Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

 by Frederick William Springer III

 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Release Date:  25 March 2016                                                              Runtime:  151 Minutes              

Review Date:  14 June 2016                                                                   Rating:  2.5 (of 6)

      If you're looking for Man of Steel 2, you won't find it here; Superman has second billing to Batman as Henry Cavill does to Ben Affleck.  Counterintuitively, the superb job that was done developing the very rich, three dimensional character of Clark Kent/Superman (and the groundwork for future sequels and a cinematic universe) was all tossed aside here for a very flat portrayal because Batman is the star and the main focus is on him.

     The problem with that is, in this rendition, Bruce Wayne/Batman is an absolute asshole.  There is nothing likeable--he now takes to sadistically branding people like cattle--or even entertaining about him.  On top of stale flashbacks, we are also quite needlessly immersed in Bruce Wayne's dream/fantasy sequences.  Apparently, nothing was learned from the shoddy audio in The Dark Knight Rises as Batman is given a similar, difficult to understand mechanical voice as Bane possessed in that film.

     This movie had really good potential and could have soared if all the Batman stuff prior to and including his "versus" matchup with Superman was eliminated and we then spent a little more time with, and thereby continued to develop, the Man of Steel crew.  (You know, maybe even explain how Superman, who has now been partaking in good deeds captured on film for the past 18 months, still maintains anonymity, completely unrecognized as Clark Kent...Completely unrecognized working in a room full of journalists...even though there's a larger-than-life statue of him RIGHT OUTSIDE.)

     And how is it that, even though they have yet to introduce themselves to the world, Lex Luthor already has the logos of the other Justice League members?

     [Warning: Minor *Spoilers* Ahead] Even with the reasons the filmmakers try to provide, Bruce Wayne's stance on Superman and his follow-through plan seem completely over-the-top.  He has incredibly unbelievable tunnel vision when it comes to Kal-El, ready to murder him without a second thought, making it quite clear that he's literally out for blood.  And when he finally has him where he wants him, Superman's life hanging in the balance, all it takes is one magic word from Superman--"Martha"--and suddenly this twisted mind just snaps out of it immediately and completely, without a second thought.  Really?  Furthermore, having been fighting crime for 20 years, presumably much of that time battling wits with his nemesis the Joker, are we really to buy that Bruce Wayne was so easily and blindly manipulated by Lex Luthor in the first place?

     As we still have Zack Snyder at the helm, still have David S. Goyer writing (after a successful run on the last Batman trilogy prior to Man of Steel) and The Dark Knight helmer Chris Nolan himself still executive producing, the only feasible explanation seems to be that when Warner Bros. decided they wanted to get into a pissing contest with Marvel and hastily throw together a Justice League to combat the Avengers, they opted to sacrifice good story telling in the process, this film seeming more like never ending action stitched together than coherent, well-rounded, plausible-in-this-universe plot.

Retirement

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

by Frederick William Springer III

      I'm officially announcing my semi-retirement.  This blog started to serve as a portfolio should a movie critic position open up and I needed to present sample reviews.

     However, 3 1/2 years and 110 reviews later, it has become more like a chore, an unwanted obligation and any fun has been sucked out of it.  You know what would be fun?  Getting paid.

     I was initially going to hang my hat on the 100th current review (Tomorrowland) mid-July
but with the latest Bond, final Hunger Games and the start of a new Star Wars trilogy all on the immediate horizon, films I thought I might have something to say about, I figured I'd hold on rather than quickly jump out of retirement as soon as I had entered it.

     Now, moving forward, I'll only take to the keyboard if I feel extremely passionate about a film, one way or the other.  Or the movie starts with a "Q", "U", "Y" or "Z", just to fill the alphabet void.

     (June 5, 2012-Dec 23, 2015)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX 3D

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

by Frederick William Springer III

Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX 3D

Release Date:  18 December 2015                                              Runtime:  135 Minutes              

Review Date:  23 December 2015                                               Rating:  4 (of 6

     Well, at least it wasn't The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  But even so, Star Wars: The Force Awakens took some major missteps.  To elaborate, I'd have to jump into spoilers, so I'll hold off just a moment.

     What can be addressed first is one other issue.  Throughout the beginning, the character of Finn (John Boyega) is one big walking emoticon, looking completely ridiculous.  One almost would welcome Jar Jar Binks back in his stead.  However, it is apparent that Boyega can actually act from the other 2/3 of the film, so go figure.

     What The Force Awakens does have working for it is a good editing pace.  And 2 cool scenes where a Destroyer hangs out into the audience, if you saw it in 3D.  However, while having no basis of comparison, I don't think the IMAX 3D experience is really necessary.

     Everything else has at least a hint of SPOILERS so you've been warned.  If you want to go see the movie with a clean, untainted slate, stop reading now.

