DC Fans Are Being Held Hostage

DC Fans are being held hostage. It’s a sad state of affairs, to be sure, but it’s happening, and it’s very real. Should we be concerned? Yes. Definitely. Is there a way out? Not that I can see. Who is perpetrating this massive crime? The answer, unfortunately, is DC Fans.

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was released this past weekend to huge sales numbers, abysmal critical reception, and massive online controversy. The sales numbers were to be expected. This is the title that is going to kick off the DC Extended Universe of films, which will include many icons that fans have been waiting to see on The Big Screen for years, if not decades. What wasn’t expected, at least universally, was the failure to impress movie critics. The terrible reviews came early, came fast, and came hard. Film critics virtually unanimously ripped the film to shreds. So much so that the official twitter account for the movie resorted to quoting small twitter accounts for their “AWESOME” headline quotes. Fans, however, reacted differently.

I’ve seen dozens of tweets, posts, and articles, written by fans who are not film critics, about how perfect the movie is. Let me just say, it isn’t. There are flaws in this movie. Most of the flaws are cinematographic: poor editing, lack of establishing shots, weird cutaways, and etcetera. There were also plenty of narrative flaws. At one point, Superman calls Batman, “Bruce.” For someone like me, who knows Superman can use his x-ray vision to learn Batman’s identity, this is no mystery. What is a mystery is why Zack Snyder didn’t feel the need to establish that with a 2-second shot??? Same thing with Lex Luthor; how did he learn Superman’s identity? Not that it would have been hard, Supes doesn’t use much of a disguise, but why not establish it?

This is the big question for me: WHY were some of these choices made? A few simple changes could have made the film far better narratively and cinematographically. The biggest problem now, though, is you’ve fallen into the “us vs. them” trap. You need this movie to be great so badly, that you’re willing to overlook the glaringly obvious to have something to put up against the MCU powerhouse right now. Legions of fans online have accused reviewers of, “being in Disney’s pocket,” and other nonsense. Kevin Smith, DC’s biggest cheerleader, has been turned on by the hordes of DC Fans for daring to say the movie lacked heart. Unfortunately for the fans, the ones being hurt the most by these attacks are the fans themselves.

You.

Deserved.

Better.

You deserved a better movie than what you got. The characters deserved better writing and better production than what they got. The performances by the cast, which were actually great, deserved better from the crew and post-production staffs. DC Fans: Don’t hate the reviewers for disliking the movie. Hate Warner Brothers for giving you a sub-par film when you deserved something amazing. You deserved better. Don’t look at this Jar of Piss of a film and call it Granny’s Sweet Tea. The movie isn’t perfect. It’s not the piece of trash that many have called it, either, but it isn’t perfect. It could have been better. It should have been better. You deserved better. So stop attacking the critics for daring to say it wasn’t perfect, and demand something better.