It Looks Like The Knightmare Sequence May Be Batman V Superman's Biggest Mistake

Ask yourself this: what is the Knightmare sequence trying to be?

Is it meant to be read as a basic nightmare? The way it slots into the film seems to point to that being the case; there's no lead into the sequence, with Bruce not falling asleep, and because all of the other dream sequences (and there's multiple) come out of nowhere and are presented as total reality until a last minute unreal twist, it's hard to not think this isn't just more of the same. Then within it you have a characterisation of Batman and Superman that isn't that far from what we have established in the present; they both already hate each other, scowl all the time and have willingly killed. And then the resolution, with Batman heading out to get him some Kryptonite, repositions this Justice League-focused scene as mere motivation for the central duo's fight, seemingly robbing it of wider narrative significance.

When you look at it like that, it's easy to see how you could take it as a dream, although aren't these all the results of wider problems; the dream sequences are poorly handled as rule, the heroes weren't intended to come across as sadistic as Snyder presents them and the sudden moving on is surely down to the poor sense of storytelling?

Taking it as a vision reveals only more issues. It's a dream-within-a-dream that employs multiple different types of time travel and, perhaps biggest of all, manages to have a profound impact for no reason; at the end of the film, Diana Prince asks Bruce Wayne why he's going to bring the Justice League together, to which he responds, "Just a feeling." What feeling? To him it was a fevered nightmare.

I've written so much about Batman V Superman since I saw it a couple of weeks ago, looking at its failings a piece of cinema, breaking down its rushed ending and exploring how it's already irreversibly damaged the DC Extended Universe, but taking a proper look at this one moment reveals more of the illogicies than I even realised. To rationalise the Knightmare sequence from either of the standpoints discussed requires disregarding various plot elements and directly accepting the fundamental filmmaking flaws of Snyder's movie as part of the story. No wonder so many people didn't get it without explanation; this is a film that almost begs contradiction.

The Knightmare should have been a great scene - alt-reality superheroes are fascinating, and so much of what's here kinda does have a bearing on the plot of Dawn Of Justice, as well as where the DC Extended Universe is heading, but it's so messy handled, a systemic issue of the rest of the movie, that it instead stands as Batman V Superman's biggest mistake.

Also, it's a terrible pun.

What did you think of the Knightmare sequence? Have your say down in the comments.