Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

By: Robert Murphy

It is one of the oldest superhero debates in the books, who would win in a fight? Whether it be Iron Man versus Captain America, Wolverine versus Deadpool, the list goes on and on. But perhaps the first and most time tested question has to be, if Batman and Superman were to ever be at odds with one another then who would win? Would Batman's witts and gadgets prevail? Or would Superman's incredible strength and raw power prove too much for the Dark Knight. Man versus God. It's the name of the game here and I couldn't wait to see who would come out on top.

Before we can have the fight however we must get to know our two contestants and while our new Superman (Henry Cavill) has already received a movie of his own, our new Batman (Ben Affleck) has not. So, much of the first half of Batman v Superman serves as an introduction to everything that spurred Bruce Wayne to becoming a capped hero and why he has such a deep hatred for Earth's greatest defender. The movie itself does a good enough job of making viewers see why for themselves as it opens on the destruction caused during Superman and General Zod in the Superman movie. Bruce Wayne lost countless people in the chaos and while he did his best to help those that were caught in the destruction, there were still those who hated the son of krypton for what he did. 

But, Ben Affleck's Batman isn't centered around just an angry man looking to teach Superman a lesson about the damage he caused, no he has actually had a tough twenty years of defending Gotham from bad guys and terrifying foes. While audiences don't get to meet any of the big name bad guys (i.e Joker and the rest) we do see signs of the damage they caused. Batman keeps a memorial to a former Robin in his Batcave with graffiti written all over it and it appears to be very obviously left by his most infamous enemy The Joker. You can see all of this wane on his character throughout the movie and he struggles with all the damage that has been done by his enemies and years of fighting crime. Perhaps it is why he has taken a much darker approach in taking out bad guys by killing them and even going so far as branding them before going to prison, a procedure that also leads to their eventual deaths as well. 

This is something that Superman will not stand for any of this however as right from the get go his alter ego is dead set on writing a story about the Batman vigilante while his buff tights wearing counterpart aims to put a stop to him by mild force. It's pretty laughable to be honest as Superman tries to make Batman stop what he has been doing for years without anyone else questioning his motives. Especially since the movie focuses greatly on how Superman is such a deadly force, what if he goes off the handle one day? Who could stop someone like Superman if it came down to it? Sure, we all know Superman is a good guy but with power like that you don't need to wonder why people would be scared of him swooping down and taking over. 

Henry Cavill's portrayal succeeds in this department as being the soft eyed optimist who would like to see the best in the world and wants to protect Earth and it's people. It's everywhere else that I feel Superman has his shortcomings. Against Batman and Bruce Wayne on screen Superman and Clark Kent feel over shadowed. It's almost like the movie should be a Batman movie with characters from his story and not characters from Superman's like Lois Lane (Amy Adams) filling in the spare screen time which gets shoehorned in to give her character something to admits all the bluster and bravado being thrown around. 

That's where Batman v Superman has it's downfall as all the other nitty gritty nonsense leading up to the climactic conclusion for the story leads viewers down some boring roads. Lois Lane struggles to find out who set Superman up during an early scene in Africa involving some shady warlord. She seeks back channel contacts and tries to prove her lover's innocence and you're all left there wondering why does it even matter. The biggest source for controversy hit when Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) makes his way onto the stage. The character is a walking talking cliche and truly strides away from the character audiences would be expecting. He constantly is spouting off about this philosophy or that and when he stands before Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent he is so giddy that it seemed like he already knew the big secret in the room before everyone else did. He sticks out like a sore thumb with his manic behavior and clearly isn't driven by the same egotistical tendencies that former Lex's have before him. 

As for the big showstopper Doomsday, the creatures overall introduction into the story was an interesting one to say the least, it was one of the few moments where Lex wasn't all over the place as he learns ancient kryptonian knowledge and crafts his plan to take down Superman. Once on screen however Doomsday looks like a rip off of the new Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles character model with all the bad CGI that comes with it. There was a whole disconnect between the action and the characters reactions on screen during these final moments. It felt like Affleck, Cavill and the addition of Gadot were in a whole other world only entering into the action to dash across the screen and then go back to talking and reacting to one another. There was a fake atmosphere to the situation and it leaves much to be desired. 

Now with the introduction of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, I felt that she played her role well and was used with the correct touch during the entire story. Wonder Woman was never meant to be a big addition to everything that was happening during the story and yet her character is still an important one to the story down the road so her presence was a vital one. Gadot does this perfectly as she mainly deals with Bruce Wayne and her story gradually becomes more realized through their interactions and his investigative know-how. Her incorporation also led to an interesting introduction to the rest of the Justice League and rather than wasting more movie time on it it becomes addressed and then moved on from. Boom boom, simple as that. It built on the DC universe lore to come and then got right back to the matters at hand with the movie and I was thankful for that. 

Unfortunately, Batman v Superman does not deliver on all the hype surrounding it as the two most iconic DC superheroes go head to head and eventually formed an alliance like no other in universe. Ben Affleck's Batman was a surprise hit and everything he did on screen was top notch as he plays the brilliant detective that is Batman and the swarvy playboy that is Bruce Wayne. Even the story had a solid idea going for it as it weighed in on heavy controversy of how absolute power can be dangerous and others but it doesn't have the follow through to pull it all off. And while I liked the light touch that was used to introduce Wonder Woman and the rest of the DC cast into the story, there was just no raw excitement when it got there. The same could be said for most of the proceedings here as well.

