When I first saw the length for this trailer, I got pretty worried. 3:39? Kind of long. Will they give away too much? It’s the fastest 3:39 you will ever see. This will be one of the hardest trailers I’ve ever broken down. There is so much to love, and so much to digest. The first thing I’ll say is this though – kudos to Zack Snyder and Warner Brothers for not submitting to the whiney complaints of Man of Steel. They are trusting their story, and trusting their sensibilities. This is a serious “we aren’t holding anything back” type of movie. You aren’t getting jokes, and you aren’t getting “let’s just have fun!” The two trailers so far have been very clear about this. You’re either on board, or not. The word epic is thrown around for every movie trailer ever made, but this truly is epic in every sense of the word. The best way for me to break this bad boy down is to do it by characters.
SUPERMAN
Even for those who didn’t love Man of Steel, nobody complained about Henry Cavill’s performance. He’s completely in the zone in this trailer. The facial expressions say it all. He feels the responsibility he has over the world, but clearly the guilt is there from what happened in Metropolis. I’m convinced this movie will make people appreciate Man of Steel much more, as the crux of this story revolves around those events. He wants to inspire hope in the world where there are many who hate him. This expands on the themes we dealt with in Man of Steel, but now multiplied even further. I can’t wait.
In the Man of Steel trailer, we had the controversial Jonathan Kent line about maybe letting the kids on the bus die. Snyder and crew are steadfast, giving us another controversial line from Martha Kent:
“People hate what they don’t understand. Be their hero, Clark. Be their angel. Be their monument. Be anything they need you to be. Or be none of it. You don’t owe this world a thing. You never did.”
Wow. I’m sure that won’t piss anybody off. I love it. LOVE IT! This isn’t a one-dimensional character who’s just going to say “Yay, be Superman! Save the world!” These are complicated characters who react and think like real human beings. I love that Martha is pissed that her son is being blamed for everything. All this makes Superman an actual character, and not just a boring savior who lifts cats out of trees.
BATMAN
It’s unlikely anything will ever top what the Dark Knight Trilogy did. Christian Bale will always be my definitive Batman. But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Ben Affleck will be the most terrifying Batman we’ve ever seen. Get ready for a jaded, bitter, cold, angry son of a bitch. It’s a jacked up vigilante who’s ready to punch anything in his path. In the brief fight scenes we see in this trailer, I got chills. We’ve never seen him be this brutal.
As Bruce Wayne, Affleck was also interesting. I love the idea he was present during the Metropolis attack, setting up a specific reason why he has a vendetta against Superman. I also love Alfred’s line of “He is not our enemy,” playing Bruce Wayne’s moral compass, as he should. While we’ll get the physical confrontation between these guys, I have no doubt their philosophical differences will play a key role in the film as well. I can’t wait to see what Affleck does with this character.
WONDER WOMAN
We don’t see much, but what we saw was damn impressive. It’s still too early to evaluate Gal Gadot’s performance, but the physicality and intensity was certainly there. Her one big moment was basically causing a Thor-esque shock wave that was pretty damn cool. The one sequence in the trailer where we start from Wonder Woman with sword and shield, to Superman flying with heat vision, to Batman bouncing off a wall and grappling was bone chilling. If you’re a DC fan, it doesn’t get much better than that.
LEX LUTHOR
Aside from Batman, Luthor may have been my favorite element to this whole trailer. When Jesse Eisenberg was first announced, I immediately thought it was inspired casting. He has this calm, scary sadistic side already in place. His final moments in the trailer where he chants “The red capes are coming. The red capes are coming,” as he holds his wine glass is so calculated and perfectly delivered, that it tells me right off the bat this will be the best on screen Lex Luthor we’ve ever seen. Apologies to Kevin Spacey. I’m also intrigued by this alliance with Holly Hunter’s character, a Senator who beautifully opens the trailer and sets up the somber tone.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This trailer will stick with me for a while, it was masterfully done. It doesn’t get much better then that last shot of Superman ripping the top of the batmobile off as the two most iconic superheroes stand face-to-face ready to rip each other to shreds. If you’re not on board with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice after this trailer, I don’t know what to tell you. March 25th, 2016 feels like it’s ten years away.
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