Anghus Houvouras on Batman v Superman vs. The Dark Knight Rises and the importance of humanity in our superheroes (spoilers follow)…
My favorite sequence from any comic book movie is the final forty minutes of The Dark Knight Rises. This always strikes me as odd because overall the movie is kind of a mess. The same kind of unintelligible, strangely plotted mish-mash of odd story choices and baffling moments that plagues Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
If you look at Dark Knight Rises on paper, it’s an absolute mess in terms of storytelling. I don’t feel the need to deep dive all the puzzling story elements in great detail, but the story is all over the place. From Bruce Wayne having given up the role of Batman for eight years, to the magical robotic knee brace. Catwoman’s quest for the clean-slate program. Every wonky element of Bane and Talia Al Ghul’s plot to blow up Gotham with a bomb to fulfill the work of her father even though he cast them out from the League of Shadows. Mixing explosives with cement to cause a catastrophic explosion that tears Gotham apart. Luring every cop into the sewers and then trapping them there. Bruce Wayne’s broken back being fixed by an archaic chiropractor. Or how John Blake figured out Batman’s secret identity because of the look on Bruce Wayne’s face.
And yet, in spite of some glaring choices, the final 40 minutes of Dark Knight Rises is perfect. From the moment the Gotham Police Officers unify to confront Bane and his army of mercenaries and the Batman arrives in ‘The Bat’ firing the first shots; all the threads begin to tie together. The perfect blend of story, character, music, and visuals. The score kicks into gear as the battle begins. Catwoman blows open the entrance so people can start to evacuate. John Blake gets the word out to load up on the buses. “Is he back?” asks one of the kids as the score swells. A massive ground battle ensues and finally Batman and Bane see one another across the battlefield. All of it is so perfectly staged.
The sequence just continues to build with so many great moments. The Talia Al Ghul reveal. Catwoman and Batman chasing down the bomb. Batman’s sacrifice to save the city. Alfred’s emotional breakdown at Bruce’s grave. And those final moments… when Gordon sees the Bat signal. Alfred sees that Bruce is still alive. John ‘Robin’ Blake finds the bat cave, and in the final shot walks onto the ascending platform as we see the final title credit:
The Dark Knight Rises.
Pure perfection. Goosebumps every time. It’s the work of a master filmmaker. Christopher Nolan is a director capable of composing symphonic cinema, blending all the elements together into something amazing. Even though many of the story choices are naff, the final act strings them all together into something truly remarkable.
Zack Snyder is not Christopher Nolan. That may be the most painfully obvious statement ever made.
However, I still enjoyed Batman v Superman. It just wasn’t on the same kind of strong emotional level that I enjoyed The Dark Knight Rises. There wasn’t the same kind of connection. There weren’t the same kind of earned character moments that cause swells of emotion. If Nolan is a composer creating symphonic cinema, Zack Snyder is an artist making installations. Images and items strung together (often without coherence) creating something visually appealing and worthy of discussion.
I think the biggest problem with Batman v Superman is the lack of human moments. The kind of simple scenes that allow the audience to connect with a character. At the same time, there are also very few moments that show any of our heroes interacting with people in the real world. There are implications and hints of those moments, but we never really see them. Superman saves a girl from a burning building, but we never see the girl and Superman share a moment. Superman presumably saves families from a flood, but we only see the affected people pleading to Superman for help as he hovers above them. We don’t get the moment of Superman smiling as he inspires those he saves with hope. Snyder only gives us the barest of pieces. We get fractions of moments, but the movies lacks a connective tissue both narratively and emotionally.
You could even use a movie like Batman Forever to make the same point. Schumacher’s first Batman film isn’t nearly as complex as Nolan’s or as interesting as Snyder’s. However, there are genuine human moments in the film that give the audience an investment in the characters. Bruce Wayne lusts after Chase Meridian. When he finally has a romantic moment with Batman, who she’s fantasized about for ages, she tells him she can’t because she has feelings for someone else. Batman turns to the camera and flashes a smile. Sure, it’s not the most Batman moment ever, but it’s fun. The audience reacts. It’s a human moment.
Batman v Superman does an excellent job with the portrayal of Batman. Ben Affleck is great in the role. But he’s an older, grittier, darker take on the character. We see his anger, his pain, and his frustration. It’s one emotional beat being hammered over and over again. Superman could have provided us with some balance. Some moments where we see how much he cares for the people he protects. We only get implications and discussions. Conversations about consequence and the morality of heroics is fine, but it needs to be bookended with moments where our heroes are seen interacting with those they are sworn to protect. Even if it’s something as simple as the Waitress character in The Avengers who is saved by Captain America. We see the heroes from a human perspective and later on hear her speaking fondly of the man who put his life on the line for hers. For a moment we are seeing our heroes through the eyes of humanity.
Snyder only implies these moments, so we never get that human connection. Other than Batman’s anger, there’s no emotional tether to the movie.
That’s the difference between something like Dark Knight Rises, Batman Forever, and Batman v Superman; two of the films give us human moments and human perspectives, while the other spends too much time mired in the frustration of one character and the Christ allegory of another.
Still, I enjoyed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice because it is such an interesting melange of moments. However, without a strong emotional connection and lack of human moments it’s incapable of generating the kind of goosebumps I get from watching the last forty minutes of Dark Knight Rises.
Even when Superman makes his ultimate sacrifice for the world, it’s a missed moment because we’ve never really gotten to see the world that Superman gives his life for or what it means to him. Every life he saves is done so with a burdened look. His role as savior is treated like a cross he must bear. Therefore his sacrifice not only feels preordained but emotionally devoid. I would have preferred a Superman who smiled a little more. Who loved the people of the planet he protected. His funeral should have been an emotional climax on par with the last few minutes of Dark Knight Rises, but because Superman was never given any other emotion than consternation his final act to stop Doomsday is as empty as the casket they bury in Arlington.
These small, human moments, are so important to getting the audience invested. It’s a skill that Snyder hasn’t quite mastered.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker and the co-host of Across the Pondcast. Follow him on Twitter.
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