Good:

- Ben Affleck as Batman

- Cavill, Gadot and Affleck had great symmetry together

- Hard hitting themes and controversies involving superheroes

Bad:

- Doomsday was aptly named here

- Where was the fun? Where was the excitement?

- Side characters like Amy Adams were dull

- Jesse Eisenberg's Luthor

Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10

American Ultra

By: Robert Murphy

The years have been kind to stoner movies, they've become less of a looked down upon genre and have made their way into the main stream media in recent years as marijuana itself has become less of a hot button issue. Spy movies however have always been a part of the world and have their own messy history, the James Bond films being among my favorites where others have proven to just be nonsensical adrenaline pieces. But, what would happen if you tried to combine the high stakes action of a spy movie with the mellow humor of a stoner flick? Well, the results would be something like American Ultra.

I am in no way opposed to mash ups as I've learned that they can be quite funny but they can be a tricky thing to pull off when you're trying to find a good balance for both of the genres you're putting together. When it comes to a stoner/highly tuned killing machine there is no one better than Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) who was formerly a highly skilled agent for a secret CIA project. Sadly, this portion of his life was completely wiped from his memory when the project ultimately ended and he was moved to a small town in West Virginia to live out the rest of his life in peace. Or relative peace anyways as Mike isn't exactly what you would call well adjusted since he left the CIA and he seems to proceed to screw up in most every aspect of his life except for his ideas for a cartoon series and with his girlfriend.

Not many people have the same on screen chemistry that Mike and his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) had throughout the entirety of American Ultra. I was legitimately thrown off by this at first as it wasn't something I had expected to end up being so perfect but for some reason the two go great together. Phoebe and Mike have a rocky start at the beginning when one of his panic attacks prevents them from going on an exotic trip to Hawaii but for the rest of the movie they're a match made in heaven. The one particularly stoner moment in the movie where Mike goes on a drug addled rant about a car and a tree, ends up leading to a very romantic part for the story later on and furthered my wanting for the two to make it through to the end. 

Things go completely wrong though when the new boss of the program Mike was in decides that he is too big of a risk to be left alive. Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) proceeds to go off on an unapproved mission to take him out and prove that his new program is far superior to the one Mike was a part of at the same time. While this is somewhat understandable, the reasoning behind Yates going so entirely rogue doesn't make a lot of sense or the lengths he goes to in order to do it. Massive quarantine tents, spy drones and heavy amounts of man power are all used just to take out one man and in the end I don't think it would have gotten him too far in the CIA as he'd hoped. Topher Grace presents a sub par showing for a movie that shouldn't require too much to pull off. Half the time he's a sarcastic jerk and the other half he is a sleazy little worm trying to climb the corporate ladder but he never presents the back bone or the charm that the role required. 

This whole scenario does lead to one of the best parts of the film and that is the action scenes. Thanks to his former boss, Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton), Mike ends up getting activated so he can defend himself against all that Yates throws at him. She also doesn't fit her role entirely too well and spends half the time as a rogue agent trying to take down Yates rather than just going to her superiors to put a stop to his madness. Whatever the case, the action is top notch for many reasons but the funniest or rather most epic parts were when Mike was using everything and anything to take down the bad guys. Mike wasn't a super genius throughout the film he was just high skilled and very deadly so anything and everything became a weapon to him. Dust pans, spoons, you name it and he used it to get the job done. The entire scene involving a grocery store was particularly excellent as Mike made his way through the store, grabbing this or that and killing everything in his path.

Now, the factor of ill fitted roles however prevented me from thoroughly enjoying my "high" from American Ultra. On top of Topher Grace and Connie Britton there were a few other odd ball roles that were filled by normally great actors and when I say odd ball I mean real odd balls. Laugher (Walton Goggins) is a deranged agent that is part of Yates' new team of trained killers and warrens most of the screen time but his character was an insanely bizarre one. One second he's a sociopath and the next he's all touchy feely, it made no sense but oddly enough Goggins portrayal made me love the character and wish that he were the main bad guy in place of Yates. Then there is Mike's drug dealer Rose (John Leguizamo) who is one part pumped up wanna be player and one part paranoid nut job which sounds perfect for this sort of movie but it's really not. Rose should be a fun character but Leguizamo never plays him in the right way to make him a lovable nut job as it should be.

In the end, American Ultra has a good first hit but then you remember that it's mostly just ditch weed. Getting tired of my stoner puns? Me too, they're almost done. The films attempt to mash together heavy based action with stoner after tones is mainly successful do to excellent acting on the part of the two main co-stars, Eisenberg and Stewart. Everything else just doesn't hold together unfortunately and that's a shame because you want that strong stuff to keep you satisfied. Last one, promise. 

Good:

- Eisenberg and Stewart's on screen chemistry

- Action scenes are both exhilarating and oddly funny

Bad:

- Topher Grace as Yates among other ill fitting roles

- Strong build up but ultimately falls apart by the end

Scully Rating: 4.5 out of 10