 

 

     **SPOILERS:

     While originally the screenplay was promisingly written by Lawrence Kasdan, who also penned The Empire Strikes Back (and Raiders of the Lost Ark), it was then retooled by Michael Ardnt (Toy Story 3 and Catching Fire) and Director J.J. Abrams.  The end product is an installment passing the torch, as I believe was always intended, but I think the fans, after a 30 year wait, were looking more for a continuation or, at the very least, balanced involvement of the old and the new.  Instead, you fuck with the fans by saying you're bringing back the original cast, yet Carrie Fisher has very little screentime, and that could have been easily removed, not helping progress the story forward in any way, her involvement insignificant.  Then in the teaser trailer we hear Luke's voice overlaid the length of that commercial.  Well, that was one big joke, because Mark Hamill only appears in the last 60 seconds and says nothing at all.  NOT ONE DAMN WORD.

     Harrison Ford, did have a sizeable presence.  Though, it appears they only coaxed him into returning by offering what he wanted for the character in the original trilogy.  The way they did it here was kind of dull and lame.  If you want to pull that shit off with an iconic character, maybe you should refer to the playbook used for William Shatner in Star Trek Generations or Leonard Nimoy in The Wrath of Khan.

     Over all, I think ultimately maybe J.J. shouldn't have jumped ships, trading the Enterprise for the Millennium Falcon, because what he did for Star Trek he certainly didn't do here for Star Wars.  (His greatest contribution is reigning in the CGI, opting to return to more practical effects.)  Philosophically, I get it and originally supported his decision--he grew up a fan and dreamed of taking the reins, so when someone offers you your dream, a rare thing most people never are given a shot at, you take it.  But that doesn't always translate into something good (see Rob Zombie's Halloween).

     Then there are the plot holes, the hit your forehead moments, and things that don't ring true (which number too many to touch on all of them).  Let's work backwards.  MAJOR SPOLIER if you haven't already figured it out and haven't heeded my last warning: When Chewie is first reunited with Princess Leia, he gives her a huge, emotional bear hug.  Yet, returning from the mission in which Han Solo is killed, he disembarks from the Millennium Falcon and walks right past Leia like she's a stranger, without so much as a word of condolence (or moan/grunt as the case may be), without so much as even sympathetically looking at her, though he's almost close enough to knock into her.  WHAT.  THE.  FUCK?!  Unless this is some kind of Wookie cultural thing, it is completely unbelievable and thus mishandled.  Yet when Rey (Daisy Ridley), who we've seen have no relationship with General Leia onscreen, gets off the ship, she almost makes a beeline for Leia and the two share a lingering emotional embrace.

     Speaking of Rey, how is it that she suddenly, on her own cognizance, realizes her powers as an adult and is able to control them instantly?  This goes counter to everything we've learned in the past 2 trilogies.  Even an adult Luke Skywalker had to be coaxed into discovering his abilities.  He also had to learn to handle a lightsaber, something non-Jedi, Force void Finn picks up immediately as does Rey.

     Now that we're on to Luke, there's a map to his location?  A map that was broken into several pieces and now there's a treasure hunt for the last piece and him?  Come on!

     On the same footing, Death Star 3?  Really?  REALLY?!  You couldn't come up with a new weapon?  Something original?  Then you even, almost tongue in cheek, acknowledge this goof by explaining it's not the Death Star but the "Starkiller".  If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, even if it is 4 times bigger, it's still a duck.  And if the Empire was pretty much demolished in Return of the Jedi, how would you keep the construction of something of that massive size hidden, especially since the Rebels that had now destroyed 2 of them would surely be vigilantly on the outlook to keep a resurgence of the Empire from forming as well as their deadliest weapon?

     The Emperor had been the evil puppeteer in the galaxy.  So who's this new unexplained super villain, Supreme Leader Snoke, and where did he come from?

     And then there's the new henchman, who's supposed to be Darth Vader incarnate. How exactly did he turn to the Dark Side?  It was shown that Anakin Skywalker began his training later in life than he ought to have and, with the power he had within himself, he had a hard time controlling it when his slave mother was slaughtered before he could save her, sending his emotions and sanity off the charts.  But Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) presumably had two loving parents and a decent home life/upbringing, we have no reason to believe otherwise knowing these characters, so what the hell could have possibly triggered him unless schizophrenia is a thing a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

     We're also told Kylo Ren had too much Vader in him.  Again, Anakin didn't start off evil, and there was a set of extraordinary circumstances that set him off in that path, a manipulative authority figure present in his life coaxing it out of him, but no such glimpse is offered about Ben Solo other than that, after these suspicions were realized, whether this was at 2 or 12, they had Luke train him and he failed.  So he worships Vader's burnt helmet--where'd he get that?  I'm sure Luke didn't save it, if he had wanted it he wouldn't have put it on the funeral pyre to begin with--seemingly totally oblivious that Anakin redeemed himself in the end, turning his back on the Dark Side.  Also, neither Han Solo or Leia knew Anakin, just Vader, so to say Ben had too much Vader in him, Ben must have been some real twisted, bad ass mother fucker of a kid.  However, when he is sans mask, you get the impression of anything but...  (Of course, in the original trilogy, we started off knowing nothing of Vader or the Emperor's origin, and that worked well at the time.  But since we know where Kylo Ren originated from, these questions bear a lot more weight and deserve more consideration.)

