Over all it seems a little under-cooked but it has its moments of glory!

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2016)

The ultimate fantasy of every superhero comics fan of seeing two of the most popular superheroes crossing paths finally bore roots with Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. A 'loose' sequel to Man of Steel, DOJ has undoubtedly been one of the most talked about and anticipated films ever since its announcement. And as it goes with every superhero movie, comic book nerds had a field time panning out theories- one more absurd than the other. For starters, and to put the outrageous fan theories to rest, Batman is Batman and not Deathstroke. Ben Affleck is Bruce Wayne and not Slade Wilson. So all that moolah in coming up with such a complex theory accounts to nothing. I mean common what were you expecting really?! This isn't Church and the Illuminati. Its just comics.
Coming to the movie itself, Zack Snyder had millions of hopes riding upon him. After all, he was bringing the caped crusader and the man of steel to share screen space for an ultimate showdown. It doesn't get any bigger. Since its opening, the film has got pretty mixed reviews. To put it straight, it could have been bettera lot, lot better. There are a plentiful of plot holes, lots of unconvincing sub-plots, multiple cliché filled sequences and almost nothing innovative. But then it is not entirely bad either. A few boxes checked rightly and the film manages to save itself from drowning. With all its weaknesses and shortcomings, there are moments when you just can't help whistling, clapping and cheering like it were the 'El Clásico'.
The film begins with the millionth portrayal of Bruce Wayne's back story. By now we all know it but we're shown it again nevertheless. Snyder looks hugely inspired by Christopher Nolan's formula of storytelling, as he builds it all slowly and patiently. So if you go expecting a fist fight between the two super heroes from the word go, you'd be disappointed and how. Interestingly, there are various instances in the film which suggest that Gotham and Metropolis are almost neighboring cities. Wonder why and how did the two big guys not cross path anytime earlier in that case. Anyway, when they finally do, it is when Bruce Wayne witnesses Superman battling it out with Zod, destructing every building, car and human that comes into their paths. (Remember the climax from Man of Steel, yes Bruce Wayne was at the scene). One such building that bites the dust happens to be a Wayne enterprises office, thereby killing many of Bruce's friends and colleagues. That is when the hero of Gotham becomes wary of the son of Krypton considering the amount of damage he can cause lest he turn to the dark side (Don't mind the Star Wars reference, you get the point).
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerbergerr, Jesse Eisenberg in his unconventional portrayal of Lex Luthor is busy negotiating with senator Finch to create a scheme that will help neutralize Superman if need be, just in case. That the young billionaire psychotic character with God complex has more sinister intentions is any ones guess. Quite predictably, he also is the catalyst that gets the two superheroes warring. How he does it is the least innovative and most over used ploy in movie history. They fight for what could have been easily avoided, but with their big superhero egos they fight it out before they talk it out. It is as unconvincing as it gets, but who caresthis is what we paid to see. The build up is amazing and the fight, for as long as it lasts is enjoyable. "Do you bleed?" is what Batman asks his nemesis during an earlier confrontation and he doesn't disappoint when they do clash. I'll leave it there and keep the rest for you to watch.
The other major character in the movie and surprisingly the most convincing one is Gal Gadot's Diana Prince aka the Wonder Woman. Right from her first introduction to the eerie revelation of hers being a meta human and finally her grand entrance in the climax, she is a delightful surprise. Fans would have surely loved to see a lot more of the Wonder Woman than what they get. Coming to Ben Affleck's portrayal of the dark knight, it takes us a little while to get adjusted to seeing him as Bruce Wayne and un-see the epic and memorable image of Christian Bale from Nolanverse. But once the transformation happens, he is an absolute treat to watch. You need a powerful actor to portray a character as intense and popular as that and Affleck does fine justice to the role.
Eisenberg is believable as Lex Luthor and shines more and more as the film goes by. The director has managed to portray him as an evil entity strong enough to challenge both super heroes. Predictably, Luthor creates the almost 'undefeatable' mega villain Doomsday to set up a grand show down in the climax and a somewhat shocking ending. The ever reliable Amy Adams has much more to do this time around that her previous outing and she keeps the charm of Lois Lane intact.
As far as extra freebies go, we get a glimpse of preview of the other meta humans in form of video files on Lex corps hard drives. This, naturally in the quest towards building up the DC version of a superhero multi-starrer-The Justice League. We thus, for the first time see the introduction of Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg.
To wrap it up, Dawn of Justice as a stand alone film seems a little under cooked considering the significance of bringing the two mighty superheroes in the same cinematic universe for the very first time. That said, it has its moments of glory and does its job of driving the DC verse towards an eventual assembly of heroes.