So, it’s here. It’s finally here. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Three years ago it was announced and it’s finally here… Now keep in mind that this is all my opinion.
So, is it good?
No. It’s garbage.
The plot is nonsensical, the pacing is more sporadic than a five year old on drums, and the film itself is so dull that I found myself nearly falling asleep at parts.
Alright so, there are a few redeeming qualities; Ben Affleck is very good as Bruce Wayne/Batman and doesn’t just steal the show at parts, but saves it, particularly in the opening scene where we see some Man of Steel sequences from Bruce’s point of view. He and Jeremy Irons’ Alfred have an excellent chemistry that works as a staple for us, the viewers, to re-engage with the film after we’ve started nodding off from the weird pacing. Bruce Wayne in particular has some excellent dialogue that stands head and shoulders above everyone else’s that I believe puts heavy credence in the rumours that Ben Affleck re-wrote his lines every chance he got. We can only hope that he’ll be given the writer’s/director’s chair for the next solo Batman outing.
But unfortunately, the fun stops with them.
Now I want to bring up this thing. This is gonna be this mind-blowing thing that could nearly save this whole movie.
FOCUS.
With focus, this movie might have made sense, but now I find myself sitting at my desk, trying to remember what happened. I was worried through the movie that I was just an idiot because I could not figure out what was going on, but it turns out that people share my thoughts since there isn’t even a plot breakdown on Wikipedia yet. Though strangely, the most focused part of the film is the sequence where (POTENTIAL SPOILER if you haven’t seen the trailers) Doomsday arrives. But aside from his outing, the rest of the movie is bogged down by so many random flashbacks and visions that I found myself restraining from calling out “what the hell is going on?” numerous times throughout the screening.
I’d say the problem with this is that many of the scenes just speed by without a second for us, the viewers, to process what we’ve just seen. But then, the film turns around and makes us watch some random flashback or Justice League setup for what feels like minutes at a time. Regrettably, I feel this is an ongoing problem with Zack Snyder. I don’t think that he knows when a scene is aiding a story and I don’t think he knows when to cut something. Rather, I believe he puts things in movies ‘just because they’re cool’ and treats us all like the idiots when we’re not on his superior mental wavelengths. (Don’t believe me? Go track down some of his Man of Steel rebuttals)
Oh yeah, nearly forgot. Lex Luthor.
WHAT? WHY WAS HE CAST IN THIS ROLE? He’s just… Every scene that he’s in is just, jarring and painful to watch, adding more to the already disjointed plot and I don’t understand any of the choices behind his character. It was a terrible contrast to everything set up in the movie and I cannot imagine a more contrasting performance to the film's tone.
Look, a dash of good in all this crap. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is… fine… just fine... and the action in the film isn’t the worst. Also Henry Cavill as Superman is servicable, but I found his acting to be a little wooden at times, which is unfortunate seeing as he's one of the titular characters and this is all I can say about him.
But aside from that, I cannot recommend paying money to go and see this. Yes the Batman side of things is good, yes there’s some okay action (if you’re in for that sort of thing), but all the rest of it is so disjointed and bizarrely paced that you’d probably be better just waiting for a fan edit to salvage something watchable from this piece of garbage.
I’d like to just leave with some of my own thoughts. I’m worried about the future of the DC Expanded Universe. Zack Snyder has consistently shown, in my opinion, that he has no understanding for the heart of the characters and he seems to care for style over substance at the detriment of his films. I believe he’s already de-railed things and that DC should be railing to find a new showrunner for the DCEU. The worst part of all of this is though, is that I genuinely believe he has a logic behind what he’s doing, and I don’t feel it’s the right logic for these universally loved characters.
Anyway, after all these sour notes…
Thanks for reading (insert smiley face)