Not even the worst movie reviews of the year could stop this superhero franchise from dominating its opening weekend at the box office over Easter.
Declared DOA by many, this mess of a film was expected to be a turkey more suitable for Thanksgiving dinner than a matinee showtime.
BUT rising like a Phoenix from the ashes, this potential franchise making motion picture has prevailed with a huge $170 million blockbuster caliber opening, defying the expectations of its detractors and angry internet nerds alike.
So for now critics be damned, including this one…but before fanboys get too smug about this turkey having a stay of execution, be warned that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had a strong opening before floundering into oblivion as a box office dud.
Warner Bros. has hoped against hope to set up their own Marvel style movie franchises, with this initial effort slated to be a launching pad for DC Comics’ “Justice League” movie.
But unfortunately this comes across as a convoluted mess, where superheroes are name dropped worse than actors at a B-list Hollywood party.
Director Zack Snyder is clumsy and plodding with the narrative, similar to how he swung and missed in 2013’s “Man of Steel” offering, he apparently learned nothing from that debacle of a film.
Ben Affleck‘s Bruce Wayne is refreshingly chaste and human, unlike Christian Bale‘s previous portrayal, but his cartoonish turn as Batman is no better.
Henry Cavill seems ill at ease in his role as the Man of Steel himself, and his performance has us pining nostalgically for the one true Superman, Christopher Reeve.
But none of this seems to matter to giddy studio executives, who thus far have declared victory over the movie’s naysayers, prompting one high ranking Warner Bros executive to proclaim: “When you swing for the bleachers and connect, it’s a tremendous feeling. This felt like we were launching several films, so to come through like this makes all of us very proud.”
So good to see success, or at least the illusion of it, hasn’t gone to anyone’s head in Tinseltown…
