Mess of a film with amazing action sequences

Rating: 6/10 (25 March 2016)

SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW OF BATMAN VS SUPERMAN:
So what can I say about Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice? Well first and foremost, it's a mess. That's the bottom line. Cool or not, the way the film was constructed made it seem as if they just threw certain scenes together effortlessly. But this said, it does have elements that make-up for the lack of value in the storytelling, at least to an extent.
Man of Steel was very mixed in the responses, though I was luckily one of the moviegoers who actually appreciated it. And after seeing the Rotten Tomatoes rating for BvS drop to sub-35, I knew something was up. Yet I still remained excited and optimistic about seeing it. The film has flaws, and a lot of them. They are especially prominent in the method by which the story is told: the piecing-together of scenes is barely sequential until the final act, and it quickly stoops to the level of inducing boredom. You try to acknowledge the fact that these were still moments complimenting the story, and you do your best to enjoy them, but all of this wishful thinking ultimately fails. The writers beat the "Superman = bad" idea to a pulp, and you could barely care about it until our two main heroes (later becoming three) confront one-another. Oh, and the "Batman fighting Superman" premise is merely a sort of "debate" until a small but sweet sequence prior to the climax.
Another issue with the film is that it was very difficult to become invested in any of the characters save for Lex Luther, as great as the acting was in general. Bruce Wayne and Alfred had a few neat moments, but otherwise nothing stood-out. They were just... bland; nothing more, nothing less. Clark and Lois were thrown to the side and did not feel significant in the least for the former two acts of the film. When taking the role of civilians, there was next to nothing intriguing about the primary protagonists in the plot; this said though, their roles as individual, separate superheroes was developed very well and was immensely satisfying.
Mentioned earlier was Lex Luther, who was actually a generally more exciting antagonist than what he has been given credit for, actually receiving loads of criticism in regards to his performance and dialogue. To be honest, this couldn't be further from the truth: rather, he is the only character that I actually cared about in non-action moments, and his plan overall just oozed of anticipation. His use of General Zod's lifeless body to concoct a biological weapon, Doomsday, was a fantastic plot point. Doomsday's design was neat, though his face looked very troll-ish and awkward; but all this information known, he was still an excellent addition to the film, and he was a tremendously terrifying creature that was also accurately-portrayed as reeking of raw power. Something else that is noteworthy is the sheer fact that this film did everything in its power to set-up the Justice League arc later in the DCCU, through both brief glimpses of the other heroes and, more importantly, references of Darkseid (which even Luther himself alludes to at the end).
Now to the film's expense, there is a scarcity of action, well at least this holds true up until the massive third act. But in the scenes that did involve fighting, the film just boomed with amazement. With a solid conjunction of great choreography and beautiful effects, this would make sense. Batman's fighting was crisp and satisfying, as did the suit look stunning, and his use of his gadgets was, from recollection, neatly-written. And the penultimate fight with Superman was small in-scale but sweet: it wasn't particularly a spectacle to watch, but it was decently-choreographed, despite being slow. But the final fight against Doomsday was downright gorgeous, both visually and physically. This was hands-down one of the coolest climactic battles I have ever witnessed in a film! Marvel needs to step their game up in their future films to stand-up to this sequence!
In the realm of action sequences, this film really did it! It did not fail to excite me more for the future of the DCCU. But in the department of editing and the overall composition of the film, it is an uneventful collage of scenes that could have been reworked to create a better movie. Awesome, but very flawed. 6/10