Spoilers! Obviously.
Right off the bat (see what I did there?) I’m going to say that I did not enjoy BVS and thought it was full of missed opportunities. Don’t worry! I’m not going to repeat what everyone else on the interweb has been saying for the last few days. In fact I’m going to try and explain some thoughts I had on what narrative decisions in the film mean for the future of this franchise.
It was clear in the film that Zack Snyder wanted to sow the seeds of the Justice League and hint at future characters and storylines that other films can be based on. Of course all of these teases weren’t always effective (or subtle... I mean what was that flash cameo about?). Of course they are necessary to build a larger universe hence the subtitle Dawn of Justice, But some decisions just seemed to be made with no foresight whatsoever. Somehow BVS managed with one hand to be too concerned with setting up so many future storylines while on the other hand seriously limiting the future possibilities for this DCEU or whatever it’s called.
In one of the first scenes an unnamed undercover CIA agent is killed and we only find out in the credits that it was in-fact Jimmy Olsen a character who has a close relationship with superman and Lois Lane in the comics. The explanation for this was that Snyder “didn’t have room” for him, this is an odd decision because it wasn’t as if it shocked the audience as I’m certain that no one in the theatre even knew who that was supposed to be, It just seems a huge waste. Just because Snyder believes that there isn’t room for him what’s to say that another director for future films may think the same. This just seems to be a total lack of foresight on his behalf and a blatant lack of consideration for future directors on his part. if he did it for dramatic purposes then that would have been a pretty powerful and shocking death (especially as the initial plan was to have a big actor play him and kill him off Game of Thrones style) but as the audience didn’t even know for sure who the character was it seems totally unnecessary and bizarre.
Another narrative issue is that Lex Luther is arrested in the end, it made sense that the character that was presented would be caught but it seems like another waste of a character which is pivotal to the superman universe that has so many great stories in the comics. Lex Luther is someone that is constantly a thorn in Superman’s and the Justice League’s side. While It’s possible that this Luther may be swapped out as it's made clear that he is in-fact Lex Luther Jr. I would imagine that this could happen due to the damning response from fans and critics alike about Eisenberg’s portrayal. But yet again (and yes I’m going to use that word again) a waste!
Finally the death of Clark Kent, not Superman. It is in-fact his alter ego I’m more concerned for. How does he come back? If so does he walk into the daily planet after months of being dead and go back to his job like nothing has happened? I’m assuming that he will use another identity but surely that will confuse someone who hasn’t seen this film and is confused why superman is now called Joe Dangercock. This again just confuses the audience and restricts future directors and writers who would have liked to play with the idea of Superman also working in the media, a job that superman wanted to “keep his ear to the ground”.
It just seems like Warner Brothers doesn’t have a man in charge like Marvel does who takes care to ensure that the wider universe is set up and maintained. If Zack Snyder had someone like Kevin Feige to keep on a leash then the film universe may have more narrative options because artistically he is a very good director he just cannot write a coherent story to save his life isn’t a consistently good storyteller. Snyder has shown with some of the decisions in this film that he hasn’t considered what they could mean for future movies and has written future directors into corners.
I’m really interested to hear people’s views on this so, feel free too comment. Even if its abuse, I could use a laugh.
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