A crowded, dark action movie that struggles to meet expectations

Rating: 8/10 (18 April 2016)

Batman V Superman has an almost impossible weight on its shoulders: - it has to simultaneously present a worthy adaptation of a revered story, while acting as a springboard for DC to launch their own super-team to rival the 'Avengers'.
In the hands of anybody, it'd be an impossible task. It's undeniable that it falls down on the job. However, criticising it feels a bit like belittling a brilliant student for trying too hard, because it still contains fantastic entertainment.
The trailer shows that the story involves Batman's escalating beef with the collateral damage that follows Superman's battles, and Superman's belief that Batman is a dangerous thug. Lex Luthor is involved in stirring feelings against Superman, and a growing need for Government to step in and oversee their super-heroic guest. Wonder Woman pops up in the adverts, and a giant beastie appears to start trashing a city. The trailer correctly suggests a film that may be too full of plot-lines for its own good. Piling conspiracy on conspiracy, the film over-bakes a simple idea - that Batman wants to stop Superman. By over-complicating the plot, some of Wayne's conviction is undersold; he never feels angry enough to try to murder a super-being. Similarly, Superman's reason for the brawl feels badly constructed, an earlier scene makes it clear that he could locate and fix the issue with ease, and the title brawl feels like it could be stopped completely by one or two quick sentences of grown up dialogue.
But what about the titular smack-down? Well, they make the Dark Knight taking on a superhuman feel almost believable. Fists fly, a multitude of Batman toys are used, and Affleck gets to perform a wonderful "Oh hell, I'm in for it now..." moment where he half-raises his hand in semi-supplication as Superman closes in to land a punch, adding a personality that was all too often missing from 'Man of Steel's pivotal Zod v Supes battle.
However, it feels almost a side-event to the film. The movie's stand- out sequence is a stunningly executed Batmobile chase that gets the adrenaline roaring, and the real joy is often in the drama of the character interactions: Clark and Bruce verbally jousting at a Luthor party, Bruce and Wonder Woman trading verbal barbs.
Eisenberg is partially successful as Luthor. He's fun, but his eccentricity goes too far. A man who rambles insensibly like a madman during a speech at a major society party wouldn't be treated with the political and societal carte- blanche that he receives, and if he carved the ham of his performance any thicker audience members would need bread and mustard.
Affleck is extremely good as Wayne. As you'd expect, a film so overloaded with ideas doesn't give him much room, but he does fill you with confidence that his Batman solo venture would be thrilling. His Batman is bitter and dark - more like Keaton's semi-sociopath of 1989 than Bale's clearer thinker.
Cavill is great as Superman, embodying Clark with humour and romance, while his Superman gets to feel noble and exciting. As with Batman, the character's a little on the thin side, but for the same reasons.
Gadot is elegant and fun, performs with sparky chemistry and dialogue, and almost steals her scenes. Her first appearance as Wonder Woman starts to look like it's going to consist of posing and glowering, but they eventually let her perform some combat moves, and hopes should be high for the solo outing.
So will you come out of the cinema satisfied? Maybe. It's clear the film suffered by trying to juggle too many elements. One early scene of destruction cuts straight into another unrelated scene, leaving the audience briefly wondering if they're looking at the last location or not, and then realising they're looking at the aftermath of something that's happened off- screen. Later, key characters seem to majorly change mood toward each other with almost no time or dialogue passing between them that would believably cause such a change. It feels like swathes of film have been left on the cutting room floor. Set ideas about plot are likely to be confounded too - this delights in twisting and turning. In terms of tone, don't expect Marvel. There are several moments of bad language, threat, on-screen death and destruction, grudges, moodiness and moral agonizing. It's also very blatant that it exists to set up a franchise (almost to the point that it might as well have 'Merchandising Opportunity!' stamped prominently on its poster, which may justifiably irk some viewers). So: dark emotion tone, blatant moments of commercial-mindedness, messy plot lines, a big beastie that's probably pretty unnecessary, an iffy main bad guy...is it worth seeing? Yes. It's worth seeing in the way that all big, far-reaching dreams are worth seeing. It's fun, dramatic, and exciting. It isn't perfect, but nothing this complicated ever is.