Batman v Superman Review

Boy, did I want to like this movie. When they announced it at Comic-Con International, I was on board. I had a good time watching Man of Steel, so I was ready for what the DCU had to offer. I bought into the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman and Jeremy Irons as Alfred.

When Jesse Eisenberg and Gal Gadot were cast, I wasn't sure what to think. There were rumours of Flash and Aquaman showing up too, which made me feel like the movie was less and less focused.

Then I saw the movie-I mean trailer, and was surprised that they showed the entire film before it hit theatres. What a HORRIBLE trailer that unfortunately, spoiled the entire movie.

Nevertheless I stayed optimistic and saw the movie last night at a screening.

Alright, so the good. Ben Affleck did a heck of a job playing Bruce Wayne/Batman. He was convincing as Bruce Wayne and his scenes with the incredible Jeremy Irons were the highlights of the film. Batman looked fantastic and the scenes of him being Batman were a lot of fun. This Batman is the most brutal we've ever seen (I'll come back to that later) and the scenes he's in come across as a suspenseful horror film. Henry Cavill is as good as Superman needs to be. There's not much to the character and he does a great job looking the part.

Let's face it, Zack Snyder can make a cool looking movie. There were some great shots, especially early on, which made the movie interesting to look at.

The first 20 minutes I really enjoyed. The set up between the two lead characters was interesting. It came across as a mature, political movie that had a lot of depth to it.

Sadly, that's about it- the movie is a mess. Unfortunately, if you've seen that trailer, you know the whole plot. The Rotten Tomatoes score is warranted. 

I'm sure there will be many who enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal as Lex Luthor; I am not one of them. He was so over-the-top and reminded me of Jim Carrey's riddler. At times, he comes across as menacing, but that is few and far between.

It's so obvious that the writers had no idea what to do with Lois Lane. Why does she need to be in this movie so much? Does she need to be on the battlefield with the titans of the DC universe? There was obvious confusion from the writers as to what her role in this story would be. It is clear after seeing the movie, that there was none.

May or may not be from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Then of course, there's the fight. During the 5-10 minute fight, I couldn't help but feel the kid in me smile. It was awesome to see the two go at it; although incredibly frustrating that their fight was less than the runtime of Stairway to Heaven. As serious and brutal as the fight was, the resolution was almost laughable and so unbelievable, that it negated all the buildup prior to the fight. For a movie titled Batman V Superman, there was very little "V" in the two and half hour movie.

Gal Gadot as I predicted, was a little wooden. She has maybe 10 lines, and her role is very minimal (albeit more than the movie needed). You can't keep throwing new characters at the audience and expect them to follow what's going on. 

I understand this is a set up to the the Justice League movie. Unfortunately, that's all it feels like; a setup to something rather than a movie on its own. There is a scene where Gal Gadot is reading an email, and it is the laziest, most shoehorned Justice League scene I've ever seen. There might as well have been subtitles on the screen that read; 

"We shot footage of this, do you like it? These are superheroes. People like superheroes right?"

What is this?

This is not a spoiler because it was in the trailer; when Doomsday came into the film, I checked out. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman team up to fight some CGI cartoon causing EVEN MORE destruction than Man of Steel's final showdown. Why? Why am I watching Doomsday shoot laser beams out of his face into more face-shooting lasers beams? This is "Batman VERSUS Superman." It was so shoehorned in, that it reminded me of Venom in Spiderman 3. 

Also, Batman kills? What happened to the morale dilemma that made the character so interesting? 

I understand the movie's tone was dark, but the movie itself was dark. With the 3D glasses already making the picture darker, it was even more difficult to see what was going on. The screen was almost black sometimes during the action.

What will hurt this movie is Captain America: Civil War. Soon there will be a comparison as how to do this type of movie right. Marvel did the leg work so that when The Avengers hit the screen, it was something special (and fun-yes these movies can be fun). 

Batman v Superman tried to do their Justice League, without the setup. This movie is an absolute mess and incredibly disappointing. It feels more like a setup to something rather than a film on its own. Batman was really cool, and the couple minute fight scene was great; however that's not enough to justify the 2 and half hour run-time.

-"Do you bleed?"

-"My brain does watching your movie"