Entertainment Weekly got the comic book fans talking when they released the first official image of Jesse Eisenberg as billionaire Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The image shows Academy Award nominated actor sporting a shaved head and a menacing stare of someone who you wouldn’t want to cross. He also appears to be wearing scrubs that you would see from somebody in jail.
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor (credit: Entertainment Weekly)
“He’s not any of the Lexes that you’ve seen, that’s for sure,” said director Zack Snyder in an interview with EW. “Other than him being a captain of industry and one person to the world and another person to himself. And bald, of course.” Snyder goes on to say, “Our Lex is disarming and he’s not fake. He says what he believes and he says what’s on his mind. If you can unravel the string and decipher what he means, it’s all there.”
When the news came out last summer that Eisenberg had been cast as Lex Luthor, the reaction was mixed, with the majority of the Internet panning the casting decision. Most complaints ranged from Eisenberg being too young, that he couldn’t play a serious role, or that he wouldn’t be bald.
Judging from the first picture we’ve learned the following:
- He’s bald.
- He looks pretty serious.
- His facial expression makes him look older than 29.
And most important of all:
Don’t judge a casting until you see the movie (Heath Ledger as the Joker, anyone?) So far, he looks the part. Now let’s see if he can act it.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice releases world wide March 25, 2016.
Categories: Movie News, Movies
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I keep forgetting that Lex Luthor is even going to be in this film, and it always reminds me why I am not looking forward to this film. “Batman Vs. Superman” is going to be far too crowded and far too focused on trivial matters to give us anything of substance.
This film is going to be introducing us to well over four established DC Universe characters, each with a new backstory and motivation to do what they do. This includes Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and of course, Batman. The only character in the DC Cinematic Universe that has been established so far is Superman, so expect to see very little of him in this film. I expect “Batman Vs. Superman” to be jumpy and inconsistent, as it attempts to give each character some attention so that we get an “understanding” of who they are. But the problem is that each of these characters is so distinct that the pacing, atmosphere and story of the film is going to suffer and make no sense.
It really comes off like DC is playing catch-up with Marvel and wants to have as big of an established roster as Marvel, and will attempt to make up ground by shoving everyone into one film instead of giving them the proper development that they deserve.
For those reasons, plus DC’s constant need to put something like this in the hands of a mediocre director (Zack Snyder), does not make me excited for the DC Cinematic Universe.
You’re entitled to your opinion, but I get the feeling you’re going to see the movie anyway and then write about it being drivel. As for me, I grew up on DC Comics as a little kid, so finally seeing the Justice League finally come together outside of an animated movie is exciting. What you think is trivial matters and no substance, I see as a building block for them in making an expanded DC Universe.
And as far as we know, this is a Superman sequel. Yes, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Lex Luthor, Batman and other characters are in it (most cameos), and most of the news has been covering the new characters, but like you said, Superman is the established character. There isn’t going to be much news about him. However, the core cast is from the first Man of Steel movie and Snyder himself has said it’s a sequel.
As for your opinion of a mediocre director, I felt Snyder did a wonderful job with “Watchmen” and I felt (aside from the ending) it was pretty darn close to the graphic novel, especially the Director’s Cut. Did I think Man of Steel was perfect? I may have given it a good rating years ago, but it’s not my favorite Superman movie, That said, I thought he did fine with it. It’s not like it’s Roland Emmerich or Michael Bay (and I’m fully aware of how you feel about them).
So, while you may not be excited for a DC Cinematic Universe, I am and I’m sure a bunch of people are. If you’re not excited for the movie, then don’t see it. I determined I already was because I enjoy comic books and I’m going to see these movies because it’s a nice turn-off from the real world. Not every comic book movie will be perfect, but if the fans enjoy it, that’s what matters.
I’ll go see “Batman Vs. Superman,” but only because I also very much enjoy super heroes. Believe me, I want this movie to be good. I want it to blow my expectations out of the water and surprise me. We know very little about it right now, so there’s a chance that it can redeem itself. Will it be any good? I don’t know, but we’ll find out when the film is released.
I go into a movie with one expectation – to be entertained. Movies have many different ways of doing that, as the Marvel films have proven. The reason I doubt that “Batman Vs. Superman” will meet that expectation is for a couple of reasons, one is that it is a sequel to a boring and lifeless superhero film that manages to suck out all the fun of the genre, and two is that Zack Snyder is directing still. The thing about Snyder is that he has a pension for showing massive scale and putting it to pretty good use on the big screen, but usually at the cost of having a brain-dead story and emotionless actors.
People say that Ben Affleck is going to be great as Batman because of his performances in films like “Argo” and “Gone Girl,” but half of a great performance comes from the director, and there has never been a single stand out performance in a Snyder film. I can see why people like “Man Of Steel,” as Superman’s beliefs (and strength) are put to the ultimate test and forces him to make the ultimate decision – compromise his morals or let innocent people die. It’s a dire film, and I can respect that. But I don’t think that forgives the poor acting, the incredibly slow pace, the shaky cinematography and the gray lifeless color of the film. I thought “Man Of Steel” was so unpleasant. And I think most of that can be traced back to Warner Brothers and especially Zack Snyder, since this had much of the same feeling as films like “300,” “Watchmen” and “Sucker Punch.”
I’ll go into “Batman Vs. Superman” expecting the same as always. That way, if I end up not being entertained, we know that all of the blame can put on the movie. If others like it, that’s great. It is their opinion and they are entitled to it. But if I don’t like it, I’ll disagree with them.
