Will’s Unpopular Opinion. – The People vs BvS – 3-28-16
With a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatos, ‘Batman vs Superman’ isn’t only being considered a massive disappointment, but also a huge hiccup in the game-plan by Warner Bros. in their attempt to surpass Marvel at it’s own game. I say it’s Marvel’s game, because quite honestly, it is. It’s no secret at this point that Marvel has had a huge leg up on the OG pulp heroes over at DC, but due to lack of planning and foresight WB was forced to do something rash; sell their best piece of real-estate at a subprime price. They abruptly forced a movie out of the gate by cobbling together DC’s holy trinity of main characters in an attempt to play catch up. However, even with the films terrible reception and less then stellar ratings, WB may have inadvertently accomplished something even more startling then originally thought; by not creating the worst super-hero movie ever made, but rather the best.
This movie doesn’t only break the template of the common day to day humdrum that is the expected comic-book archtype, it assumes a template wasn’t even there to begin with, and actually digs deeper in it’s attempt at telling a story by trying something notable not seen in the genre possibly since 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’, if ever. ‘Batman vs Superman’ is not a blockbuster action flick. It’s an independent art film. If anyone walking out of the movie utters the words “That was the worst action movie, I’ve ever seen”, I’d agree and counter by suggesting that ‘BvS’ isn’t an action movie at all, but rather a modern piece of art nouveau, almost mirroring the French and German new wave films of the 60’s, which utilized frenetic editing and low contrast cinematography to evoke it’s mood and setting.
Beyond that, ‘BvS’ encompasses multiple aspects in it’s branding and overall design; from the faux torn back alley poster aesthetic of the promotional art, to the translucent vectorized red logo seemingly carelessly plastered across stills from the film; this movie becomes a timestamp of itself, highlighting it’s independence from others not only in the genre, but the entire medium itself.
Shots from the movie feel as though they’ve been pulled somewhat subtly from Mann and Kubrick for sources of nuanced cinematography and borderline jump cuts. The act structure isn’t typical, with part of it’s focus lying mostly on certain characters over others. This doesn’t hinder the movie, but rather seems to do just the opposite as it helps keep the forward trajectory without wasting the viewers time on extemporaneous dialogue, serving only it’s third tier characters, and not the plot. In fact, if you went into this movie expecting standard spandex fare, you could easily be disappointed with it’s lack of…(every conceivable fanboy problem that’s been copiously lambasted to death.) However, if you go into this movie foregoing all preconceived assumptions of what one would/could expect, you may be surprised with the experience you walk out with.
In 1968 a movie came out to below favorable reviews. Although not as widely anticipated as ‘BvS’, the rancor this movie would receive would become legendary. Reviewers purported it as being slow, methodic, and aimless upon execution. The New York Times would refer to it as being: “somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring.” The movie then went on a slow crawl upwards to redemption over the next few years, as college kids and counter culture enthusiasts alike started pouring more and more into late night showings of the film. It slowly became a cult classic and garnered the respect and admiration it deserved. This movie was 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the director was Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick was the great risk taker of 60’s Tinsletown, often known for pushing the medium in directions not thought propitious at that time. Kubrick would receive a reputation for being confident by taking risks in his films and story telling; of which would often separate his movies from the rest of the ransacked hollywood buffet of ideas. “Risk” in any medium as a way to break up the mediocrity or monotonous redundancy so common in film and entertainment today, almost always seem to take a back seat to the current tableaus of mainstream culture. It’s common for anything outside of the known proclivities of societies norms, within some idle myopic sphere of people’s lives, to be met with hostility and ire. Much like monkeys barking at a giant black sheet of gloss-less stone.
Film is an ever changing medium. Sometimes to get to the next level and create a piece of noteworthy art, risks have to be taken. The only thing ‘BvS’ is guilty of, is coming out AFTER Marvel already established itself as a super-hero movie making monarch. If the same movie had been released prior to 2012, ‘BvS’ would be hailed as “bold”, and “brazen”, “going against the grain”, and challenging the norms of what it is to make a super-hero flick. Art is artifice. It requires change and pushing boundaries to keep it fresh (rather then 70% rotten). Following the crowd is always easy. Making art is always hard.
-Will Valle
