Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Comic-Con Trailer Review

At San Diego Comic-Con, a new trailer for the upcoming superhero epic Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released. And it was awesome. The original teaser trailer angered some fans with its lack of overt plot details and general vagueness. This latest trailer dispels any and all issues of the first (which I happened to love) with an action-packed preview that has me unbelievably excited to see this movie. This trailer cemented this film as my most anticipated movie that has been announced. Yep, more than Star Wars.

Batman always has been and always will be my favorite superhero, and probably my favorite fictional character of any medium. As a result, any movie that has the character in it has my undivided anticipation. I'm a big fan of some of the Batman films that have been released so far, most especially Tim Burton's 1989 film, and of course Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. However, I'm looking for Batman v Superman to give us an interpretation of the character that encapsulates all the aspects of the character that I and many others have come to love: a mixture of the aforementioned versions. The mysticism and general comic book-ness of Tim Burton's films combined with the believability and grittiness of The Dark Knight trilogy.

I'd like to spend the rest of this review talking about the trailer itself. There is plenty of great stuff in it, but I'm going to pinpoint the aspects of it that stood out to me the most. Firstly, there was more of Ben Affleck here. I'd say he was, for the most part, the star of the trailer. We get to see where he was during Superman's battle with Zod at the end of Man of Steel, and later see that Wayne Tower collapsed amidst all the chaos. Based on the fact that Bruce Wayne was not suited up as Batman during the aforementioned fight between Zod and Superman, I believe that he had taken some time off as Batman for one reason or another. This is just speculation, but I do think that he had been taking a break from his crime fighting duties and then picked them back up once Superman shows up. This is just a theory.

We also get more of the debate regarding Superman. The world is up in arms about whether he is a hero or a menace. I am very glad that the writers chose to take this route with the narrative. There was destruction on a massive scale at the end of Man of Steel. I thought it would have been very unrealistic if the city of Metropolis, and the world as a whole, didn't take steps to ensure Superman be held at least partially responsible for the carnage. That's simply solid, logical writing. I'm also very much looking forward to Bruce Wayne's motivation for going after Superman. It's something that the character I grew up loving would do.

I also enjoyed the variations in tone compared to the last trailer. The teaser primarily dealt with dark blues and grays with very little light or natural colors. This had DC haters rolling their eyes for weeks. This latest trailer gives us some of the other shades in the film's color palette with a handful of day scenes and some natural oranges and browns. I'm liking what I'm seeing in terms of the way the film looks. It looks appropriately similar to The Dark Knight Returns, from which the movie has taken inspiration.

Some other notable parts of the trailer that I liked were some brief looks at Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and Holly Hunter as a US Senator. I actually really like how Irons looks. He's not dressed in Alfred's traditional attire; it's more of a modern style. I like that they're trying something different. I wasn't expecting to see any of Wonder Woman in any of the trailers, but here she is. She's only in it for a couple brief shots, so I don't have much to say. I will just reiterate the fact that she looks the part. I'm intrigued by Hunter's character, who seems to question Superman's role in the world.

The one thing that I'm not sold on is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I think that Eisenberg is a phenomenal actor. His turn as Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's The Social Network is one of my personal favorite performances of all-time. However, Luthor and Zuckerberg are extremely different characters. While in The Social Network he played a nerdy genius who didn't fit in with the people around him and clashed with them as a result, Luthor is someone that is very charismatic and charming to the public, while cunning and devious behind closed doors. As it stands right now, I'm not sure if Eisenberg is capable of playing that character. Based on the trailer, he looks like he's doing more of his Zuckerberg bit, which would fit with a villain like the Riddler, but not Lex Luthor. I've been surprised by villain performances before (one need only look to Heath Ledger's Joker), but I have to say, I'm a little concerned about him at this point.

All in all, this was an exciting trailer that showcased some really intriguing aspects of the film that make me want to see it even more than I did before. Solely based off of the two trailers for this film, it looks as though DC may have regained its footing after the shaky start to their cinematic universe that was Man of Steel. It certainly looks visually stunning and packed with thrilling action. That's a given with Zack Snyder. His storytelling is something that people have questioned over the years, though, and I'm hoping he finally is able to deftly tell an epic superhero tale on a massive scale. Oh, and the battle between Superman and Batman is sure to go down in history as one of the most legendary fight scenes ever filmed.