Batman v Superman

If you read this, you will have a very sedate and overall substantial argumentation as to why the Batman v Superman movie will suck, probably. If you frequent 9gag, especially a few weeks back, you will be treated to all sorts of idiots who say that the movie sucked, without bothering to flesh out arguments (unless you scroll ten miles into the comments section). Allow me to mount a drunken defense why most of the said article's fears may be unfounded in some perspectives, by introducing those very same perspectives.

I just have watched the movie, and it was good. Not amazing, not earth-shattering, but it was solid, it was good. Not like the Deadpool movie was good (because it's entertaining), however, and not like the Avengers franchise has been good so far (because it's been operating on a well-established shared universe, and the scriptwriting is witty). 

If you take the perspective of someone who, like the article writer in the link above, noticed that DC has not taken the movie time to establish a shared universe, then you will have good cause for misgivings, indeed. Our last taste of Batman was with the Dark Knight franchise, and our last taste of Superman was with the Henry Cavill franchise. In the New 52 universe, you see convergences (hehe) everywhere, but neither of these series of movies operate under the New 52 universe. Moreover, these series of movies did not care to establish a shared space, and nothing in these movies, as far as I can tell, hinted at events that show anything anywhere near the formation of the Justice League.

I do not need to remind you why the Green Lantern movie is an abomination. So even with the Batman v Superman movie hinting at the Justice League members existing (with the exception of Green Lantern) - hinting at it with an eye wink the size of goddamned Jupiter - there is no Justice League with all its canon members hinted at anywhere, except in this movie. Which of course makes our misgivings land squarely on very justifiable concerns about stage-setting, and which justifies comments that the movie feels rushed. The movie itself had to have scenes fetching Man of Steel in order to set the goddamned stage as to why Batman is suddenly relevant to events in Metropolis (or vice versa). So in the big scheme of things, there is no stage set prior by the production company to warn us of this direction; it almost seems like Warner Bros. is merely reacting to the phenomenal success of Marvel movies going towards more and more comprehensive stories. So if that's your basis for the movie sucking, then take a cigar, sir, and this round's on me.

However, if you take the perspective of one who appreciates Batman and Superman the way they are (sometimes incoherently, even) written in the DC universe (New 52 or not), then this movie is solid. We are treated to snippets of Frank Miller's Batman (Ben Affleck is stockier, older, more jaded, with - and this is a very good selling point - something like the Court of Owls thrasher suit), with a very well-established and well-played near psychopathy over the loss of his parents (which justifies the bit about Martha, which otherwise would render the movie very corny). It stuck to canon: loss of parents, underground cave with bats, sublime experience with said bats, a thoroughgoing obsession with justice, and a very clear course of action, which he has no major illusions about (except of course where it counts). We are treated to a Superman who is a god who does not understand anything about godhood, which is, after all, what makes Superman Superman. We are treated to a Wonderwoman who is a warrior through and through (Jesus Christ, the way she grins when Doomsday just pummels the shit out of her). We are treated to a Lex Luthor who is, dare I say it, better portrayed in the movie than in the comic books - if not with psychotic overtones, which suits his character just fine. We see an Alfred that stands between English thespian butler and Australian military man, with more capacities than Michael Caine had. 

More importantly, the movie masterfully, which is to say subtly, shows why Batman and Superman and Wonderwoman are captivating: the dynamic among these three portray the very philosophical problems of what to resort to to make the world a better place, when the players involve persons who are not human, but who are nonetheless very human if only because of the sheer amount of time they spent with us.  In this respect there is a very thin line between Batman's and Luthor's reactions to meta-humans: meta-humans need to understand what humans are like if they are to be allowed to live among us, or, if you overpower that position, they need to be introduced to our goodhood, in our terms, and not theirs.  Their godhood, their terms, and they, are, after all, alien. Senator Finch is the idealized version of this, and she explicitates this by resorting to democracy: we talk about good and evil and right action with the consent of the governed, sir.  The dynamic explores the paradoxicality of both human strength and human weakness: we are soft creatures who easily bleed and drown and hence need those that are not prone to bleeding or drowning, but you, meta-humans, should also make us believe that in our very need for you itself, we still control you. We are pathetic like that, but we will not admit it. That is what makes us human, after all: the blindness to our limits which makes us unbelievably weak in some respects, and equally unbelievably progressive in some others.

And as such our dependence on you comes with a fascination: you remind us of what we do not have, cannot have, and therefore need, but if it comes to it we will always remind you that this is our home, we will remind you why this is our world, and why we need everything to be on our terms. As Batman says, "Do you bleed?... You will." No, you do not bleed, not in the ordinary ways that we do. But we will make you bleed, in far more sublime, manipulative, and beautifully human ways.  We will love you.  We will need you.  We will shelter you.  That is how we make you human.  We will take your godhood away from you, for it is something that we both fear and love (and how else can love be?), and in so doing we will be where we always were, where the fallen angel meets the rising ape.

If you view the movie like that, then, shit, sir, shut up, and this round's still on me.