The greatest Gladiator match in the history of the world.. sort of

Rating: 5/10 (26 March 2016)

So first things first i am not a fan of Man of Steel, i really didn't like it. But also bear in mind that i was excited as hell when this film got announced. So Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice, how could you not be excited by that name? But like many i have some strong feelings on the film that need to be addressed and i will dive straight into them.
The film follows on directly from Man of Steel and the opening is very cool. We are shown the destruction of Metropolis and it was quite an interesting take on what most people hated from MoS. We are introduced to Bruce Wayne who was there when things were going down with Superman and Zod and straight off the bat (no pun intended) Ben Affleck was incredible. He gives what is in my opinion the most accurate and raw performance as Bruce Wayne and Batman yet, as one of the few people that was on board with Batfleck from the beginning that makes me happy. Jeremy Irons as Alfred i also liked a lot, but he wasn't in it enough and instead the focus is on less interesting characters such as Amy Adams' Lois Lane, who did nothing in this film and bored me.
So overall the Batman element was very cool and it was great getting to see him do some real detective work. Ben Affleck's take from that to the fighting style was very similar to the Arkham games but take that as a huge positive. Anyway, that being said the rest of the film just comes across in one word as Sloppily edited. Scenes will be taking place and then completely change into another scene that feels out of place and has no context. This happens a hell of a lot of times. I have no problem with Henry Cavill but in this film Superman is one of the least interesting parts. At first it is interesting to see him in the courthouse and he is on trial, people are trying to figure out whether he is a hero or a threat. I liked that, but i feel it is something that maybe should have been addressed in Man of Steel and not here because honestly it takes up most of the film and just comes across as boring after a while, especially when the film focuses on Clark and Lois for long periods of time.
So already it feels like a lot is going on, but there is more. My biggest worry was Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, i felt he was a miscast and guess what, i've seen the film and i still feel like he is a miscast. Lex only speaks in one liners for this entire film and it did not feel like the character although he was playing Lex Luthor Jr. It was nice to see Jesse put his own stamp in the character but ultimately it didn't work because as i was watching the film i was thinking "this guy would be great as The Riddler". So we have the subplot of Lex obtaining Kryptonite in order to take out Superman as well as creating Doomsday for no reason. Then we have Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman. I'll be honest, i thought she was awesome but the film would have been the same film without her. I feel she was used to shoehorn in other members of the Justice League who are all introduced, my favourite of which was Cyborg, but we do see Aquaman and the Flash too. Anyway, when Wonder Woman turns up it was an awesome moment, she had her own really cool theme song and the Trinity standing together was such a wow moment and it made me crack a huge smile. But yeah, she has her own plot so already we are getting ahead of ourselves and haven't even spoken about the main event.
So the fight happens towards the end of the movie and is resolved in about 10 minutes. The fight itself was really cool, Batman and Superman clashing was awesome and the dialogue between them was great, i like how they made Superman more human because you actually see him get hurt. The fight is so brutal but the way the two of them resolve it, well it was just ridiculous. And then we have Doomsday, who for one thing was spoiled in the trailer, but he didn't need to be here at all. He was like the love child of a 2012 Ninja Turtle and the troll from Harry Potter, but he was literally just a plot point to bring the Trinity together and to see them fight on the big screen for the first time which admittedly was cool to see.
In the end, i can't help but feel disappointed by Dawn of Justice. Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot are going to make great additions to the DCU and there are a lot of cool things to like. But the pacing is terrible, the CGI completely took me out of it especially during the weird dream sequence. The villain had no motivation and i forgot why he was after Superman and most of the characters, besides Batman and Wonder Woman, were uninteresting. Is it worth seeing? Well, sure but i know you will be seeing it anyway. Is the pay off enough? No it really isn't. It was cool to see the characters together but the film could have been so much more. I am however excited for the Wonder Woman movie and excited to see how they move things forward in later films so if the film was trying to be a tease for things to come in the future then yes it did succeed, even if in the end all we get is something that is 100% average.