of people, fans and average movie goers alike. While I am glad that it's pretty much confirmed that the franchise will not be cancelled, I am saddened that it more than likely will lose whatever limited autonomy it had left due to the lack of success in the box office. What's an even greater shame to me is that Justice League, a film with so much potential for expansion, was the final nail in the coffin that brought down the DC film studio. However, what is most important is that this is not the end, we have Aquaman coming out here next December and after that SHAZAM, so let's see what DC films will do for us in the near future.
I hope you have enjoyed this edition of Comic Relief! We'll see you next time!
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