Darkness & Light!

Rating: 6/10 (10 April 2016)

'Dawn of Justice' picks up 18 months after the events of 'Man of Steel' where people are in question on whether Superman (Henry Cavill) can be trusted residing in this world of ours. Citizens and politicians don't feel as threatened as Gotham's very own Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who summons his alter-ego 'Batman' in order to combat this possible foe.
1. The film kicks things into gear just a few minutes in as we witness the 'Battle of Metropolis' (the climax of 'Man of Steel') through the perspective of Bruce Wayne as he witnesses casualties (due to the destruction caused by Superman and Zod) in his city of Gotham. This is one of the key sequences that really pulls the audience in and gets you hyped for the events to come. It emphasizes the hate Batman feels towards Superman as it inevitably builds up to that ultimate face- off between them.
2. The best aspect of this film, is in fact.....'Batman' himself; Ben Affleck. He really absorbs, captures and owns the role of both Bruce Wayne and Batman. You can't take your eyes off him whenever he's on screen cause you feel his torment and fueling hate as the movie progresses. People may be divided by how brutal his portrayal of Batman may be cause he is very...very...brutal. Batman kills throughout the film without second guessing and I personally loved it. I'll admit, killing isn't a character trait of Batman but it does make things interesting cause it's something we wouldn't expect from the caped crusader. I can't recall what fighting styles were used, but Affleck manages to capture the sheer physicality of Batman ,which leads to all the action scenes focused on him, pretty f#%king awesome:)
3. You may think the continuing romance between Clark Kent and Lois Lane is the emotional hook of the movie, but it's really not. It feels like they've lost most of the chemistry they shared in 'Man of Steel' which translates poorly into this film. You really could care less about them, wishing that most of their scenes were cut. The more interesting on-screen couple though is Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot have the most chemistry whenever they share the screen even though it's not much. Not saying there's a romance between them (but we'll see;) although they make a really cool pair.
4. The action in the first two-thirds of the movie is pretty awesome to say the least, especially every sequence involving Batman. The two most outstanding set-pieces are the Batmobile chase and the rescuing of Martha Kent. This is where Batman shines immensely, which proves just how much more interesting and dynamic he is opposed to Superman. Up until the climax, the movie shows promise even though the face-off we've all been waiting to see where Batman takes on Superman, doesn't last very long. You feel a bit disappointed and cheated in a way just by how brief it all is. It is revealed that Lex Luthor (Jesse Eissenberg) has orchestrated this confrontation by kidnapping Martha Kent, thus forcing Superman's hand to kill Batman. The high-tech Bat-suite is never really explained just by function alone and it's hard to see why Superman didn't just explain the situation to Batman instead of throwing punches at first.
5. Unfortunately, the movie falls apart in the third act where Lex reveals his plans and unleashes the ancient Kryptonian 'Doomsday'. Never do we fully understand how Lex created Doomsday and why it involved General Zod's body aboard the crashed ship. I was ready to walk out of the theater just by the fact that the fight between Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman taking on Doomsday in so terribly chaotic. The kids will love it but things got too crazy for me the more it went on. The creature design was unimpressive and the CGI became mediocre as explosions went off left and right.It's exhausting to watch, but I used Wonder Woman as eye-candy while waiting for the sequence to end;) Another flaw is the fact that the film is littered with dream sequences throughout. This aspect really weighs it down, especially when Batman has his 'Mad Max' out-in-the-wasteland experience, which hints at the villainous 'Darkseid'.
Overall, 'Dawn of Justice' is an enjoyable experience if you take it on a light and fun level, but that's about it. Of course, a segment of the film is hijacked for the purpose of advertising the upcoming 'Justice League', but that's not really a major nit-pick. Whether you love it or hate it...I can't blame anyone cause the likes and dislikes are about 50/50. That aside, I can safely say I still had a good time watching this:)