Man of Steel (2013) vs The Dark Knight (2008)

Reboot vs sequel. You could say that The Dark Knight had the advantage, they had the origin story under their belts and now they could get on with some more action. However, you could also say that Man of Steel had an advantage, having learnt it's lessons from Batman (Christopher Nolan having an advisory role) and being able to learn from its predecessor's mistakes (of which there were many). Flip it over though and you could say both films were under enormous pressure to deliver. Batman Begins was huge, so expectations were high for its sequel, Superman Returns on the other hand was critically panned and split audiences enough for there not to be a direct sequel. They had to find yet another new way of telling Superman's origin story and they had to find another actor worthy of the role. Audiences were likely to be even more critical then usual. I had stated at the time that the only thing wrong with Batman Begins was the casting of Katie Holmes, funnily enough, she was replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal in the follow up. The Dark Knight went beyond most superhero/comic book films and explored very real threats to our society from outside and from the inside. The good vs evil, justice vs vigilantism idea was explored brilliantly throughout. You could compare the story to historical and contemporary politics and there was something quite psychological about it also as it asks who the real villains are, Batman's famous villains wouldn't exist without Batman after all. The conclusion is very non-superhero like, very brave and absolutely brilliant. Just what the genre needed. It also had two of the best baddies ever to have appeared in a superhero movie, Aaron Eckhart's fantastic depiction of Harvey Dent and Heath Ledger's now infamous portrayal of the Joker. Both characters were written and performed perfectly and looked great. The film was so well written and so perfectly directed that the 150 minute run time flew by and left me wanting more, even thought it was also one of the most - almost painfully- intense movies I had ever seen. It stands alongside 1978's Superman as far as I'm concerned (no one will ever better it for me but to be as good as is something special as far as I'm concerned). They were clearly confident in the film as they called it the Dark Knight, with absolutely no reference to Batman in the title at all. So one would expect they were confident with the Superman reboot too, given that they named it Man of Steel fairly early on. Waiting for Zack Snyder's Superman film was nerve-wracking. I missed the classic theme music and I wasn't sure about half of the casting but on the whole I thought the story was strong. Henry Cavill plays a great Superman, I'm not 100% sold on the way his version was written but he played it well. Michael Shannon was brilliant as General Zod and Laurence Fishburne great as Perry White but again, I wasn't sold on the way any of the characters were written. I like Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner but I'm not sure they fit the parts, Diane Lane seems a bit too glamorous for Ma Kent and I'm afraid I didn't like Amy Adams' Lois Lane at all. The film is full of plot holes and impossibilities and much about it doesn't make sense. It was a little bit too fighty for a Superman film and I don't think any of the characters remain true to themselves. I found the special effects took over a little too much of the film also and the lack of Clark Kent was extremely disappointing. However, it was enough of a set up for greater things, I had my issues with it but it left me wanting more. It's really isn't much of a contest though in my mind, one was better than expected and the other knocked the socks of everything that had come before for that character.

In this particular episode of Superman vs Batman  - Batman wins!