Oddly enough, the same thought process is going through the heads of the creators of Man of Steel 2. Superman is not an interesting character. He’s not deep or complex, and he’s invincible which means that he’s not relatable for the audience. Going back, I know that I liked Man of Steel, despite its issues, some of them were pretty big, but my liking for it mainly goes for the backstory and the lore. I liked all of the stuff about Krypton, I liked the story behind Jor-El and his relationship with General Zod as well as Zod’s rebellion. If the entire movie was on Krypton and it ended with Kal-El being sent to Earth, I would have been okay with that.It's the mythology that is interesting. Superman himself is not that interesting. And to compensate, the oh so wise Snyder has decided to shoe-horn the caped crusader and now Wonder Woman apparently into the sequel as well as use the most overused villain in comic book history: Lex Luthor. Don’t get me wrong, I think Lex Luthor is badass, but is he really the best villain to throw punches at the Man of Steel? Isn’t there a robot called Brainiac or another villain called Dark Side? Why can’t he fight a villain named Doomsday? Are none of them more interesting than a bald guy with a green rock and a robot suit? Just saying, you can get creative here guys. And by creative, I don’t mean turning Lex into a skinhead who somehow became a self-made billionaire at 18. Like I said, it's the mythology surrounding the character that is interesting and when you have an established universe full of threats from other worlds and galaxies that can come down and cause trouble for our hero, and yet you keep making his one threat a human with no particular powers, just unlimited resources, then you are exhibiting a complete lack of imagination. Which is not even necessary because you already have the imagining part done for you. The only thing needed is a situation for them to confront each other. Keeping the threat solely on earth and coming from a human is just lazy writing. And the fact that every single adaptation keeps coming back to Lex Luthor is just sad. I could accept the argument that back in Christopher Reeves's/ Richard Donner's days, the effects to create someone like Brainiac or Doomsday weren't around yet, but today there is just no excuse. Give Batman and Superman an extraterrestrial threat that is big enough for them to set aside their differences over.
Really, my biggest problem with this movie overall is the including of Batman at all. Why do we need another Batman movie? We just had three really good Batman movies. Even if you didn't like the last movie, at least it didn't end on a Spider-Man 3 note. So really, what is the point? Are they really that desperate to get out a Justice League movie now that Avengers 2 is on the way? That's really the only reason for their rush and even then, it's not a good enough reason to just slap together the story so you can squeeze two more heroes in there. And not only are they trying to squeeze in the heroes but they are trying to cram in the side characters with them. As much as I like Jeremy Irons, I hate to see him waste his time on a role that won't have as much of an impact on the story as it probably should. And really, the casting for this movie just seems all out of whack. Either they are staying too comfortable with their choices or they are going into straight up "What the fuck?" territory. Jeremy Irons is a safe bet to play older, wiser father figures. Ben Affleck is a safe bet if you want a healthy box office. Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is where you get into What the fuck? territory. I'm still not convinced he's out of puberty yet, how is he gonna play a ruthless bussinessman (and street punk too apparently)? And before I even say it, I won't listen to the Heath Ledger/Joker argument. It's not the same because Zack Snyder seems to forget that even though he's directed a movie for him, he is still not Christopher Nolan. One of Nolan's strengths as a director and writer is that he can take actors and place them into roles that they are not typically known for. The most obvious being Heath Ledger and the Joker but that's not the only one. How about David Bowie as the inventor Nikola Tesla? Kind of a step in a different direction from Labyrinth, and his crotch didn't get its own credit in this one either. Hey, how about taking character actor Gary Oldman, initially known for playing the most psychotic villains and placing him in the role of Comissioner Gordon? Zack Snyder hasn't exhibited this knack for spotting talent and he's shooting too high for a casting like this one. Look, fans, I'm sorry and I'm seriously trying to imagine him going toe to toe with Superman and I'm still not buying it. How did we go from possibly seeing Bryan Cranston or Juaquin Phoenix in the role to having it handed to a perpetual teenager? I swear, every time I hear something new about this movie, I turn into Darth Vader at the end of Episode III
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