To like or dislike: Batman v Superman or Karan Arjun?

Pakistani industry seems undecided on the latest Zack Snyder offering

KARACHI:

Although expected to be one of the most anticipated releases of the year, the reviews of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice are flailing on both sides of the spectrum. While it was an understood fact that the biting criticism would never be enough of a kryptonite to halt cinemagoers from flocking to local theatres to catch the caped crusaders in action, the film has, by and large, received a mixed response from local artistes.

Having waited for the action-movie for the best part of three years, music video director, Sohail Javed described the film as one of the most “painful two and a half hours of his life”. Javed, who has been a keen follower of Snyder’s work, remarked how the director had failed to do justice to the title, let alone, the movie itself. “It is titled Batman v Superman and you would go in there expecting an iconic battle sequence for the ages but what you get in return is something more along the lines of Karan Arjun. Batman is just hiding behind stones throughout the fight,” proclaims Javed, who is also the director of upcoming Pakistani film, Punjabi Wedding Thriller. “I think [Zack] Snyder was just overwhelmed following up Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga.”





The director of Jalaibee, Yasir Jaswal, posted a lengthy note on his Facebook highlighting the pros and cons of the second film in the DC Extended Universe. “Captain America: Civil War is so winning the versus battle this year. The trailers for that probably had more heart than all the 2 hours and 30 minutes of this [Batman v Superman],” stated Jaswal. Concurring with Javed’s statement too, was musician Abbas Ali Khan. “Zack Snyder got confused between Lollywood and Hollywood. They could have easily cast Shah Rukh Khan as Lex,” said Khan.

Where Ben Affleck has copped a lot of heat for his portrayal of the billionaire superhero, Batman, Jaswal sang praises for the actor. Deeming Batman and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) as the highlights of the movie, Jaswal added “Affleck shines as both the weary, older Bruce [Wayne] and the new intimidating and violent Batman — the craziest Batman ever and a solid fit for comic book fans.”



Throughout his illustrious career as a film-maker, Snyder’s panache for visuals has been a hallmark feature of his craft. Whether it is his use of ultra slow motion in 300 or the microscopic levels of attention to detail in Sucker Punch, he is part of the conveyor belt of the new wave of film-makers who use Computer Generated Images (CGI) to add an extra layer to their story. Lamenting how Snyder may have fallen a bit short on the CGI front, multi-instrumentalist and video producer Zohaib Kazi, made another observation that unlike Batman who was anchoring the movie, Superman appeared more as an afterthought. “Batman seemed to be superior to Superman (both physically and mentally). Even characters like Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) lacked motivation making it seem that he just wanted to pit Batman against Superman.”



Having released the graphic novel, Ismail Ka Urdu Sheher, a few months ago, Kazi was not all taken aback by the film. Unlike his fellow artists, Kazi felt the movie did well to stay true to its source material. Rating the film as a “seven out of ten”, he identified the VFX, character development and philosophy as the major shortcomings of the film. “You usually expect a little bit of philosophy in Batman movies such as Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy or other DC Comics.”



DC and Warner Bros unlike their direct-competitors, Marvel, have been a little late to adapt to the multi-universe concept. Already playing catch up to The Avengers, Warner Bros has fast-tracked the development on the first instalment of Justice League of America (JLA) which is slated to hit cinema screens in 2017. The dark and gritty tone of Batman v Superman has already made it the perfect foil to the Marvel Studio movies audiences had become used to. Reflecting on this, musician Shahab Qamar stated, “Batman v Superman is not your typical Marvel superhero movie where characters exchange cheesy jokes every two minutes in between a serious crisis.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th,  2016.

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