I think there’s a good chance that, because of the cast behind the film and the creative choices Warner Brothers has made, there is a good chance that “Batman Vs. Superman” will cause another great divide amongst movie-goers, just like “Man Of Steel” did.
I think there’s no question that anybody, you or I, go to a movie to be entertained. Marvel has succeeded in this but I don’t agree with “Man of Steel” as a boring and lifeless film. I found it quite entertaining and a different take on a hero that has had numerous interpretations of his origin through films and television. This was a much more serious approach on the Man of Steel with an emphasis on realism, something Marvel admits they don’t do. I don’t expect everybody to read the comics as I did, but a brain-dead story? If you read “Superman: Birthright” or “Superman: Earth One,” then you’d find that the origin was in line with both of those comics, and “Birthright” was praised as one of the best origin stories. I acknowledge that most people aren’t going to read the comics. Heck, I know someone that prefers “Superman Returns” to “Man of Steel,” but they found it far from dull..
As for actors being emotionless, I felt the casting choices did their jobs (especially Amy Adams, a casting choice I found questionable at the time) and Henry Cavill did a phenomenal job for someone who nobody heard of before. One of the things Brandon Routh was criticized about in “Superman Returns” was doing nothing to distinguish himself from Christopher Reeve (which, he was cast to play in the style of Reeve, but that’s a different argument). Henry did that and most people agree that he was the right choice for Superman. If there was a superhero film I found to be utterly boring, watch the 1991 “Captain America” film. “Man of Steel” doesn’t even come close to that level of suckage. What zest it may lack, Snyder is aware of it, and I’m sure they’re going to address that in the sequel. Take out “Sucker Punch,” which I hated the story, Snyder does well in keeping comic book movies true to the source material (“Watchmen,” “300”) and will make the effort to do things better, unlike Michael Bay, who just cares about disaster porn.
I’d like to also point out the notion that “Batman v Superman” will suffer from too many superheroes being crammed into one film. Hasn’t Marvel done that already? Sure, they took a different approach to building up the first “Avengers” movie, but look at how “Age of Ultron” and “Captain America: Civil War” are shaping up. They’re following the same format by shoving new heroes into the movies without an origin film, such as Spider-Man, Quicksilver, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and potentially many, many more heroes such as Captain Marvel if the rumors are to be true. With “Batman v Superman,” the chaotic events of “Man of Steel” are bringing heroes out from the shadows. This is a fantastic strategy on Warner Bros’ part because they have the licensing to all the DC Comics characters while Marvel is shoving Spider-Man into “Civil War” because they screwed up and gave away the rights to characters to different studios. If Marvel does this it’s not considered cramming, but if DC does it, with a reasonable story as for why its heroes step out into the light, it’s considered cramming? What makes it any different?
As for your argument that there hasn’t been a single stand out performance in a Snyder film, I like to point out that Gerard Butler rose to fame for his role in “300” and out of all the actors in “Watchmen,” most people felt that Malin Akerman stood out for more than just her skimpy costume and was nominated for multiple awards for breakout performer. Plus, unless you watched “The Tudors,” nobody knew about Henry Cavill other than he was just a British dude. Now look at him: he’s going to be in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” and I haven’t heard a bad thing about his performance as Superman. Hell, most people believe he *is* Superman, and that’s been something many actors have struggled to achieve outside of Christopher Reeve. If nobody else from “Man of Steel” stands out, how about Antje Traue as Faora? I never heard of this actress, and she was an intriguing villain. Ask anybody who has seen the movie, I’m sure they’ll tell you that she was incredible. DC apparently thought so; they adapted her version into their New 52 line of comics, specifically the “Superman/Wonder Woman” title. Traue almost stole the show from Michael Shannon, who was a fantastic General Zod.
While it may be true that no actor in a Snyder film has been nominated for an Academy Award, at least Snyder goes through the process of getting the right actor for the right role, a far cry from Michael Bay’s method of casting sex appeal over acting skill. As for “slow pace”, “shaky cinematography” and “gray lifeless color”, Snyder chose to film with a hand camera for the first movie, something that I haven’t read he was doing for the sequel (another example of someone trying to improve upon the original). As for slow pacing, there may have been parts that didn’t go as quickly as one would like, but from most common movie-goers, it moved more than “Superman Returns” did, which was about 6 minutes longer in runtime. I honestly didn’t feel the length for either movie, but it depends on the tolerance of the individual. As for the coloring, it’s a style choice, and pretty close to nit-pick territory. The muted colors of the superhero costumes is a trend that’s on TV with “Arrow,” “The Flash,” and even the upcoming “Supergirl” pilot. So far viewers aren’t complaining.
As for the great divide with “Man of Steel,” let’s consider how many of them were holding it up to the standard that Marvel’s put out (which, while good, is far from perfect). Plus, most of the complaints you read about are inadequate, such as Superman showing no compassion when he kills Zod. Most people would know it was a situation where Superman was forced to do something that he normally wouldn’t do, and he showed remorse by weeping into Lois’s arms after the fact. It was a learning moment for someone who is just learning to become a superhero and the fact people are assuming it means he’s a killer is pure ignorance. Even complaints in the past year about the Batmobile having guns (ever hear of rubber bullets? Or the fact Batman had guns on his Batmobile in the 1989 film?) and Wonder Woman’s costume having no color (it’s a sepia filter!) are proof some people are just wanting attention rather than being patient and observing how things play out.