Epic movie that needs it's Extended Cut to live up to its own high standards

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2016)

So, I got around to seeing Batman v Superman last night and what I can say for sure is that this is a movie that will benefit greatly from its extended three-hour Director's Cut. My first impressions (I plan on seeing it again soon) are that not unexpectedly adapting a Batman/Superman story to the big screen was a monumental task, and, quite honestly, the very fact that it's here is something to be marvelled at. (no pun intended)
This is a very untradtitional film in that it does not have a central character or point of view to cling to; instead we follow two story lines, with two main characters and their own supporting cast. We have a Batman detective story with a side serving of Wonder Woman and Alfred, and a Superman story about his struggle to cope with his very existence, prominently featuring Lois Lane. Intersecting throughout and finally converging towards the final act of the movie, these story lines could serve their own separate movies, and so, hard as he tries, Snyder is only mildly successful in making everything work in the end. Such a colossal undertaking naturally deserves a massive run time as well, perhaps enough even for two movies, but what we have is the trimmed down Theatrical Cut, which feels like there's parts missing.
Despite all this, the direction and cinematogrpahy is stellar, with Zack Snyder's iconic style of filmmaking bringing us another comic book movie that not only has comic book characters in it but also looks and feels like a comic book come to life. The casting is stellar, with Ben Affleck chewing scenery as Batman, and, in my personal opinion, Henry Cavill truly coming into his own as this generation's Superman, and also Gal Gadot who is serviceable as Wonder Woman (it helps that she's tall). The soundtrack by crowd-pleasers Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL is top-notch but the sound-editing felt all over the place (especially with Wonder Woman's and Batman's theme) with abrupt starts and stops which tried to follow the flow of the action but just felt out of place at times.
And finally, massive props for the Batman origin story which was done with quickly and absolutely beautifully early-on in the movie. It was perhaps my favorite scene of the whole film. I'm majorly excited to see it again, and am eagerly anticipating the Extended Cut as well.