Uh-oh, the new 'Batman v Superman' trailer is a bit bland
Posted Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 4:27 PM Central
by John Couture
It's becoming increasingly obvious that DC is just not on the same level as Marvel when it comes to this whole movie making thing. There, I said it and I certainly didn't bury the lede.
No matter what side of the great comic debate you find yourself on, there's very little argument when it comes to Marvel and their implementation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Quite frankly, they have knocked it out of the park and it's not even close. It's gotten to the point now that DC (and other properties) are playing catch up by trying to emulate Marvel and creating an MCU of their own.
2016 is shaping up to be a critical year when it comes to DC and their efforts to create a shared universe on the big screen. Not only will several heroes team up in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but Ben Affleck will bring his Batman to Suicide Squad.
So far, everything has looked great in regards to Suicide Squad and the early trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were promising. But then, the latest trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice debuted today.
It's curious that this trailer was seemingly rushed after last week's surprise debut of the first trailer for Captain America: Civil War. It's further curious that both of these trailers debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live. What's that old saying? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?
The problem is that this trailer just isn't that good. This isn't the comparison that Warner Bros. wants to hear, but when I watched it, I immediately thought of Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In other words, the film looked silly and I wasn't moved to go see it at all. Uh-oh.
I have three major issues with this trailer. The first is Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. To me, it appears that he's trying to channel Heath Ledger's Joker and it just comes off as bizarre. Forget for a moment the crazy hair, Lex Luthor just comes off as a common bad guy. He is certainly not a true adversary for either superhero.
The second issue I had with the trailer is the score. I can only hope that this is temp score for the trailer and is not the final music that will be in the movie. It just seems childish and really undercuts the tone of the events in the film. In many ways, it seems like it is a fan-made score for the trailer.
Finally, and perhaps most troubling for me is Doomsday. I get it, you want to distance yourself from the realism that Christopher Nolan brought to his Batman movies, but I think they went too far. To me, Doomsday looked silly and ridiculous, an abomination of CGI that only underscores that the film is more fake than real.
If you look back at all of the comic book movies that failed, the one common thread seems to be the wacky, over-the-top CG villains. This trailer is such a departure from the carefully planned release of footage from the film that I'm even more sold that it was a quick, rushed response to the Captain America: Civil War trailer.
The good news is that there is still plenty of time between now and March 25 for Warner Bros. to right the ship. The bad news is that there is going to be a lot going on between now and then, so their attempts might fall on distracted eyeballs.