Flawed but thoroughly Entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2016)

Like many people I was concerned when I heard about this movie being made. I've not read the comic books so I don't know if the run in between batman and superman is 'a thing' and the whole premise behind two heroes hating each other for very hypocritical reason's was a bit forced to me.
However the movie does deliver, it's entertaining from start to finish and there is no particularly clear weaknesses in the acting line up. Affleck does a decent job as a Batman which is somewhat different from the Bale version. There are several plot twists and the movie moves along at a very fast pace. The action is very good and the special affects are awesome, of course.
The real hero of the movie was Wonder Woman for me, they did a really good job with her small contribution to the movie. She never needed saving, or to use her looks to get out of situations, she just turns up and does a good job on the alien at the end, ultimately contributing significantly more than batman to his eventual downfall.
I was less convinced by Eisenberg as Lex Luther however. I couldn't see past the character being a Heath Ledger Joker Mark 2. Maybe I'm being harsh as I don't think he played the part badly, it just didn't feel unique or fresh to me.
There are of course many plot holes which I have seen listed on this site. This is what stops the movie from being any more than a 7/10 for me. But it's certainly much better thought out than say a fast and furious movie with action, action, action and no substance.
It's also an improvement on Man of Steel. Again though I felt there was unnecessary sections of the movie which could have been left out. I didn't feel the need for the 5 minute batman history at the beginning. We've seen this over and over again in the Bale movies.
Finally the thing that really let's the movie down for me is that I couldn't help getting the feeling that the main purpose of this movie was to solely set the stage for (and promote) the whole host of DC Universe movies which are set to appear over the next 5 years. Although I'm somewhat excited by new characters such as Wonder Woman on the big screen having got bored a long time ago with the likes of Marvel's Tony Stark and Captain America, I do feel like DC are looking to replicate the success in creating a long running Cash Cow of movie franchises, assemblies, sequels and spin offs, which is fine in itself, but the way it was represented in the movie felt very forced. Take Batman at the end when he says 'We must find them and fight with them'. At this stage how does batman know about the imminent threat? The well presented Logos of each character on LexCorps database is another obvious indication.
Maybe this is just me, generally I love to watch original ideas in movies and I'm not the biggest Comic Book Movie Fan either. Ultimately this was a very good and thoroughly entertaining one though, if you can see past the flaws.