After years of speculation, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice finally hits theaters this weekend. Zack Snyder’s all-star superhero team-up is setting the stage for a whole new franchise of DC superhero movies – including Wonder Woman, Aquaman and The Flash – but is it any good? And does it set the stage for a series of superhero films audiences will actually want to see?
We gave you the lowdown in our full review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but sometimes you don’t want details, you just want to know whether the movie is any damned good. With that in mind we introduce the new video series RAPID REVIEWS, in which we boil the entertainment you Crave down to its basic elements. If you want nuance, read the articles. If you just want to know how to spend your money, watch this new series with host William Bibbiani (Crave’s film critic extraordinaire)!
Would You Like to Know More? Read William Bibbiani’s Full Review of ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
11 Action Movie Sequels That Overshadowed The Original:
Photo: Warner Bros.
Action Movie Sequels That Overshadowed The Original
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The first Captain America was took place entirely in World War II and evoked a classic adventure serial feel. The follow-up dropped Cap into the present day and upped all the stakes, as a sinister conspiracy damn near destroys America and our hero's best friend returns to kill him. Ambitious, action-packed, and game-changing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Photo: Marvel Studios
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The Dark Knight
Batman got his dignity back in Batman Begins, but with the origin story out of the way, Christopher Nolan was able to direct an intense follow-up that challenged our hero's ideals and gave him the scariest version of The Joker ever, played by the late, great, Oscar-winning Heath Ledger.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Fast Five
It took five films for the Fast and Furious movies to finally get the mix right, ditching the street racing drama for an ensemble heist flick packed with crazy stunts and family values. Future films in this series may have made more money, but they all followed the template that Fast Five set for the series.
Photo: Universal Pictures
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation
The first live-action G.I. Joe movie made money but pissed fans off with its jokey tone and changes to the storyline. Jon M. Chu's follow-up still had problems, but it righted a lot of wrongs by killing off extraneous characters, fixing Cobra Commander and recreating a classic mountaintop ninja fight from the comics.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Every Mission: Impossible movie so far has had a different filmmaker, so it makes sense that none of these movies felt like they were of a piece. But Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol seemed to unlock the right formula, and the superior fifth film Rogue Nation followed suit. Brad Bird's entry emphasized a whole team of bickering agents, increasingly impossible situations and fantastic, gorgeously photographed stunts.
Photo: Paramount
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The Road Warrior
The first Mad Max introduced us to a cop trying to stave off apocalyptic anarchy. In The Road Warrior the world has finally, officially ended and violent punks are fighting for the last of the gasoline, and our hero has abandoned his soul for pragmatism. Groundbreaking action scenes and a distinctive vision of the future codified the post-apocalyptic genre for decades to come. (And yes, Mad Max: Fury Road is even better, but time will tell how influential it is.)
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Spider-Man 2
Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man was the blockbuster superhero movie that defined the whole genre, but the second film upped the ante with a villain who actually looked cool (heck, Doctor Octopus looks fantastic), a more thoughtful storyline about the price of responsibility and a wicked sense of humor that treats our hero as a punching bag. Practically everyone still agrees that Spider-Man 2 is the best Spidey film yet.
Photo: Columbia Pictures
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Superman II
The first Superman made audiences believe that a man can fly, but it failed to take advantage of the action-packed possibilities. Superman II introduced a whole team of Kryptonian villains, led by Terence Stamp as the deliciously egomaniacal General Zod. Sure, Superman only fights them at the end (and he murders them all in cold blood as soon as they're powerless), but it's still the movie that everyone points to as the Superman flick that came closest to capturing the feel of the comics.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day
James Cameron's original The Terminator was more of a sci-fi/horror movie than a proper action film, but in the sequel he turned it all around, empowering the heroes and teaming them up with Arnold Schwarzenegger's flesh-covered robot to fight an unstoppable liquid metal badass. Innovative visual effects, exceptional characters and some of the coolest action sequences ever filmed.
Photo: TriStar Pictures
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The Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was such a colossal misfire that the marketing for Deadpool had to actually apologize for it. But even before that, The Wolverine was eager to get the character back on track with a film that removed his invulnerability (for a while anyway), and evoked the classic samurai stories from the comics. The Wolverine is the closest we've ever seen to an accurate depiction of the beloved comic book character.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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X-Men: Days of Future Past
The X-Men movies helped make superhero films a popular genre, but the formula hadn't been figured out yet and most of the sequels floundered in confusing mythology and missed opportunities. Days of Future Past finally told one of the best stories from the comics, got it kinda right, and reset the whole continuity to set the stage for better sequels to come. Unforgettable action and clever reworkings of history made this even more popular than First Class, which was the first step in the right direction for this series since X2.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
