What Could Have Been

Rating: 6/10 (25 March 2016)

Okay, so here's the rub. This isn't a bad movie, well...not 30% on Rotten Tomatoes bad. There are certainly moments of greatness here, but it is so often smothered beneath grandiose plot points that need not be included. We get it, you're trying to lay the groundwork for the Justice League, but if I keep having to lean over and explain things to my wife, aka the general audience, then you're losing viewers with your own "cleverness". Now, like I said, there are great things in this film. The imagery was iconic, provocative even, and I was pleasantly surprised by Ben Affleck's Batman (though, he does not, nor ever has had, the gift of prophecy...just watch the movie). Snyder really knows how to direct dark and gritty anti- heroes...which is why it baffles me as to how WB thought it was a good idea to give him Superman. This man *Snyder* doesn't seem to grasp what makes Batman and Superman the World's Finest (hint: it's not because they're the same person, just wearing different clothes). Superman is not meant to be the dour, brooding, dark, and doubtful character. He is the bright day to Batman's Dark Knight; he is the man of bygone morals, meant to show mankind that they are capable of greater good while Batman takes the world as it is, in shadow. DC, show Snyder the door and Superman will be better for it...he's killing your cinematic universe. I understand that you're trying to convey a sense of gravitas, but if everything is serious, nothing is.
Lastly, while it was awesome seeing the Trinity (Superman, Batman, & Wonder Woman) on screen together, it just doesn't inspire and thrill as I'm sure the film executives wanted it to. Trying to reproduce the moment from the Avengers where our heroes stand back to back to face a formidable foe without putting in the years of effort and build doesn't have the same effect. It's the fulfillment of a promise, a promise that Nick Fury made to Tony Stark and that Marvel made to movie-goers in 2008, that made that moment great...not a 3 minute, tell-all trailer. I genuinely enjoyed this movie, but I just wish it had been something more, something inspired, something...super.