Review – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

It’s really hard to not get excited about a movie that has Batman and Superman in it.  Never before have the two comic book giants graced the screen together and now, thanks to Zack Snyder, we finally get to see the two titans go at it.  Unfortunately, the feeling of excitement quickly diminishes and turns to anger and hope.  Anger at what I am watching and hope that it gets better.  Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a bloated mess.  A movie so chaotic and concerned with establishing the DC Cinematic Universe, that it actually forgets to be an actual movie.

After the complete destruction of Metropolis from Superman’s (Henry Cavill) fight with Zod, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) fears that he may be too powerful for earth and could do more harm than good.  He makes it his job to stop Superman, which leads to an eventual fight between the two.  As the two fight, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), schemes up and evil plan that unites the two heroes to save Gotham City and Metropolis.

If you’ve seen the trailers for this film, you know exactly what happens in the movie.  They didn’t leave too much out, from an appearance from Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to Doomsday.  They all show up and because we knew this, it impacted the overall surprise and excitement of the film.

There are a few things that I did like about the movie.  Ben Affleck was excellent as Bruce Wayne/Batman.  We saw Wayne’s detective side, a side we didn’t see too much in The Dark Knight Trilogy and he kicked ass as Batman.  I loved Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.  Even though I knew she was in the movie, I got all giddy and happy when I saw her.  I cannot wait to see her solo movie.  I was a bigger fan than most of Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor, and Jeremy Irons adds some much needed gravitas as Alfred.  Some of the action is pretty awesome as well, like Batman fighting off ten-plus guards towards the end and the much anticipated battle between the two giants.  The final fight, in which Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman take on Doomsday, is cool, but it so big and so messy that it’s hard to enjoy.

Now, let’s talk about what’s wrong with this movie, and there is a lot wrong.  First of all, and probably the biggest issue, this movie ruins a major part of Batman mythology.  Man of Steel already ruined Superman by having him kill Zod, which is against Superman’s boy scout image.  They did the exact same thing with Batman.  One of the big things with Batman is that he never kills, but people like The Joker push him to the absolute limit of breaking his rule.  Not in this movie.  Batman kills and blows up a number of people without a flinch.  If there was a line explaining why he does this, I might buy it.  But there isn’t, and that’s an issue.  Also, this story is all over the place.  There is so much going on in this movie that didn’t need to happen.  Characters aren’t developed the way they should and stories are abruptly ended, which left me with a million questions at the end that will never be answered.  It is incredibly frustrating.  They just wanted to cram everything DC into this movie and not worry about the actual movie at hand.  There are quick glimpses of the rest of The Justice League, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg, but it is done in the laziest way possible.  There are a million other ways they could have done this, but it was like they already wrote the screenplay and then decided to throw this seven second scene in.  And this is definitive proof that Zack Snyder is all style and no substance.  Batman v. Superman looks pretty, but it’s all worthless.  Snyder is officially Michael Bay 2.0.

If Marvel was scared DC was catching up to them, fear not, they’re still way ahead.  DC shit the bed with Batman v. Superman.  This is not a good movie.  It has some cool action and solid acting, but the overall movie is bloated, insane, and unfulfilling.  They took an epic idea that could have launched them right next to Marvel and now, they need to rethink their whole plan.  They need to dump Zack Snyder as the braintrust of the operation, bring in a new director and bring back Christopher Nolan to godfather the series.  Turn this franchise around and give Marvel a run for their money.

MY RATING – 1.5/4

Did you see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.