Brilliance in a Superpowered Batblender

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2016)

While we live in a time of two track minds where nuance is not allowed, this is a film fan boys will flaunt and critics will flop while audience members unbound by nonsensical corporate corroborated dedication to one comic company or another will see good and bad. Yes, the film has many flaws and yes, it has a lot of fun, but overall it's neither a disaster, nor a masterwork, it's a slightly above average popcorn flick with production quality and performances that show effort in the face of flimsy storytelling and a butchered 30 minutes of missing movie.
The film seemed content to linger in melodrama until its final third during which as much action and Justice League set up had to be slammed in as sloppily as directorially possible. As fans assumed from some of the many overlong trailers there wasn't much left to see, it was overly crowed struggling to sustain the balance between brooding and bombastic brain bashing. With possibly one of the worst casting decisions since Voldemort's brother as Michael Jackson, you simply can't make an awkward, nasally man child who has never played anyone other than himself act like a brilliant and menacing 50 year old Lex Corp CEO and criminal mastermind who sounds nothing like Michael Cera on Adderall.
All in all, the film is a hodgepodge of good dialogue and poor story structure, likely due to one half of the two man writing team. It features phenomenal fight choreography, emotionally investing performances with payoff that often seems to refund itself. For every step forward the film takes, it takes one back, Batfleck is brutally bad to the bone, Lexinberg is a wacky cartoon character, Wonder Woman is wonderful, Mercy was mercilessly wasted, Cavil-El carried the climax and then backpedaled into a fumble, the world-building was bafflingly ham handed but in the end it was worth a watch for its sparks of brilliance, though they usually douse themselves. Whatever you do, don't wait until after the credits, because the only scene you'll see is a groaning audience walking wearily out after a few wasted minutes.