"Perry when you assign a story you are making a choice about what is important."

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2016)

Reviewers Notes, humbly submitted:
1. Synder's work in Watchmen will always rank him as one of the greats. That film was not merely good, it was perfect. Script, acting, direction, perfect. His later films, not so much.
2. OK, I get it, Synder read Miller's Dark Knight and fell in love. We all did. But the best adaptation of that work remains the animated version. With Nolan's film a close second. This film? Not so much.
3. This overlong film has problems. Massive problems. Casting the Ben is like spinning a red cape in front of a bull. We all know Ben's brother can act. But Ben himself has the chin but not the chops.
4. The core idea behind going all dark and dreary is to appeal the adult audience. The flaw in the logic is that the implication is that adults have hitherto been avoiding superhero movies...? But that is not true. Is it? Think about it.
5. The first 20 minutes of any film is called the "Hook." Synder knows this because he is a film God and he did Watchmen. But the Hook here is all over the map. It fails to grab. Not a great start.
6. A "black" Perry White is politically correct. And it is important to be politically correct in a movie offering a more "realistic" portrait of superheroes. Or is that an oxymoron? I get confused.
7. Once America had ideals. Superman and Batman were part of that. Now we have TV shows that feature greed, schools that teach it, bankers who flaunt it, politicians who emulate it. On TV, we have a dozen variations of zombie narratives. Is there a connection?
8. "Perry when you assign a story you are making choice about what is important." (dialog) Good point. When you engage top talent to do major film you are making a similar choice. This may not have a completely wrong choice, but it was not the right choice either.
9. "Don't worry. I am a friend of your son's." "I figured. The cape." (dialog). Well, now the GOOD news, if you are prepared to slog through an astonishing hour and a half of pure cinematic muddle, the payoff is kinda fun. And, ironically, for a film that is supposed to be the penultimate "anti-superhero" film, it reminds us, briefly, of a time when superhero movies were just plain fun.
10. A footnote -- for a guy who cut his teeth on light comedy, Jesse Eisenberg is becoming a player. First Social Network, now a very irritating Luthor. Nice work!