From a purely plot point of view, this is probably just an ordinary movie about superheroes tearing apart - discovering a big conspiracy - reconciling - teaming up to fight bosses. But the director is the controversial Zack Snyder, who can always make the most ordinary subjects different. This time, he borrowed the shell of a superhero to discuss how people face powerlessness - the powerlessness of Superman, the powerlessness of Batman, the powerlessness of Lex Luthor, the powerlessness of ordinary people. As an ordinary person without superpowers, Bruce witnessed the powerlessness of his parents' death when he was young, the powerlessness of fighting criminals for 20 years and still couldn't change the powerlessness of Gotham City's continued degeneration, the powerlessness of the young assistant being humiliated to death by the clown, etc. It made him give up the identity of Batman, and he has reached middle age, and he has become cynical in the face of this powerlessness. Bruce's sense of powerlessness mainly comes from his own heart, and the battle between Superman and General Zod is the spark that ignited Bruce. The Battle of the Met destroyed the Wayne Building at the Met, and employees he regarded as friends and family died. Even though he rushed to the Metropolis from Gotham City right away, all he could do was call and tell employees to "stay away from the windows." The audience standing in the perspective of God naturally knows the helplessness and determination of Superman when he broke General Zod's neck, but Bruce Wayne, who is an ordinary person, does not know, he only knows that two aliens were indirectly killed when they were fighting on earth. A lot of people. Facing the unshakable Superman like God, Bruce's sense of powerlessness that he had accumulated for many years broke out, and he wanted to destroy Superman as Batman to find his inner balance. He thought this would prove that Batman's existence is meaningful, and that Batman is not a beautiful lie. As Batman's butler Alfred puts it in the film: "It's changed, sir, everything has changed. Man fell from the sky, the gods threw thunder and lightning, innocent people lost their lives, that's how it started, sir. Fury , the violent, powerless feeling that can make a good man cruel."
Luthor is one of the funniest people in the movie. In the past, Luthor had the appearance of a Wall Street tycoon with a stern smile, but Jesse Eisenberg's Luthor identity changed into a Silicon Valley elite, younger, more energetic, and more creepy. In his first appearance, Luthor asks the senator for permission to import kryptonite, which can hurt Superman, and when the senator shows a little hesitation, he pulls out a bag of sugar. Then fed the senator a candy bar. The seemingly friendly sugar feeding is actually an act of treating the other party as a child, invading the other party's private space and completely gaining the other party's control. Small movements have shown the creepy "power" of this Luthor. The shadow of his father's domestic violence at a young age and the experience of living in East Germany made him have a morbid hatred for those with supreme power. Although he was wealthy at a young age, although he dared to threaten the senator, although he already had wealth and power that most people in the world did not have. But his power comes from wealth, and wealth comes from the rules of the game in human society, so when a superman who can break through the structure of human society appears, he feels an unprecedented threat, just like when he was a child, he could only silently endure domestic violence under his father's authority. Powerless to resist. As an elite class, Luther has a kind of narcissistic tendency that is unique to the elite class, and has a desire to change the world according to his own wishes, and this person... Really thinks that everyone else is so stupid that he thinks that only he has the ability to change the world. If Superman didn't show up, he'd probably be as successful as Steve Jobs. However, there is Superman, an absolute power in his eyes, a power that can manipulate the fate of human beings without restraint in his eyes, and there is someone who worships Superman like a god. As he himself said: "The most painful thing in the world is to have knowledge without power, because...because it is a contradiction!"
Luthor is probably the second most powerful man in the Metropolis - second only to Superman, and probably the second most uncomfortable seat in the world. Although Luthor hated his father, he learned a dogmatic paternalism from his father. He is like a traditional father, and "human" is his "child". He does everything in his power to help his "children" grow up the way he wants them to. And when the "child" doesn't listen to himself and turns to worship another authority, he can't take it anymore. He also began to persistently prove that "Superman is not a god, Superman is a liar, and there is no omnipotent and perfect God in the world."
