After watching the movie a second time..........

Rating: 10/10 (24 March 2016)

I had returned from my first viewing of Dawn of Justice, relatively satisfied with the movie, I thought the movie was great though I had minor issues with the pacing as well as editing during the first part of the move. However, I soon realized that my opinions were not the consensus, critics hated the movie, and while at that time I did not think the movie was perfect, I didn't understand why there was so much vitriol, especially since even among the critics there never was a clear idea on why they hated the movie. For example some said there was too much story others said too little. So when I went to watch it a second time, I took extra care to scrutinize the film, trying to understand the reason for the overwhelming negative reactions by critics. And I have to say I actually enjoyed my second viewing more than the first, what I thought to be sloppy and careless editing turned out to be deliberate. The story was not told in a linear fashion with the director choosing to switch between Lex, Bruce and Superman, their scenes are parallels of each other. The parallels are most pronounced after the bombing at Superman's trial. The scene where Bruce training in the bat cave is immediately followed by Luthor entering the birthing chamber. (They are preparing for war) After which these scenes are followed by Bruce and Clark both having conversations with their dead father/ father figure (mental preparation for the battle). Lex Luthor is a character I feel is wrongfully maligned, he might not be the Lex Luthor we remember from the old movies and the animated series, but I feel that he is still very much a compelling character. His actions are easily explained by two lines, "the greatest tragedy is to have knowledge without power, because that is paradoxical" this shows that Lex feels that he has all the knowledge in the world yet he lacks power, hence he resents the god-like superman. The second line "I have come to realize that God if all powerful cannot be good, and if God is all good he cannot exist" the latter statement is proved wrong, as Superman (a god-like entity) exist, however Lex can still prove the first statement, that if God is all powerful he cannot be good. Hence he forces Superman to bring him the head of the bat, to show the whole world that his view is right. I think it's interesting that Batman's line later in the movie "the only way the world would make sense, is if you force it to" also very much applies to Lex as a character. Another issue fans have with the movie is that the conflict between Batman and Superman was resolve to quickly. Except I don't think it has, Batman did not save Martha Kent for Superman, he saves her for himself, to right the wrongs of his past. When batman leaves, he states â€“ Martha would not die. He does not say your mother, or even Martha Kent. For a man haunted by the deaths of his family, perhaps this is just another way for him to find closure, and to save his mother, even if it's by proxy. At the end of the day, Superman v Batman, is by no means a bad film, all you need is to pay attention to the visual and verbal cues that would make the story make sense. I'm pretty sure if someone were to rearrange all the shots in the film, we could end up with a more conventional and less convoluted movie, but I rather like it the way it is. The movie forces you to think, the question certain choices and decisions, making the experience and engaging one. Additionally, the way the film is edited also makes it harder for us to predict what is going to happen next, several scenes in this movie genuinely surprised me (something that is pretty rare these days). The movie doesn't present everything to you in BLACK AND WHITE, but it's all there, you just need to observe and look closely.