Best Comic-Book Movie Ever!

Rating: 5/10 (26 March 2016)

First, the negatives:
1. Jesse Eisenberg / Lex Luthor. This was the one casting decision that I didn't like. And after seeing the movie, I still don't like it. This version of Lex Luthor just didn't work for me.
2. The Knightmare sequence. The Knightmare just suddenly came out of nowhere; it wasn't clear what triggered the Knightmare; and it didn't seem to be explained or referenced afterward.
Now the positives:
1. Gal Gadot / Wonder Woman. Many people didn't like the casting of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman when it was announced, but I liked it. I thought Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck had good performances, but Gal Gadot was definitely one of the best things about the movie. Avengers director Joss Whedon was hired to make a Wonder Woman movie in 2007, but failed to do so. BvS director Zack Snyder not only brought Wonder Woman to the big screen for the 1st time ever, but also made Wonder Woman a real bad-ass warrior. We see Wonder Woman use her bracelets, her shield, her sword, and her magic lasso. I can't wait to see the Wonder Woman movie in 2017.
2. The Batman vs Superman fight. Not just the fight, but seeing Batman's meticulous and brilliant planning prior to the fight. And then the fight itself was one of the best mano a mano fights in comic-book movie (CBM) history. Batman's brilliant strategic moves during the fight demonstrate why Batman is the best strategist among superheroes and is always prepared (unlike dumb-ass Tony Stark who was so dumb in Iron Man 3 that he not only went on TV and announced his home address to the whole world so that the bad guys could attack his home, but also wasn't prepared for the attack from the bad guys and also didn't warn his girlfriend to stay away from the house so that she wouldn't get in danger when the bad guys fire a missile at his house).
3. Doomsday. A hero isn't much of a hero unless there's a formidable villain to challenge the hero and push the hero to the limit. Without Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker is just a farmer and not a Jedi Knight who helped defeat the Galactic Empire. Without Medusa and the Kraken, Perseus doesn't get a constellation named after him. A good hero needs a formidable villain to challenge him/her and push him/her to the limit.
As I mentioned in the negatives above, this version of Lex Luthor just didn't work for me. But Doomsday was a great villain because he's one of the most formidable villains in CBM history. That's what makes DC/WB movies in general far superior to Marvel Studios movies. Marvel Studios movies don't have any formidable villains. When watching The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, I never felt that the weak Chitauri (who had no superpowers at all) or even Ultron and his army of robots were ever any danger to the Avengers. But when watching BvS, Doomsday was clearly a danger to the Trinity. In The Avengers, all it took was 1 nuclear missile fired by a U.S. military jet to defeat 100s of Chitauri. Doomsday was hit with a nuclear missile and still couldn't be stopped!
4. The Trinity. The scene of the Trinity, 3 of the 4 most popular and most iconic superheroes in American comics history, standing together side-by-side ready for battle is the most iconic shot ever in a CBM. Even though I've seen that scene many times in the trailers, it was still awesome to see it happening for the 1st time in the movie. And that scene got 1 of the loudest applause in the theater.
5. The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg cameos. Unlike the stupid and useless Stan Lee cameos or the lame post-credit scenes that have no purpose other than to tease the next movie in Marvel Studios movies, Zack Snyder cleverly integrated the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg cameos into BvS in a way that not only made sense but also didn't clutter up the movie (like many detractors had claimed it would). It was a brilliant way by Snyder to set up the Justice League without resorting to a lame post-credit scene.
6. When Superman was asked by Senator Finch to appear at the hearing, he does so voluntarily even though they had no power to force him to do so (just like he had voluntarily surrendered himself to the U.S. military in Man of Steel even though they had no power to force him to). That demonstrates once again that Superman respects the authority of the people and is willing to answer to the people.
Overall:
The critics who gave BvS a low rating definitely got it wrong. Despite its flaws, BvS is still definitely better than any of the Marvel Studios movies that most critics always get an orgasm over. BvS presents a thought-provoking analysis of justice, absolute power, accountability, and the actions of and reaction to superheroes in a real-world environment. The 1st CBM I ever saw was Superman: The Movie in 1978. Since then, I've seen over 50 CBMs and I have to say that BvS is 1 of the best CBMs ever made.
After seeing BvS, I can understand why many critics gave the movie a low rating. Those critics are used to seeing the light-hearted, kiddie movies that Marvel Studios makes and aren't used to seeing CBMs that are mature and thought-provoking. Basically, Marvel Studios movies are like live-action cartoons (similar to The Flintstones or Scooby-Doo movies) while BvS is like a live-action graphic novel. Zack Snyder effectively took parts of The Dark Knight Returns and The Death of Superman stories from the comics and brought them to life on the big screen.