An exceptional...yet flawed movie:

Rating: 6/10 (26 March 2016)

I found myself extremely excited when this film was announced- even as someone who loves Marvel movies. Having watched previous DC movies, directed by Snyder (Watchmen and Man of Steel) I found them very enjoyable as they use a darker and more adult tone- especially Watchmen- than what I have seen many call 'childish' Marvel movies. I was happy to see Snyder return to work on what I see as a monumental task, pitting two of the most loved and recognisable heroes against each other. When the casting choices were announced, unlike others I did not take to the internet to complain about Ben Affleck portraying Batman. Instead, I wanted to see Affleck deliver a new Batman. Having watched the movie, I was not disappointed: Affleck delivered as both Batman and Bruce Wayne giving in my opinion, a portrayal that is comparable to that of Christian Bale's Batman. I was glad to see Henry Cavill return as Superman- for me he delivered a great permanence in MoS and in this film as well. I was sceptical about Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor yet, I feel he delivered a brilliant portrayal of Luthor and it generally scared me in some parts of the movie, with the craziness he was exerting. Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was also fantastic and I look forward to seeing Wonder Woman in 2017. Jeremy Iron's also portrayed a different version of Alfred than what we saw in the Nolan trilogy and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance. Aside from the cast, the movie itself was great but flawed. I feel the main issue was the editing. There was simply too much packed into the film and it jumped around a lot. To cite one critic it was "incoherent," yet I feel that many are too quick to blame Snyder for this issue. During the film my friend (who is not a big fan of Superhero films) turned to me and said 'this movie is s**t.' I ignored his comment. I for one did not feel like listening to movie criticisms from someone who believes no movie will ever come close to the SWTFA, and who thought Olympus has fallen was a quote 'brilliant' film. Yet I saw where he was coming from the first half of the film was all over the place, largely in my opinion because there was simply too much going on in the build up to the fight. Unlike many, I enjoyed the dream sequences and politics in the first half. However, there was so much going on and due to the way it was edited it made the film hard to follow yet I managed. Moving on the action was impeccable, the Kryptonite chase scene was a thrill to watch- yes I know Batman kills people, but again this a different version of Batman. The fight itself was a spectacle; it was awesome to watch these two legends battle it out. Contrary to others I understand (at least I thing I do) why the fight was stopped with the mention of Martha Clarke. I feel that here Batman realised that although Superman is this titan, he also has human emotions and this allowed Batman to see that Superman has a human- side to him, hence why he helped. Wonder Woman's entrance was amazing (even though the second trailer did give it away) and I reiterate that I cannot wait to see 2017s Wonder Woman. My last issue with the film is that the introduction of the Justice League was very forced and I really feel it could have been done better. I also found the ending to the film to be too dragged out. It should have ended in my opinion with the Superman symbol on the floor, instead of being dragged on further. Batman v Superman was an exceptional yet flawed film. The cast was great, yet this was let down by the movie being crammed- similar to that of Age of Ultron. The action and CGI is what one would expect from Snyder. Granted all of the criticisms I have made, I would find myself happy to watch this film again. I also encourage you to watch it in the cinema, because in doing this I think Warner Bros and Snyder will learn from this film and produce an awesome Justice League.