The DC Cinematic Universe is a rather interesting phenomenon in the world of cinema. From 2008 to 2012, the Marvel Cinematic Universe took shape. Its huge success led other studios to create their own similar projects: Universal’s Monsterverse, Husbro’s Transformers Expanded Universe, and so on. All of them died in the initial stages, except for the Warner Bros. project. And while virtually every critic and viewer in the world has scolded at least one of the films in this franchise, the DC Universe has continued to evolve and sometimes even produced worthy tapes that keep it alive. About the main films of the franchise later in the article.
“Man of Steel” (Man of Steel, 2013)
- Kinopoisk: 6.9.
- IMDb: 7.1.
Man of Steel is the kind of film that could be a great start to another powerful cinematic universe following Marvel. This film, like “Iron Man” in 2008, in a mundane and more or less realistic form, describes the origin of one of the main characters of the MCU. Perhaps the story turned out to be even too gloomy, but it is not surprising, because Christopher Nolan, who had already managed to give The Dark Knight to the world, was involved in the development of the plot, along with David S. Goyer (“Blade”), and the production was entrusted to Zack Snyder (“ 300 Spartans”, “Keepers”).
In the story, Kal-El’s home planet of Krypton was destroyed. The parents managed to save the baby by sending him on a spaceship away from the dying house. He landed on Earth at Jonathan and Martha Kent’s Farm. Clark Kent grew up and realized that he was different from everyone around him because of his incredible abilities. He was taught by his adoptive parents that being a superhero means making difficult decisions. And then the Earth is attacked by those who call themselves the surviving Kryptonians. What will Clarke choose? In general, “Man of Steel” turned out to be a good film, which freed Zack Snyder’s hands in his work on the following projects, but DC’s MCU turned out a little differently.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
- Kinopoisk: 6.8.
- IMDb: 6.4.
It’s a pity, but unlike Marvel, which spent five years making five separate films ahead of its first global crossover, Warner Bros. and DC tried to catch up as quickly as possible and already in the second tape they introduced Batman, Wonder Woman, and several other important characters, without revealing either their backstory or motivation. The film turned out to be chaotic and devoid of a coherent script. Henry Cavill, who received the MTV Award for Best Hero for Man of Steel, was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Anti-Award for Worst Actor (like the entire leading cast).
Nevertheless, Batman v Superman remains the DCEU’s first global crossover and is worth watching if only to understand why it all went wrong in the first place. The plot revolves around the fact that after the massive destruction during the battle between Superman and Zod in Metropolis, the world began to look with caution at the god-like hero. Batman understands that if an alien ever gets angry at humanity, he can deal with the entire planet. Gotham’s Defender challenges Superman. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor, the eccentric head of LexCorp, is also dealing with alien threats. True, his methods of protection turn out to be very peculiar, threatening the Earth itself.
“Aquaman” (Aquaman, 2018)
- Kinopoisk: 6.8.
- IMDb: 6.8.
Having suffered a complete failure with the first films, DC decided that it was worthwhile to focus on solo films and creating their own world first. However, here something went wrong. Unlike mundane and even more lively Marvel characters (besides, the rather diverse Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk – everyone has their own powers and abilities), DC superheroes are presented as gods and almost everything looks the same: super strength, super speed, flight . As a result, this, as well as the disastrous reputation of previous films, was superimposed on subsequent tapes, which were of rather average quality, and they were buried right at the time of release.
James Wan’s Aquaman is the only decent solo movie in the DC Universe. The director managed to abstract as much as possible from the chaos that is happening with other films and shoot a solid adventure film. Moreover, he got an unusual character – Aquaman, who spends most of his time in the underwater kingdom. The underwater scenes are shot in a very unusual and interesting way. The graphics are also at an excellent level (unlike some Wonder Woman, where the CGI fight with Ares looks worse than in low-budget horror films). And the icing on the cake in this tape was the game of Jason Momoa, who looks very organically in the comedy-adventure genre.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
- Kinopoisk: 7.9.
- IMDb: 8.0.
2021 has been a year of some sort of renaissance for the DC Universe. In early spring, a landmark event took place: the director’s cut of Justice League was released, on which Warner Bros. under pressure from society, allocated a lot of money (about $ 70 million for additional filming and finalization of special effects). Fans literally knocked this film out of the studio and were pleased with the result. Another editing, another color correction and musical accompaniment and before the audience is literally another movie. Zack Snyder managed to fix most of the flaws in the theatrical version, including dialogue, character motivation, storytelling, and so on.
True, along with this, several new problems appeared. For example, the duration of the film was four hours. Did the tape need such a length? It is unlikely, because many scenes look too chewed up, and some are frankly superfluous. Nevertheless, Zack Snyder’s Justice League became almost the first film in the DC Universe, which received unequivocal approval from the majority of critics and viewers, despite all the shortcomings. After Superman died, powerful forces turned their attention to Earth. Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman will enter into an unequal battle with the minions of Darkseid – the most terrible creature in the galaxy.
“Suicide Squad: Mission Through” (The Suicide Squad, 2021)
- Kinopoisk: 6.7.
- IMDb: 7.2.
James Gunn created Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel. And then because of some ten-year-old footage (and cancellation culture), Disney just went ahead and fired the director out of hand. Without hesitation, Warner Bros. lured Gunn to her and gave him complete creative freedom in working on a soft reboot of the Suicide Squad (after a dozen failures, the studio bosses finally realized that complete control in such matters only hurts). Gunn skillfully dealt with the tails of the first part, cutting them off literally in the first 15 minutes of his film. And then it was pure madness.
In the story, Amanda Waller once again assembles a team of the most dangerous prisoners for a secret mission on which superheroes cannot be sent. Each villain is implanted in the head with a bomb. If the mission is successful, they are promised to reduce the term, if something does not go according to plan – an explosion of the head. Colonel Rick Flag will lead a squad consisting of Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacekeeper, Boomerang, No-Arms Guy, King Shark, Weasel and other odious characters. The new “Suicide Squad” conquered critics, because of the coronavirus it did not get a very large box office, but became one of the most viewed films on HBO Max. This success untied Gunn’s hands to create The Peacemaker, which in just one season became the best creation in the DC Extended Universe.
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Source: Trash Box
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