Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is the latest “Honest Trailers” target, and the narrator behind Screen Junkies tells us how it really was. While many pulled the “fanboy card” and either bashed it or praised it, very few moviegoers seemed to see the film the way it actually was.
DC Comics fanatics had been wanting a film which would beat the Marvel Cinematic Universe in one shot, and took the opportunity to claim it did just that. Marvel Comics fanatics were quick to point out all of the things the film did wrong.
Some of those things included the fact that when Jesse Eisenberg’s Alex Luthor (son of Lex, apparently) threatened Superman’s (Henry Cavill) mother, the hero conveniently forgot he had X-Ray vision and super speed and could have saved her himself. Another was how the film repeated the mistakes from Man of Steel , and Batman ( Ben Affleck ) actually contributed to what he was accusing Superman of doing.
The Batman V Superman “Honest Trailer” starts with the ever-famous barrage of comments requesting it. The narrator goes on to say that the film united two superheroes and divided everyone else.
“Get ready for the battle of the century between critics and fans, [which] had the movie’s most rabid supporters sending out death threats, while its harshest critics refused to admit that anything about it was cool.”
The honest trailer for ‘Batman v Superman’ shows why it was doomed to fail https://t.co/uu2V3yW0TZ
— TIME.com (@TIME) July 19, 2016
Early on, critics had given the film such abysmal review scores that fans who had been waiting for the movie for decades could have decided to stop listening to them for once. It’s important to remember that professional reviewers are paid to watch movies they might not even like, and they easily tire of certain things being done too much.
‘Batman V Superman’ Honest Trailer Released https://t.co/pY3Q9dkPsc pic.twitter.com/zkMUfjwcyI
— Heroic Hollywood (@heroichollywood) July 20, 2016
The “Honest Trailer” for Batman V Superman continues by pointing out that some scenes were definitely fun to watch, and the coincidence that both of the heroes’ mothers’ names were Martha was practically beaten over our heads as a major plot point.
As the movie’s subtitle implied, it was the dawn of the Justice League, using email attachments revealing other members in low-resolution videos. It was there that we’d seen The Flash , Aquaman, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman the first time. Then, later on, the film actually made fun of itself when Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) just showed up during the fight with Doomsday, with Batman and Superman exchanging lines like “I thought she was with you.”
The Batman V Superman “Honest Trailer” also says that Superman isn’t even sold on what he’s doing, as he’s moody and wonders why he even bothers. The narrator points out how Zack Snyder really wanted to make the movie about Batman, or at least a fan-fiction version. The film gave the character a fight almost straight out of the hit Arkham video games and made the “world’s greatest detective” actually do some detective work.
This “Honest Trailer” on Batman V Superman concludes by pointing out how it’s trying to “deliver the fight fans have wanted to see on the big screen for decades, address the controversy around Man of Steel , make enough money to compete with Marvel, be a sequel to Man of Steel and a Batman solo movie, pander to jar of pee enthusiasts, form the Justice League, introduce Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, Lex Luthor, Parademons, Doomsday, Steppenwolf, [and] the death of Superman.”
Basically, according to the Batman V Superman “Honest Trailer,” Dawn of Justice was trying to do too much for one movie.
[Image via Warner Bros. Pictures]