Kevin Smith Found The Heart In Batman V Superman On His Second Viewing

It might have taken a few viewings to find it, but Kevin Smith finally found the heart of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

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The heart he was looking for just didn’t come with him to his first screening. In an Instagram post, Smith shared a picture of him with Jay Mewes on the Flash set, accompanied by a little secondary analysis of Batman V Superman.

Meta-Mewes! The folks at @cwtheflash were kind enough to include a cameo for my hetero life mate @jaymewes in the episode of #TheFlash I directed. As a longtime lover of everything that ever aired on @thecw, Jay was ecstatic to have scripted lines in one of his favorite shows (plus, he got to visit the @cw_arrow sets across the lot). But I also found an opportunity to sneak #jaymewes into another scene as well – this time as a masked super villain. And even though he had no lines as the Meta and is unrecognizable, THIS was the role that reduced him to tears. I’ve seen #JayMewes cry twice in my life: one time it was about the birth of his only begotten daughter, the other time was after he wrapped his super villain bit on #TheFlash. Jay gave me a huge hug and said “You made my dream come true, Moves.” You see, Jay never planned for @jayandsilentbob; while he certainly inspired the cinematic duo, it was never his dream to play Jay in the movies – it was just something that happened to him. But this boy LOVES his comic books – so much so that I’ve never heard him say he’s ever read a bad comic book (and I know for a fact he went deep on the I’ll-fated @marvel “New Universe” titles back in the day). He doesn’t dissect superhero material, he just consumes. Analyzing is for academics: Jay’s just there to see his heroes come to life. So to thank me for sneaking him into the @dccomics universe, Jay took me to see @batmanvsuperman again (my second time, his first). I liked the flick more on my second viewing (see 1 hour review on my #KevinSmith #youtube channel). I’d said the film didn’t have any heart, but after the second viewing, I actually found the heart in #batmanvsuperman: it’s in the viewer. And the viewer I watched the blockbuster with the second time was all agog, eyes as big as saucers. During the Knightmare sequence, we shared a moment that even elevated the flick for me: when the winged New Gods nasties attack #Batman and take him down, Jay (age 40) & I (age 45) simultaneously looked at one another and whispered reverently “ParaDemons.” It was a beautiful moment shared by two lifelong fanboys who were delighted to see their childhood flash before their eyes.

A photo posted by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Mar 30, 2016 at 6:55am PDT

“I’d said the film didn’t have any heart, but after the second viewing, I actually found the heart in #batmanvsuperman: it’s in the viewer. And the viewer I watched the blockbuster with the second time was all agog, eyes as big as saucers. During the Knightmare sequence, we shared a moment that even elevated the flick for me: when the winged New Gods nasties attack #Batman and take him down, Jay (age 40) & I (age 45) simultaneously looked at one another and whispered reverently “ParaDemons.” It was a beautiful moment shared by two lifelong fanboys who were delighted to see their childhood flash before their eyes.”

Films and how someone interprets them is completely subjective, but as Smith describes Mewes, it reminds me of how easy it is to become jaded to the magic of seeing your favorite universes and characters brought to life on the big screen. The same way I viewed the original Captain America is the way Mewes viewed Batman V Superman, and it’s something we could all take note of. Not saying we shouldn’t be critical, but we could all succumb to a bit more of that magic, don’t you think?