Zack Snyder should consider a career making video games

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 2016)

I really wanted to like this movie. Even though many hated Man of Steel (which I didn't watch), I liked Sucker Punch and thought Zack Snyder could bring something new and complex to the Justice League. I heard beforehand that this film was panned by critics and chose to dismiss them as Marvel fanboys, but I now see that I was very wrong. I love the DC heroes and was stoked to see this but over the course of the film, my optimism faded to disappointment and disbelief at how bad it was. There were a lot of problems but my biggest gripes were 1.) Jesse Eisenberg's performance as Lex Luthor, 2.) The overuse of the slow motion effect, 3.) pointless dream sequences, and worst of all 4.) Lois Lane.
Lex Luthor is supposed to be a charismatic, egotistical, genius-level intellect, but in this film, he comes across as a mentally-troubled savant who's more of an annoyance to our heroes than a serious threat. If Superman and Batman weren't so distracted with defeating one another, Luthor would be a lame duck. For me, he didn't come across as a villain, but someone to pity instead. I didn't like the direction Snyder took with a deranged Lex Luthor. It was like watching a bad impersonation of the Joker instead. The real Lex Luthor is a villain that can match Superman's brawn with intellect alone.
Next up is the ridiculous amount of slow motion shots of this film and the lazy action scenes. I know that Snyder relies on slow motion quite a bit in his films and it's something I like to see in moderation. He overdoes it here. We see pearls falling in slow motion five or six times in a row, Superman's figure in the distance slowly descending, Bruce falling into a trapdoor in the woods, and many other small details that bog down the pace.
The action scenes were pretty mediocre for a superhero movie. The only standout fight scene was Batman when rescuing Martha Kent. The other scenes were for the most part machine-guns buzzing non-stop, Michael Bay level explosions, or fist fights that would have looked fantastic if they weren't all in the dark. Seriously, all the fights are during the night time amid rain and lightning so you can hardly see a thing. It's as if the producers are trying to mask technical flaws as much as they can.
The dream sequences shouldn't be in this movie. They felt out of place and drawn out. They'd be good as deleted scenes though.
Finally, Lois Lane was banal in this movie. Snyder just fell back on the old damsel in distress trope. No matter where she is, this purportedly capable journalist needs rescuing no matter how simple the task at hand is. She can't even recover a javelin from the bottom of a pool without drowning. She meets Luthor on the top of a building, not even taking care to not get pushed off. He comes up behind her and she just kind of waits for him to do it. From this movie, you get the sense that Lois will always be a burden to Clark.
There were some bright spots throughout like Wonderwoman, Holly Hunter as Senator Finch, and Jeremy Irons as Alfred, but overall this movie was too serious, colorless, and lacked subtlety and substance. People complain about Marvel movies being campy, but as I was watching Ben Affleck's stoic face delivering lines in monotone, I realized camp was exactly what I wanted at that moment.