Went in with low expectations and was blown away

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2016)

I went to see this film with my brother after watching as many spoiler free reviews as possible. We both went in after having discussed the need for very low to no expectations.
We're both avid DC fans, not fans of Zack Snyder and extremely skeptical of casting choices. 5 Minutes in my brother was leaning forward in his seat and I was enjoying the well paced ramps of intensity.
The editing was extremely manic, so much so that I'd describe it as a flood of visual and plot points, and narratives, for the greater DC universe. It wasn't hard to keep track of what was happening, But the cohesiveness off the story was like trying to piece together an amazing night out the next day.
That being said, It was an amazing night out. They went to great lengths to bring the comics to the screen while taking artistic/else-world liberties with the characters.
Jessie Eisenberg remains a bad choice for Lex, buuuut in context of the license being taken by this telling, he's forgivable against the whole. Gal Gadot, pretty to look at, decent action, interesting set up for future installments as Wonder Woman. Henry Cavil is an ... interesting superman... lack luster as far as this telling of Superman goes, but also intriguing against the "Injustice" set up.
Ben Affleck won over a fan in me as the new batman I have to admit. The only way he could begin to compete with Bale's batman is by being the batman wee saw in this movie. I look forward to seeing him find his humanity and moral compass again.
As far as the comic story adaptions, Doomsday, Dark Knight Returns, Death in the family, Death of Superman, (Red Son Rising?), Injustice, Darkseid AND the Justice League. It just felt like a lot to keep track of and the writers better have a game plan for a wholly original escalation for this telling as they tapped some of the greatest most iconic stories of all time in DC.
That being said It's exciting to think that a new stand alone batman movie might draw from Death in the family!
In conclusion, I view this as being handled in the opposite way Marvel setup characters individually then deployed the collective.
We've been given an intense overview of the story, now we'll be taken into the various character developments. The whole thing is very D.C and despite it's many failings, this movie is solid 7.5 out of 10 for me. I give it an 8 on IMDb because if I have to round off, I'll gladly round up on this one.