Don't follow this white rabbit

Rating: 6/10 (7 July 2016)

It's hard to blame me for the lack of love for Zach Snyder's works. No matter what this man does, he'll still remain a genius to me for 300 and Watchmen. However, no love in the world could make me call Batman v Superman a masterpiece.
Truth be told, I haven't seen the theatrical cut, going right for the Ultimate version instead, so I can't say whether the cinema critics were right in finding this film so abysmal. The extended version is almost three hours long, and although those hours do have a spark of genius in them, for the most part it can be said that Snyder seems to have forgotten that he himself isn't the main audience and got lost in his own visions and interpretations.
If you thought Nolan's Batman was dark and depressing then welcome to the Snyder's vision of Bruce Wayne, who's borderline psychotic during the day and is outright maniacal during his bat-costumed nights. Dwelling on the traumatized past is what Zack Snyder has already told us a story about once in Sucker Punch, so no wonder that this time his characters are either balancing on the edge of insanity and emotional breakdown or are well beyond that line. Combined with the classic noir'ish atmosphere of the Batman universe and with the intentionally disjointed and fragmented storytelling Snyder employs this time, it produces a powerful bizarre effect when the borders of reality get blurred and you aren't sure whether what you see is really happening or it's just a product of some character's sick subconsciousness. The apogee of that surrealism is Bruce Wayne's Batman dream, which, in my opinion, is the single best part of the film that still has enough punch to show you that Snyder used to be called the most innovative and visionary director of the 2000's for a reason.
But, as the story progresses, it loses its charm of an unhealthy illusion and becomes more and more mediocre in its reality. Bruce Wayne's motives behind the blind hatred towards Superman, which aren't important at first because Batman as a character isn't reasonable as a whole, become more and more blunt and shallow, to the point where he can be provoked by a series of notes written on paychecks. The action sequences, the dialogues, the character emotions - they all signalize that Snyder had probably been bitten by Michael Bay under the full moon, so now the virus which makes people shoot mindless generic messy fights with lots of destruction and explosions has found a new carrier and even mutated.
It's a pity how much talent had been buried under the ruins of Batman v Superman. It's like The Avengers inside out: alone by themselves, the new Superman and even the new Batman are (or might have been if we had a standalone Batman film by now) solid and wholesome, but together they create a whirlwind of undercooked mess that leaves absolutely no aftertaste (which I'm even grateful for in this case). The only person who managed to stand out is Jesse Eisenberg, who, after having shined in The Social Network as a misanthropical eccentric nerd with a suppressed contempt for the world, seemed to have a real itch to put on those shoes once again.