The Epic Superhero Showdown

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2017)

Henry Cavill has proved he is the Superman of the years to come, not a one time flop like Brandon Routh and worthy of the level of Christopher Reeve. Ben Affleck begins his task of taking over the cape and cowl from perhaps the greatest actor to ever play Batman in Christian Bale. I still felt WB/DC could've just moved forward with Bale's Batman, having him come out of retirement following the events of General Zod's world takeover attempt in Metropolis in 'Man of Steel'. However, they felt differently and being someone who wanted Bale back and didn't want Affleck as Batman, in the end I felt he was a very solid Batman/Bruce Wayne.
The story is solid, rushed at points and sometimes tough to follow. I saw this in the theater opening weekend and just finished the Ultimate Edition for the first time tonight. The Ultimate Edition is certainly superior and explains more about the plot. I liked both versions equally nonetheless.
The movie falls victim to a lot of hate common to our times on the internet. The fight between Batman and Superman is impressive and better than either Batman versus Bane fight in 'The Dark Knight Rises'. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman versus Doomsday is also very well done and entertaining. I'm not a comic book guru who nitpicks all the details, but Doomsday was like King Kong from hell. I enjoyed watching the future Justice League scramble to stop him.
Jesse Eisenberg isn't the perfect Lex Luthor, he isn't Gene Hackman but he's better than Kevin Spacey was. In the late 1990s, I always felt Billy Zane would've been the perfect Luthor. Eisenberg is the Lex Luthor version of Mark Zuckerberg, who he also portrayed in 'The Social Network'. That's where I believe the studio wanted to go with Luthor in this DC Universe. A more modern, young, rich whiz kid who owns his own corporate empire. I completely understand what they were going for and honestly... I enjoyed the fresh interpretation.
I'd say by Batman standards it's behind 'The Dark Knight Trilogy', equal to 'Batman' (1989) and 'Batman Returns' but better than 'Batman Forever' and 'Batman & Robin' by miles. By Superman standards it's on par with 'Superman: The Movie', 'Superman II' and 'Man of Steel' but better than III or IV from the Reeve era or 'Superman Returns'.