Batman v Superman is still one of the best cartoon movies ever made

And that's not just because Batman is one of my favorite cartoon characters, or because I really like DCEU, or because I appreciate Zack Snyder's work.

That's all part of it, of course. I think Batman v Superman has the best version of Batman we've ever seen on the screen, that the movie is the best example of what the DCEU can do, that Zack Snyder is a talented director and even more sympathetic. being.

But it's more than that too.

This is because for years I have had the impression that people thought that super movies heroes and comic book stories were only silly and childish, only a place of realization of an insipid wish, as being only on pleasure .

Superhero movies can be all of these things, and some of them should be. I have no mandate against pleasure, no personal preference against the fulfillment of my wishes, no grudge against the stupid big action movie.

But comic books can be more than that.

And Batman v Superman is much more than that.

Batman v Superman is a film that looks at superheroes and demands more, which makes them more. request more from us as audience members. As a film, it's as much about questions and ideas as it is about characters and intrigues. Even more, even, because he uses these characters and intrigues to deepen the discussion on these big questions and even bigger ideas.

It's easy to get caught up in the first part of the title – Batman v Superman – and to think that this film only works as a super-opposition between two heroes. If you may have taken a second longer to think about it, you might be able to infer that it may pit Batman's brain against Superman's strength and speed, a clbadic question of whether he can Better to be smart or strong.

But Batman v Superman is not interested in such a superficial question. Instead, he is interested in issues of justice, ideas of goodness, the intersection of power and responsibility.

And this is possible only because, unlike many movies and TV shows of superheroes, this is a superhero movie that does not take its heroes for granted.

I have often been frustrated – and continue to be frustrated – by stories of superheroes in which the goodness of his heroes is implicit, undeniable, and undisputed. The reasoning so often says that people are heroes because they do good and they do good because they are heroes. Heroism – as it is often presented – is an innate trait, an ability attached to the soul of someone.

But goodness – in real life and in the best stories of superheroes – is a choice. It's a choice that being a good person is not enough. Wanting to do good is not enough. To think that you are doing good is not enough.

We must question the intentions with which we do good. We must consider the consequences of our actions, whether the intention is good or not. We must live with these consequences and take responsibility for them, and work to do better next time.

And it's just us – ordinary people making ordinary choices about how to treat a colleague or our child, how to help a friend in need or a stranger struggling in our neighborhood.

All of these factors are magnified for superheroes, whose power, influence, and impact are all the more important.

As Marvel's best superhero understands, great responsibility entails great responsibilities. Not only the responsibility to save others because of what you can do, but a responsibility to yourself because of who you are: the responsibility to question your goodness, to understand the meaning and impact of actions, to recognize your own human weaknesses working on them.

It is this responsibility that Batman v Superman faces head-on. So, rather than asking if Batman or Superman is stronger, it makes us examine the power that Superman exercises and asks – who decides what is good? Have we studied the brutality of Batman and asked: what do we mean by justice? We've listened to Lex Luthor's monologues about power, then we wonder: can power be innocent?

The answers to these questions are complicated and obscure, just as Batman v Superman is sometimes complicated and often dark.

We have talked a lot about sadness and darkness in our modern tales, with the word "grimdark" stated quite freely and, in my opinion, rather cavalierly. This seems to have become a catch-all word for "a seriousness that I did not want in this movie".

Let's be clear: I'm not a fan of sadness as a narrative rule. I am not a proponent of misery in oneself, nor of darkness and wickedness in storytelling under the guise of realism.

But neither am I a fan of ignoring the darkest parts of ourselves or of our world. I am not in favor of leaving motivations, ethics and unexamined actions in the name of forced levity, and I think that sacrificing all the seriousness and potential of darkness on the altar of entertainment diminishes both the power and meaning of the story.

That is why I am pleased to note that despite the complexity of the questions asked and the obscurity of their answers, Batman v Superman himself did not never turns into a relentless fiasco in misery and despair, nor is it black for its good.

Yes, the Batman version we see in the movie is without a doubt the darkest and most violent version of a character known for his darkness and violence. Yes, this version of Superman is weighed down by the burden of its power and responsibility, it ignores its place in our world more than we have ever seen on the screen.

But – and that's the most important thing – none of these characters stay there. Darkness is not the goal at all – it's the output of it from the other side.

The superhuman who has been debated, who has protested, who has been rejected and decried by humanity – it is the Superman who takes the banner of the human race, who says firmly that it is my world. sacrifices himself then to save this world.

And the Batman who is twisted by rage and darkness, who has spent most of the movie plotting to murder Superman, who cynically asks after 20 years in Gotham, "How many good left -he? How many have stayed there? "- It's the Batman who takes the banner of Superman to protect humanity, which ends the film with:" Men are always good. We fight, we kill, we betray ourselves. But we can rebuild. We can do better. We will do it. "

Batman v Superman takes us into the depths of darkness and sadness, but also makes sure we get out of it. This shows us that there is a love so great that it would sacrifice itself for others and that such a sacrifice can save a man from the darkest depths of his soul.

And I love it about it.

That and, as I said earlier, a lot of other things about this movie.

I like the fact that Batman v Superman could only have been two superheroes fighting for superficial reasons, but rather a meditation on responsibility, responsibility and privilege.

I like it to be a film that uses two of the most venerated American icons of all time to question America's role in the world, to ask what's right, what is good and who decides? The conversation about Superman's unilateral decision-making and its unintended consequences are the same questions asked (or should be asked) about our government, our armed forces, our politicians.

I like it to be a film that understands what we mean by a more entrenched superhero story – not in the laws of physics or the natural world, but in a rooted history in the world in which we live. It is a film in which the 24-hour news cycle discusses the role and responsibility of superheroes, in which an angry population protests against a powerful immigrant, where an arrogant, rich, and white businessman is the real bad guy.

And that's all about giving us a beautifully shot movie where almost every scene looks like a poster, iconic lines that I still quote every two weeks, the best Batman fight scene we've ever seen at the time. screen, and the entrance of Wonder Woman.

I am very grateful to this film for its ambition and reach, both in terms of narration and graphics. I am happy to have seen Ben Affleck as the best Batman on the screen of his best film. And I like the fact that I love this movie even more now than I was when it came out three years ago.