Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Trailer Review)
I've been looking forward to the trailer for the upcoming Batman (Ben Affleck) v Superman (Henry Cavill) for a good while now, and after watching it a few days ago, I don't know whether I am excited or simply ambivalent to the whole thing. Let's be totally honest, Christopher Nolan's trilogy is going to take some beating by anyone prepared to take on the franchise, and based on my viewing of the teaser trailer, I think it will be safe for sometime yet.
The perception seems to be that following the happenings in 'Man of Steel', the judgement is out on Superman, with many believing him to be an hero, while others are on the other side of the fence, fearing this alien being, this 'devil from the sky'. One of those people appears to be Bruce Wayne. Now, I still am not completely sold on Ben Affleck playing Batman (as too are many others), and I feel that his best work has come from behind the camera, rather than in front of it (I'm thinking Gone Baby Gone, rather than Daredevil, for example). Don't get me wrong, I don't for one minute think that Affleck is a bad actor, but he certainly wouldn't have been my first choice to play the Bat. I'll reserve judgement of course, at least until I've seen the movie.
One thing that struck me hard during the trailer, was the Bat-Suit(s). The first one we witness looks outright menacing, almost scowling down at us with an apparent horror, might this reflect the current state of affairs in Gotham, and how the personality and character of Bruce Wayne has changed? The second suit (or add on to the suit) looks to have some kind of technological enhancement, giving the eyes a bright white flare (very similar to what I used to see in the old Batman cartoons), and giving Afflecks voice a gurgling grunt (ironically, like some kind of nightmarish mix of Bale and Hardy from The Dark Knight Rises). He looks skywards, as Superman floats above, and growls 'Do you bleed?...You will!' - I think it's plain to see that the Dark Knight probably won't be exchanging Christmas cards with Clark Kent any time soon.
We witness the Bat Mobile, tearing up the streets and most things in it's path, so that's all cool and we also see what appears to be a remodelled Bat Wing soaring along the skyline, again, a welcome inclusion. What will be interesting to learn is how the supporting cast help build the story and give it life, as the supporting cast did to great effect in the previous trilogy. This can't just be about Batman v Superman, that would get pretty boring, so the storyline has to be good, it has to be punchy and it has to go somewhere - will it? Time will tell.
As you'd expect with Snyder, the visuals in the trailer look pretty damn awesome, and I've always been a big fan of his vision, but it's his flimsy direction that has let him down in the past. It's normally a case of style over substance (Watchmen aside), and here's hoping that he will buck the trend here - he simply has to.
It's a film I've been looking forward to for a while now, and releasing the trailer now, some twelve months before the release date only whets my appetite even more. The obvious thought is who will come out on top? Batman in all his technological grandeur, or Superman and his alien superpowers? How will the supporting cast be integrated into the story? Let's hope Snyder is drawing some inspiration from Nolan on this front. Overall, the trailer represents a new era in the Batman franchise, and hopefully a continuation of recent successes for the Dark Knight films.