     And though the events of the original trilogy only took place 30 years ago, many of the characters say they believed all the elements involved--the characters, Jedis, the Force--were all folklore and legend.  Umm, it was only 30 years ago.  I get this is a huge universe where things may not have impacted people directly, but it's hard to believe that those that populate it would think something so recent was more or less made up.  I don't think if you tell a teenager that in the 80s there were no cell phones or computers that they'd turn to you and say they thought the lack of technology was just a myth.  Or that the Berlin Wall was the stuff of legends.

     Now, maybe all this shit will all be answered down the road but what ever happened to stand-alone films in a franchise, instead of another Lost (which, by the way, you could at least get a little taste of, a little bread crumb thrown at you every week rather than a whole year and a half wait)?  You didn't have to get to Lethal Weapon 4 to understand the first Lethal Weapon or The Last Crusade to grasp Raiders of the Los Ark.  Nor did you need to see Return of the Jedi in the original trilogy to get A New Hope (though Obi-Won essentially committing suicide still doesn't make any real sense.)

 

Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

by Frederick William Springer III

Hunger Games:  Mocking Jay Part 2

Release Date:  20 November 2015                                                       Runtime:  137 Minutes              

Review Date:  5 December 2015                                                           Rating:  5 (of 6)

      Quite simply, Mocking Jay Part 2 was a satisfying conclusion to the series, Philip Hoffman Seymour's demise fortunately not affecting the film, the writers and director from Part 1 safely guiding the ship to port.

 

Spectre

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

    

Frederick William Springer III

Spectre

Release Date:   6 November 2015                                                      Runtime:   148 Minutes              

Review Date:  30 November 2015                                                      Rating:  4.5 (of 6)

 

     While I didn't expect it to measure up to the previous installment--Skyfall was something of a masterpiece--Spectre fired blanks.

     After a very convoluted plot, revelations that should have been organic felt forced.  The villain was rather weak overall and considering that we're being reintroduced to an iconic character, that's troubling.

     Since Daniel Craig stepped into Bond's shoes, we've more or less stayed within the confines of reality, at least more so than during any other portrayal.  Here, however, in some kind of henchman throwback, we get one that has seemingly superhuman strength and his first disposal is just weird.  The character was unsatisfying and out of place, just thrown in the mix.  Thankfully confined to one scene, the over the top car gadgets make a comeback as well.

 

     Also, of the 24 007 films in the EON canon (and even including the non-canon Connery Never Say Never Again), Spectre wins the award for worst theme song, ever.  If the franchise is slowly trying to reintroduce elements of the original series, here they might do well to bring back Shirley Bassey, the only singer to do more than one Bond theme song--she did 3!--for the next outing.  At 78 (79 a day before I turn 35 in a month, should you want to send gifts), she's still active, having just recorded a new album last year.

     What was good was the editing, not to mention the cinematography.  The 2 and a half hours flew by, never leaving you looking at your watch counting the minutes, though a lot was dragged out longer than it needed to be.  Also nice was the inclusion of more screen time for the supporting characters, otherwise underutilized in most of the series.

     I've been impressed with the reboot in general so this misstep, while not bad--certainly better than any of Roger Moore's 7 outings--just proves that they can't all be winners.

 

The Intern

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

    

Frederick William Springer III

 

The Intern

Release Date:  25 September 2015                                                 Runtime:  121 Minutes              

Review Date:  26 November 2015                                                  Rating:  4 (of 6)

 

 

      Titled The Intern, the movie is almost equally about his boss.  While the story was alright and it had a good cast (Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway and Rene Russo), if you're looking for a comedy about older interns I'd go with The Internship which came out 15 months earlier.



The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

TAKE 1: One Man’s Opinion

…because film is largely subjective

 

by Frederick William Springer III

 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Release Date:  14 August 2015                                                             Runtime:  116 Minutes              
Review Date:  1 November 2015                                                           Rating:  3 (of 6)

      Artistically, I loved the color scheme of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. poster.  Unfortunately, you shouldn't use such aesthetics as the basis of choosing films to view.

     On the whole, the movie was just stale.  Here Superman seems like he's doing his best to do a Cary Elwes impersonation which makes no sense because he's playing an American and sounded like one while portraying Clark Kent in Man of Steel.

     This picture is based on the 1964-68 television series of the same name.  Long before my time and not something I ever caught in reruns, I can't say how faithful it was to its predecessor but I can say I didn't have any nostalgia affecting my opinion.  This movie follows the original 2 main characters in a prequel showcasing how it is they became partnered up, apparently something that wasn't really addressed in the TV show.  Holding no enchantment for me, it didn't awaken any interest in the TV series or desire to see any sequels it may spawn.