Instead of bringing Superman up to Batman's level it has the opposite effect

Rating: 4/10 (23 March 2016)

We all know what the genius Christopher Nolan did for the Batman franchise. He revitalised it and gave it new life. How did he do it? He made the universe realistic and created complex characters that were fascinating to watch. Now seemingly, all that hard work has gone down the drain and we are left with this. First of all, it is unforgivable for a film of this nature to be as boring as it was for as long as it was. If you rewatch 'The Dark Knight' you'll notice there is a solid half hour period of building up and introducing characters and story lines, and yet you never even notice because it is directed with impeccable pacing and intertwined with scenes of brilliant action. Director Zack Snyder completely fails in this regard. The films takes well over an hour to set everything up (even though there's less going on in this one story-wise) and it feels like double that.
The film was either going to go one of two ways. Everyone knows that the Superman franchise has been completely lost for a long time now. The character is dull and people have finally realised it. How do they fix it? By introducing Batman, who conversely is at the absolute peak of his popularity after Nolan's treatment, into the same universe and hoping his popularity pays off. Only they went about it the completely wrong way. They took everything that was making Batman popular and scrapped it, while leaving in every aspect that made Superman so unwatchable - we get it, there's only one way to defeat him and it's been done a thousand times.
When the action finally kicks off well into the film Snyder actually does a reasonable job with what he has to work with. The fight scenes are visually impressive but completely lack the thoughtfulness that Nolan created. Gotham looked impressive and there was a bit of a 'Sin City' feel about it that actually worked quite well. Ben Affleck as Batman was passable. He brought all the intensity necessary to the role, and while he was never going to have the acting chops that Christian Bale brought to the role, he still handles himself well for the most part and is fine in my opinion to continue on the role for the near future (he has a number of films featuring his Batman in the works at the moment).
Overall the whole thing was a big let down for me. We weren't even treated to an action sequence to the kick the film off. Wonder Woman brought absolutely nothing to the film (I can only imagine she was a last minute inclusion on behalf of female audience members). The story was basic and even then didn't always make a lot of sense. Characters motives were often questionable at best. Altogether it was a complete misfire that I hope we don't have to sit through anything like again. I love Batman but not this version of him. I would rather sit through 'Batman and Robin' that watch this again and that it saying a lot.