RELEASED: November 17th 2017 DIRECTED BY: Zach Snyder (& Joss Whedon) WRITTEN BY: Zach Snyder, Chris Terrio & Joss Whedon PRODUCED BY: Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Jon Berg & Geoff Johns STARRING: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, Diane Lane & Ciarán Hinds
When Batman v Superman was announced, I was beyond excited. As we moved closer to the release date, I remained adamant that it would be THE superhero movie, regardless of what the critics had been saying; it had to be – the two most iconic characters in comic-books coming together for the first time in cinematic history.
And then I saw it, and it was garbage. Poorly conceived and poorly made; it was long, boring, depressing and worst of all, disappointing.
Fortunately, Justice League is everything that Batman v Superman isn’t. Where BvS was overlong, Justice League sits comfortably at just under two hours. Where BvS was boring, JL is full of action, excitement and adventure. Where BvS was depressing, JL is hopeful and overall, a lot of fun.
And although some critics may be dismissing the film as the mess they expected it to be, in my opinion, it’s risen above that, and as a result is far from disappointing.
Finally got round to re-watching and reviewing Wonder Woman so it can finally be retroactively fitted into my series of DCEU film reviews, completing the series. It’s about time!
RELEASED: June 2nd 2017 DIRECTED BY: Patty Jenkins WRITTEN BY: Allan Heinberg, Jason Fuchs & Zack Snyder PRODUCED BY: Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Deborah Snyder & Zack Snyder MUSIC BY: Rupert Gregson-Williams STARRING: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, Elena Anaya, Saïd Taghmaoui, Ewen Brimmer, Eugene Brave Rock & Lucy Davis
Commonly known as the bright spot amongst the sea of messy, bleak superhero movies that make up the DCEU, Wonder Woman sees Diana retell the story of how she came to the world of man; meeting her first love Steve Trevor and becoming embroiled in World War I in her hunt for the Greek God of War, Ares – who she believes has corrupted humanity.
The result is a film that clearly fits within the set-up of the DCEU as we know it, but with numerous factors that make it stand out amongst the rest. Because while I love Man of Steel, I must admit that it can be bleak at times, and the two follow-up films, Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, are thoroughly depressing, in terms of content and quality, respectively. Wonder Woman, however, is a film that provides hope. It preaches about the power of love and presents an empowering lead character who grows and develops in a meaningful way that actually, unlike her peers *cough*Batman*cough*, makes sense.
RELEASED: August 5th 2016 DIRECTED BY: David Ayer WRITTEN BY: David Ayer PRODUCED BY: Charles Roven & Richard Suckle MUSIC BY: Steven Price STARRING: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Adam Beach, Karen Fukuhara, Cara Delevingne and Jared Leto
‘Where do we even go with this movie?’ is a question asked both right here in this review and also, most probably, some years ago by the people who made the film.
Because watching it, it’s pretty clear that there’s been a lot of disagreements over what Suicide Squad should be, and as a result, a lot of differing opinions over what Suicide Squad is.
Suicide Squad follows the exploits of Task Force X; a unit of super-villains created by government agent Amanda Waller to protect the world in light of Superman’s passing at the end of Batman v Superman. However, before Waller’s pet-project can kick off, one of its members, the Enchantress, turns out to be too much to handle, and with the help of her demonic brother, begins wreaking havoc in Midway City. Now it’s up to the ‘Suicide Squad’ to bring down the rogue gone rogue.
RELEASED: March 25th 2016 DIRECTED BY: Zack Snyder WRITTEN BY: Chris Terrio & David S. Goyer PRODUCED BY: Charles Roven & Deborah Snyder MUSIC BY: Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL STARRING: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Gal Gadot, Laurence Fishburne & Holly Hunter
What if Batman was real?
A figure so traumatised by a childhood event that he dresses up as a devilish creature and administers his own brand of ‘justice’ to those he feels deserves it. He would be brutal, unrelenting and focused; he would have a complete disregard for the lives of those he pursues.
This is definitely the case in this milestone superhero movie epic. Batman takes down criminals with a brutality akin to his fighting style in the Arkham games; his fight choreography is both beautiful and harsh. It works well, until the film gets to its titular battle, at which point all that brutality is focused on Superman. At which point you’re once again reminded just what you’re watching: Something unpleasant.
RELEASED: June 14th 2013 DIRECTED BY: Zack Snyder WRITTEN BY: David S. Goyer & Christopher Nolan PRODUCED BY: Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas & Deborah Snyder MUSIC BY: Hans Zimmer STARRING: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane & Laurence Fishburne
I remember when this film came out, I had no real interest in seeing it. I wasn’t really all that big on Superman, and much preferred the heroes over at Marvel, and the films that had begun spinning out of their series. An exception, of course, was Batman, and as such I had loved The Dark Knight series (there was a point during my teenage years where I would even watch Dark Knight every Saturday evening after bringing food home from the takeaway I worked at).
But then my friends invited me along to see it, and I instantly fell in love. And not only did I fall in love with the film, but I also began to fall in love with the character of Superman.
