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Superhero Showdown
PLUS, A LESSER MOORE DOG AND THE RETURN OF THE GREEKS
By Drew Wheeler movies@flagpole.com
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE
(PG-13) The main event is finally here.
Batman battles Superman in the Superhero
Bowl. What results is two-and-a-half hours
of the least fun you can have at a comic
book movie, which is not to say Batman v
Superman is a complete failure. The titanic
battle royale of the final act lives up to
expectations, but getting to that
climax is a trying endeavor thanks
to a mopier-than-usual Batman as
well as the least super Superman
ever captured on film. (Even the
worst Superman movie of all time,
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace,
had its perfect Man of Steel in
Christopher Reeve.)
Writers Chris Terrio (an Academy
Award winner for Argo) and David
Goyer (The Dark Knight Trilogy and
Man of Steel) create an intrigu
ing frame upon which to build
a Superman-Batman rivalry. In
Metropolis for the day, Bruce Wayne
(Ben Affleck) was present to witness
Man of Steel’s catastrophic battle
between Superman (Henry Cavill) and
General Zod. Like many Super-fans, Wayne
is disturbed by Superman’s godlike power
and his seeming lack of concern for collat
eral damage. On the other hand, Superman
worries that Batman’s brand of vigilante
justice will spread outside of the Gotham
city limits. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman
(Gal Gadot) is in town, which helps our
heroes once the plans of Lex Luthor (Jesse
Eisenberg) come to fruition.
For nearly two hours, Batman and
Superman battle to see who’s the most
emo. An inspired choice for an older Bruce
Wayne, Affleck also has a good Batman
voice (much less growly than Christian
Bale’s). Unfortunately, he mostly gets to
frown and brood about Superman (jealous
much?). Even Jeremy Irons’ Alfred seems to
think Wayne is a stick in the mud. Supes is
not much better, too fretful about a masked
vigilante for a guy who saves the world on a
regular basis. Whoever wins, the audience
loses thanks to all that unnecessary angst.
It is hard to care who wins when the
motivations are so transparently forced.
By the movie’s end, Batman should be
ashamed for falling for Luthor’s bald-faced
machinations. The moment that breaks the
spell is laughably ludicrous, too, though it
does give direct cause for the movie’s best
sequence. Batman’s assault on criminals
holed up in a warehouse shows the awe
some potential held within this frustrat-
ingly constrained piece of portentous
superhero filmmaking.
Perhaps that is Batman v
Supermans supreme failing.
Greatness seems only a sense of
humor and a character reworking
away. Affleck and Cavill are excellent
versions of these heroes, though
Wonder Woman steals the show in
her brief appearance in full costume.
I anticipate her solo outing more
than the promised Justice League
movie; just try not to laugh as BvS
ham-handedly sets up that flick.
The final showdown does unleash
the titanic power of DC’s greatest
superheroes, and the experience is
awesome. It’s just too late to save us
from the dreary setup and a truly
awful performance by Eisenberg,
whose Lex Luthor has ruined the central vil
lain of the DC Extended Universe. Thanks
for that, Zack Snyder and company. What
childhood dream do you plan to spoil next?
WHERE TO INVADE NEXT (R) Michael Moore’s
first documentary since 2009’s Capitalism:
A Love Story will certainly frustrate his crit
ics, but will it please his fans? In Where to
Invade Next, Moore “invades” Europe to
take all their best ideas, like Italy’s mas
sive amount of paid vacation time, France’s
gourmet school lunches, Norway’s prison
system, Iceland’s gender equality and more.
He winds up on a nice European vacation
cataloging some great ideas, and while the
idea of implementing them in the United
States is nice, a stronger documentary
might look into the actual costs of these
programs for a country as large as this one.
Still, Moore is a thought-provoking enter
tainer, and Where to Invade Next certainly
entertains while provoking minor thoughts.
It’s just not as provocative as it thinks it is.
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 (PG-13)
Fourteen years after My Big Fat Greek
Wedding became the highest grossing rom-
com of all time, Nia Vardalos returns with
a sequel. I have not watched the original in
more than a decade, but my memories of it
are fonder than the experience of watching
its sequel. How did Vardalos’ sitcom fail
so quickly? The sequel she wrote is filled
with enough small-screen moments to fill a
handful of episodes.
Happily married to Ian (John Corbett),
Toula is now struggling with the impending
high-school graduation of her only daugh
ter, Paris (Elena Kampouris). Toula also still
has to deal with her very large, way-too-
close family, including her mom and dad
(Lainie Kazan and Michael Constantine),
who are not actually married. One can
safely assume that, like a harmless sitcom,
all these problems will be worked out by the
credit scroll. ©
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MARCH 30, 2016 • FLAGPOLE.COM 11