[Ed. note: Over the weekend, our own Daniel José Older found himself on a plane with nothing to do but watch Batman v Superman (which is now available digitally and will be released on blu-ray in two weeks). His tweet thoughts have been collected below. Enjoy.]
#BatmanvSuperman really was dumb as shit tho. For me not to enjoy a movie on a plane it has to be an utter waste of time.
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
And if we have to sit thru Bruce Wayne's parents getting murked ONE MORE GODDAMMIT TIME 😒😒😒
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
Also that initial incident with Supes and the buildings blowing up was super unclear but obv key to the plot. Lazy ass storytelling thru out
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
#BatmanvSuperman pic.twitter.com/PQyHTZW8a3
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
"There's a huge impossible to kill monster and a 5 ft spear that can kill him QUICK LURE THE MONSTER TO THE SPEAR!"
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
But
"TIME IS RUNNIN OUT"
But we have a guy that can travel there and back in a half second with the wee spear
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
"NEVERMIND THOSE DETAILS LURE THE UNKILLABLE MONSTER"
Me watching #BatmanvSuperman pic.twitter.com/EQG1epyuyH
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
Watched #BatmanvSuperman like pic.twitter.com/Xeftf2nXDR
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
bruce wayne the only orphan whose parents death i have ceased entirely to give a fuck about
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 2, 2016
OH one more thing on #BatmanvSuperman: how (THE FUCK) are you gonna mess up the Prometheus myth? Shit aint even obscure.
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 3, 2016
Homeboy said Prometheus caught a thunderbolt when the dude is famous for being tied to a mountain and having his guts chewed out by birds
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 3, 2016
#BatmanvSuperman pic.twitter.com/CiPrC2UlWS
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 3, 2016
Fuck ya origin story
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 3, 2016
This gif legit has more of a plot than #BatmanvSuperman and better acting pic.twitter.com/yRdiw79huy
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 3, 2016
I know I spent an entire 24 hrs roasting #BatmanVSuperman the other day (see thread) but I got some thought-type thoughts on my mind too...
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
Essentially: it really struck me how both #BatmanvSuperman and #CivilWar made the pretense of complicating the perfect hero narrative...
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
And both did it by killing off nameless Africans --the performative destruction of Black humanity, now in the service of "moral complexity"
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
Caring about innocent life has always been a pretty hilarious and surface value in super-stories...
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
Mad lives are lost to save one usually white and female one, entire cities leveled and unmourned in order to stop a relatively tame threat
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
So it's interesting that SUDDENLY these narratives care enough about previously easily discarded Black lives to have senate hearings on them
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
All this in the year of @WritersofColour's #PredatoryPeacekeepers campaign against mass UN sexual assaults https://t.co/5HFuITb0Rc
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
#PredatoryPeacekeepers are of course nothing new. Here they are being reported on for the same shit 10 years ago https://t.co/fZsw4Wz9hQ
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
And needless to say it's been going on since the break of dawn with this shit...
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
And movies are our modern mythology, and our myths are mechanisms for making sense of this mess...
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
So when two megablockbusters decide to pay lipservice to the true disregard for life that those meant to protect life often have...
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
how they handle it says a lot about where we're at. And where we at? Well. In #BatmanvSuperman the issue is forgotten entirely. Just gone.
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
It's one of many examples of shit writing, but also telling that they felt like raising the issue then discarding it without a mere mention
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
In #CivilWar tho, the question of regulating heroes becomes the central dividing line causing the titular rift. It's The Problem.
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
And while the movie feints like it'll say something worthwhile about it, ultimately, the pro-regulation camp is proven wildly out of touch
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
And that out of touchness damn near causes the downfall of like, society as we know it and the world, so...there's your nuance.
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
"Here your little moral complexity," the movie seems to be saying. "Now get in line. Superheroes (AKA Peacekeepers) are beyond reproach!"
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) July 4, 2016
to each their own. i totally disagree. LOVE THE FILM!
Good piece except for the mythology snark. Prometheus was tied to a mountain as punishment for stealing fire from heaven and giving it to mankind. In one version of the story he indeed got it by taking a spark from one of Zeus’s thunderbolts.
The plot of this movie, especially in the director’s cut, could only be more clear if it held your hand, honestly. It’s a shame because the racial politics of this movie really need the critiquing, but it’s distracting when the first complaint is that the director spends a minute or two on one of the lead character’s origin stories. Thanks for your astute thoughts on the racism in our current superhero movies, though.
To each their own but I enjoyed the movie. These heroes live in a world that tempts them to snap.
I hated Batman v Superman even though part of it was filmed in Detroit (my hometown.) So, you get no argument from me. The stuff Batman v. Superman was trying to do got accomplished by Captain America: Civil War and even that wasn’t the greatest movie, but it totally eclipsed B v S. (yeah look at those initials…BULL v SH*T!)
P.S.
I did enjoy seeing Jason Momoa as Aquaman though, for a brief second or three.
The only, only redeeming quality of BvS was Gal Gadot’s WW debut. The rest of the movie was utter crap.