The people's sense of powerlessness is the best understanding, after all, everyone is mortal. People's dislike of Superman comes from racist prejudice on the one hand, and innate jealousy of those in power on the other. But apart from fighting each other on TV and protesting on the street, who can really threaten Superman?
As Confucius said: "What does the sky say?". All the controversies and contradictions that the people have against Superman are "contradictions within the people", and Superman has never had the opportunity to express himself in public. The only time in Congress that Superman blew up Congress without saying a word to Luthor. Ignorance has led to suspicions about all of Superman's actions: Who is he? what is he doing Why does he do this? Where is he when we can't see him? The greatest fear of mankind is the unknown, and the greatest tragedy is the unknown. The director has shown his attitude towards this with a shot.
Finally, it's Superman. If the previous work "Superman: Man of Steel" was Clark Kent's process of finding his own identity, this time Clark Kent is trying to define the concept of "Superman". The public does not understand Superman, and even he himself does not understand what the concept of "Superman" really stands for. He does everything he can to help others, but there are always consequences that he didn't intend (mostly planned by Luthor). No matter what he does, there will always be people who will seize on him and criticize him. In the face of such pressure from public opinion, what can he do? Language is too powerless to face the cruel reality. The reason why Superman was put at the end is because he is the first character in the whole film to solve his sense of powerlessness. Facing the huge pressure of reality, Superman came to the snowy mountain alone to relax. And beside a tomb on the mountain, he met his dead father. "When I was a child, there was a flood. My father and I dug a canal all night and finally saved our farm. My grandma baked me a cake and praised me as a hero. But then we found out that the floodwater was blocked and washed away. The Lang family's farm. The Lang family's horses were drowned while we ate the hero cake. I often heard their cries in my sleep." What a similar situation to Superman. "Has this nightmare ever stopped?" "Yes. When I met your mother. She convinced me that there were still good things in the world. She was my whole world."
In "Superman: Man of Steel", Clark Kent, who was still in elementary school, awakened his superpowers for the first time. Super vision and super hearing gave him huge information. Little Clark, who didn't know how to control his abilities, hid in the school locker, isolating himself from the outside world. The teacher, who noticed the strangeness, called Clark's mother Martha. Little Clark complained to his mother Martha that the superpower gave him the perception that the world was too big, and his mother enlightened him "then make the world a little smaller" and the way for Superman to get out of his powerlessness is to "make the world a little smaller". ". In the decisive battle with the monster "Doomsday" that Luthor created with the body of General Zod. Disregarding the danger of kryptonite radiation to himself, Superman stabbed the kryptonite spear into Doomsday's body, and himself was pierced by Doomsday's bone spur through his chest and died. Before picking up the kryptonite spear, Superman's girlfriend, Louis, tried to stop him, but Superman was already ready to sacrifice. This is what he replied to Louis.
"This is my world." In fact, in "Superman: Man of Steel", Superman has already completed the identification process of his "earthman" identity. The important thing is the phrase "you are my world". Like his father, Superman also found his "world" - Louis Lane. For Superman, Lewis is not only his girlfriend, but also one of his emotional sustenance on earth. Although Louis knew Superman's identity from the beginning, she still believed in him and loved him. It was the presence of Lewis that let Superman know that human beings are not incurable and that there are always good things in the world. Superman's "world" is very small, so small that there is only one person left in Louis. Superman's sense of powerlessness comes from the pressure the world puts on him, and when he chooses to leave Louis alone in his world, the pressure disappears, and the powerlessness in the face of strong pressure naturally disappears. So when the whole world treats Superman so meanly, he can still sacrifice himself for the world. In the comics, Batman commented on Superman: "Superman has a fatal weakness, not kryptonite, but a good person in his bones. But I'm not." Luthor takes Superman's mother Martha as a hostage, forcing Superman to fight Batman, hoping that Batman kills Superman to prove that Superman is not "Almighty God", or let Superman kill Batman to prove that he is not "All-good God" . Superman wanted to communicate with Batman, but Batman wanted to kill Superman. Superman's inner goodness kept him from fighting with all his strength, giving Batman a chance to defeat him. When Batman was about to kill Superman with his kryptonite spear, Superman yelled "Save Martha" to Batman. Batman stops his spear when he hears the name "Martha" - yes, Batman's mother is also called Martha. So the two stopped fighting and started working together to stop Luthor's plot.
