Near Perfect, Not A Train Wreck But Lost A Couple Of Carriages!

Rating: 5/10 (25 March 2016)

Many would have you believe this movie is a train wreck, In my opinion it isn't but It did lose a few carriages along the way. It touches on plot points from numerous Comic Book story lines and ties them together in an enjoyable film. It is by no means perfect, It has a few things they could have executed better or have left out all together but it is far from the disaster critics claim it to be.
I felt Batman and Superman were both relatable and they did a great job humanizing Superman with his reactions to the ongoing debate about him and his actions in Man of Steel. Batman was justified with his hate against the Kryptonian but I wasn't a fan of the "Branding" plot device they used to build Superman's dislike towards the Bat, They could have easily gone with excessive force like the breaking of knees and other injuries that take a severely long time to recover from and can effect their quality of life which would have still had the same effect but kept more in line with the character without making him a torturer.
Ben Affleck was a great Batman and an even better Bruce Wayne, You get the real sense that he is tired of putting on the whole Playboy routine when he is forced to go into it and his face suddenly drops into a scowl once he is free of the charade. This was something that was missing in almost every other Batman on screen. His interactions with Jeremy Irons/Alfred had a lot of character to them and you could feel like they have been at this for a while (some of my favorite scenes.) And FINALLY!, Batman fought how I always imagined him to, They nailed his fighting style and I loved seeing him use gadgets to disarm the thugs before jumping into the fight just like an Arkham game, I only wish we saw more of this as they showed almost the whole sequence in the trailer.
Wonder Woman was a highlight of the movie, Gal did a great job as both sides of her character, She was a very seductive playful Diana and a ferocious Wonder Woman. She made me excited for her solo film.
The villains were the weakest part, Doomsday though a necessary threat to combine the Trinity was rather generic and Jessie's Lex seemed like he was trying to channel Heath Ledger's Joker. I do not know why they insist on making Lex a typical run of the mill Insane guy that is quirky and somewhat childish when this movie needed a more cold, calculating and menacing Luthor like Clancy Brown delivered in the animated series. Some of his lines in this movie were great but could have been amazing with a more seasoned actor with a much more restrained performance.
Now on to Spoilers...
Now I knew pretty much the whole film already thanks to the bad PR job of trailer 2 but one thing that did surprise me was The Flash's message from the future, the multiverse or other. I wondered how they were going to add in the Darkseid nightmare and make it make sense since Batman would have no knowledge of him. I expected perhaps a vision of things to come if Batman and Superman wouldn't stop fighting but I wasn't sure where it would come from and liked what they did.
Lex bombing the court I thought was a great decision, It was a perfect straw to break Batman's back, It helps fuel the fire of the controversy as I'm sure some would believe Superman was the one responsible and the pain Henry conveyed standing in the demolished building, the only survivor was powerful.
The cameos of Aquaman, Cyborg and the other Flash while cool to see I feel could have been left out. All we really needed to see was the files with their logos on them and leave the rest up to our imaginations, As taking that 5 minutes away from the main story slowed the pace down for me just as it should have been ramping up to the confrontation between Batman and Superman
I hate that they had Batman nonchalantly killing the gun men in the vehicles during the Batmobile and Batwing scenes, and then again with the Flamethrower thug holding Ma Kent hostage, Potentially more if the thugs in the previous room didn't get out of the way when he aimed the thug that was discharging his weapon at them. I hoped the killing I heard rumors of would be strictly in the Nightmare scenarios but the fact that they had him murder thugs without hesitation almost ruined the film for me. I think it would have had added a lot more weight to the moment where Batman has the Krytonite spear to Superman's throat if he had never taken a life before. It would have made the stakes higher as Batman knows a random cop could get lucky and kill the Joker or another villain that he plays one too many jokes on, He doesn't have to kill him for him to die... but he is the only one that has what is needed to take out Superman, an alien that could enslave the world and he has to make the hardest choice in his life at that point. It would have also made me like the fact that he didn't kill him was because he heard his mother's name which would remind him that all life is precious and that he nearly made a big mistake. I think Ben would have excelled in that situation if given to him
And finally, Who else thinks that the A.I in Zod's ship may evolve to become the DCMU Brainiac?