AVS Discussions
Movie and TV Discussion => Movie reviews => Topic started by: Barry on February 18, 2023, 12:06:02 PM
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I see a trend that has developed, movies are getting longer. Movie houses seemed to prefer two hour movies so they can show them several times at night. But now, with home video, movies can have director’s cuts that can be much longer, up to 4 hour for the Justice League.
In super-hero movies, the origin always have to be told and that takes up a lot of time, so often, the plot, has to be made simple and short. I have recently seen FOUR super-hero movies that have their time greatly extended:
Daredevil (2003)
Batman vs. Superman
Supergirl (1984)
Snyder’s Justice League
Batman vs. Superman, was, for me, not a good movie. Batman comes off as a homicidal maniac and, for no reason whatsoever, tries to kill Superman. He stops when Lois Lane informs him that his mother’s name was Martha. In a way, this serves as an original movie for the ben Affleck Batman. The extended version, 30 minutes longer, makes more sense than the original, but it is no better. We learn much more about Clark Kent and his relationship to Lois. The biggest addition though is that of Le Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg. His part is greatly increased and the character is explained. But he is still miscast. I see why they edited him out in its original version. So there is more explanation of the characters in a longer movie, but it is not much better. It goes from “very bad” to “bad.”
Supergirl has been recently re-released 20 or so minutes longer than the original. This means we get to spend more time in the Phantom Zone. This movie has great movie stars, all miscast and over acting, bad, really bad, special effects (we saw good ones in Superman) and mostly a terrible script. Things happen, more so here, that are just not explained. It is not sc-fi, it’s magic. Helen Slater plays the lead and three characters (Kara, Linda and Supergirl). I think she does her best, but there is nothing here to show off her talent. This movie was veery bad, now its longer and retains that rating.
Daredevil, for me, was not a terrible movie, but one that falls apart at the end. The new version extends it a half an hour. So the good parts here at the beginning are longer and just as enjoyable, but not better or worse. A tremendous flaw here, and actually in the comics, is that Electra dies, but comes back for the squeals because fans loved her. I prefer it when dead people remain dead. So this movie is a bit better longer and the characters are more fully developed. But he ending is the same.
The new JLA needs a post by itself.