There is no doubt that this plot is an important turning point in the film. From here, Batman's character arc begins to change, that is, Batman begins to step out of his own powerlessness. Many people think that the turning point of "Martha" is too abrupt and too bloody. In fact, the director laid the groundwork for Batman's feelings for his mother from the very beginning, and repeatedly emphasized in the film that Batman's mother was called "Masha". responsibility. And it's not just a coincidence that "Our moms are called Martha" because Batman stopped. Why does Superman say "Save Martha" instead of "Save my mom"? What Batman hates is Superman's alien identity. If Superman says "Save my mother", who knows if your mother is an alien? So Superman said "Save Martha". The name of this earthman lets Batman know that the one who was trampled under his feet was not just a cold concept like "Superman", but a living and emotional "human being". It was his humanity that was almost wiped out because of hatred. Interesting how Batman and Superman reacted afterwards. Superman informs Batman of Luthor's conspiracy and prepares to save his mother. But Batman stopped him. He asks Superman to deal with Luthor, saves Superman's mother himself, and makes a promise to Superman.
This sentence is actually an interesting pun. It's literally Batman vouching for Superman's mother's safety, but Batman says "Martha's going to be okay tonight" instead of "your mom is going to be okay tonight". In effect, Batman is fighting for a chance to reconcile with himself. It has been said before. A large part of Batman's sense of powerlessness comes from the guilt of the death of his parents. He thought that putting on a cape to fight criminals could eliminate his guilt, but in fact, the appearance of the Dark Knight did not stop Gotham's fall, but Batman never believed that his efforts for so many years were just a beautiful lie. Always wanted to prove it by destroying "Superman". But in Clark Kent, he saw kindness and innocence. The sparkling humanity in Superman also awakened the long-buried humanity in him. He finally sees how cruel and ruthless he is when he comes back as Batman. Saving Martha tonight is Batman's own atonement for himself. The death of Batman's parents is the knot he can't unravel in his life, and it is also the reason why he chose to abandon humanity and fall into darkness. For Batman, "Martha won't die tonight" also means that he chose human nature and chose to walk out of the darkness. And saving Martha means the disappearance of the source of Batman's sense of powerlessness. In the end, you may ask how to get rid of Luthor's sense of powerlessness... Luthor's sense of powerlessness has not disappeared, after all, he will be asked to be a demon in the next movie...
In addition to the humanization of the theme, another feature of "Batman v Superman" is Zack Snyder's unique lens language. At the beginning of the film, we relive the death of the Waynes again. Although in the comics, anime and previous Batman movies, we've seen too many Crime Alley tragedies. But in "Batman v Superman," this passage is as poignantly poignant as it has ever been. Zach Snyder has studied oil painting since he was a child, and is a standard comic fan, so his films have a very strong visual tension, which is very in line with the exaggerated style of comics.
The strong colors and perfect composition add an unprecedented epic feel to the film. In addition, Zach's film has a poetic quality. For example, there is an image that recurs in the film: Fall's dropped shells, pearls, Louis Lane. In addition to "falling" in English, Fall also means "fallen". At the beginning of the film, Bruce's monologue accompanies the funeral of the Wayne couple "There was a time above this, when perfect things survived, pure as diamonds, but mortal things fall, and everything that falls, eventually falls. ." At this time, Bruce was still the same cynical look. This passage seems to be that Bruce thinks that Superman will eventually "fallen", but after watching the whole film, we know that Superman is not a god, and he is indeed like all human beings. " Fallen", but the precious thing is that Superman can still rise again, he can guide Batman out of the darkness, and he can guide all mankind to rekindle hope. Has any character told the audience these words? no. You need to feel it yourself. But in the era of fast-food entertainment, who else wants to take a slow look at a movie?
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