Rushed, messy and lacking any real fun

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2016)

Im sad to say that this was a fatal blow to DC's cinematic universe before it had time to really get started. Man of Steel wasn't amazing but was decent and I had hopes for DC's future in movies. Clearly looking to emulate the success of Marvel's cinematic universe DC however decided not to take it's time to introduce us to it's characters and lead us to an eventual crossover. Instead it's chosen to give it all to Zack Snyder and force it out ASAP and now we have this under cooked mess. While Batman v Superman isn't awful or even that bad it is a far cry from what could have been and spells nothing but disaster for what's to come. Zack Snyder was a terrible choice from day one as while he is certainly talented at visual filmmaking he is terrible at telling a cohesive story with enjoyable characters unless he copies it right from a comic or graphic novel. This film tries to be several comic book stories in one and manages to do justice to none of them.
Firstly the film is completely joyless which some fans defend claiming it to be "dark and mature" well forgive me for expecting a film called BATMAN V SUPERMAN to be fun. When two men is silly outfits are fighting on screen there's only so much you can take seriously and while it's true that superhero stories can be mature they also need to remember what they are. Henry Cavill is dull and lifeless as Clark Kent/Superman and barely even speaks instead just looking glum 90% of the time. Ben Affleck does a decent job as Bruce Wayne and Batman and does fit the darker tone far better than his more brightly dressed opponent. I found Batman's story to be far more engaging although it's clear how confused the writers were in telling this ludicrous story which is more a 3 hour long teaser trailer for the Justice League as there are incredibly forced dream sequences to try and fit in these references to things to come. That's a huge problem with this movie, it's so busy trying to excite you for the next film it forgets to be a good movie on it's own. Batman and Superman's fight, the main point of the film has no reason to even happen and is purely fan service.
As for the villain we have Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and he was utterly laughable as this diabolical mastermind. Jesse is great when playing characters like Mark Zuckerberg but here he is horribly miscast. Amy Adams' Lois Lane was a strong enjoyable character and a highlight of Man of Steel but here she is nothing more than a waste of run time as her utterly meaningless quest throughout the film is there for no reason other than to keep her occupied until the climax. However an unexpected highlight of the film was Gal Gadot's surprising and excellent portrayal of Wonder Woman. She was by far the best part of the film for me in the limited time she gets and for nothing else her and Batman are the only things to look forward to in the future of the cinematic universe.
The film has some exciting action and in fact the first 20 minutes are excellent with heavy drama and great visual storytelling. It's a shame then that the rest of the film falls flat. In conclusion I hope DC can learn from this mistake and take greater care in future. There is potential that I don't want to see go to waste. Step 1: GET RID OF ZACK SNYDER.