Trailer Hitch

By BOP Staff

July 27, 2015

What I really want to know is... why did you stay with Amazing Amy?

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Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice

Ben Gruchow: I like that they depict a plausible reason for Batman to go head-to-head with Superman, and that it involves what looks like an implicit acknowledgment of the hour of destruction porn that ended Man of Steel, and the consequences of it. This trailer is an improvement over the teaser from April, and Dawn of Justice is going to be a gigantic hit.

Having said that, it looks powerfully boring. It's just so processed: everything (and I do mean everything) in the trailer has the plasticky sheen of vigorous digital intermediate all over it, and each shot looks arranged and planned and augmented for maximum shininess. There's no shot that isn't color corrected, greenscreened, and CGI'd to within an inch of its life...and it looks like Snyder's picking up where Michael Bay left off as far as making sure that everything is alternating shades of teal and orange. After Christopher Nolan used his considerable influence to push practical effects, film, and IMAX (instead of CGI, digital, and 3D) and in the process creating some of the most exciting and grand passages of any comic-book adaptation, it's disheartening to see the next big iteration of the character discard most of it. I can see some of this not being an issue by the time the movie's done in post and the visuals have been worked on more, but this already resembles Snyder's visual aesthetic on Man of Steel so closely that I don't really see that being the case.

Max Braden: I think I'm still firmly in the Marvel camp. Once again this DC project looks dark, dreary, and depressing. I do think Cavill looks better in this movie than in the Man of Steel, and I might prefer him to Affleck's Batman in the trailer. But either way, if you're going to do a face off, I want to see Iron Man and Hulk smash each other up, not a battle of sour grapes between Batman and Superman.




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Edwin Davies: It looks pretty drab and bleak, which is to be expected given what Snyder did with Man of Steel, but there are a couple of things in there that make me a little more interested than I was beforehand. Affleck seems like he's got the anguish down well, the hints at a larger universe are tantalizing, and it seems to be directly engaging with the much criticized destruction at the end of the previous film (though the headline saying "Dozens killed" is hilarious). The thing that sticks out to me is Jesse Eisenberg, who seems to be the only one having any fun, and suggests that they are going back to the tried and true formula of having Luthor be a kind of impish figure who enjoys lobbing grenades into whatever situation Superman finds himself in. If nothing else, it promises that he'll make some part of the film enjoyable.

Ben Gruchow: I totally missed that "Dozens Killed" bit the first time around.

So much teal and orange. Drab and bleak are appropriate terms; "overwrought" might be another. The trailers for The Dark Knight Rises didn't have this volume of choral refrains and slow motion; to me, DC's new universe hasn't come close to earning the "epic" feel this trailer is trying to create.


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