A Bit Meandering, But Good Overall

Rating: 7/10 (8 April 2016)

This is the first time that I've ever decided to see a movie twice before writing a review. Normally I'd want my first reaction to be the thing that I write up, but with this movie there was so much going on with the story line that I felt like it deserved a second viewing before sharing my thoughts. That said, the first thing you should know about this film is that it's jam packed with lots of story and lots of action--indeed, some critical commentaries from comic book fans have said that the film tries to morph too many stand alone comic book stories into one cohesive narrative.
That may well be the case, but when trying to judge the movie based on its own merits, I must say that my second viewing left me presently surprised with how much I liked this film. Yes, there are things that I could nitpick about: the dream sequence was completely lost on me (though it evidently made the cut to set up future films in the DCU franchise); the film is less "dark" than some are saying, and I found the score to be annoying in a way that conjures up the worst of comic book adaptations; the finale is a huge display of CGI effects that went a bit overboard; and Gal Godot just doesn't do it for me as Wonder Woman--and by that I mean nothing heinous, just simply that she doesn't resemble the character.
Still, all things considered, this is far from a bad movie. I don't think it's quite as good as "Man of Steel" (another film that it took me a second viewing to truly appreciate), but it's certainly not a bad superhero flick. Indeed, I rank it higher than last year's "Age of Ultron", a film which also suffered from an overcrowded plot. Unlike "Ultron", "Dawn of Justice" has better pacing and better storytelling conventions.
There is one thing that I do feel that makes the film suffer a bit, though, and that is its choice of real world targets for the main dramatic disaster scene of the movie. No spoilers here, but let's just say that a notable landmark is destroyed, and dozens if not hundreds of people are murdered in the process. That scene really bothered me. It was just a bit too realistic, and it made it hard for me to like that portion of the film.
All that said, I'm going with 7/10 stars for this one. A good movie, but just a bit short of great.