The first hero versus hero battle of 2016

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2016)

This film has not been doing so well with critics, but from the looks of its worldwide box office total, I do not think this film is going to be considered a financial failure. I was not sure what to expect considering the bad reviews and the fact so many seemed to really dislike the film, but overall I enjoyed it. Seems this one is going to end up being like the Man of Steel, where it was you either loved it or you hated it. I enjoyed that one as well, in fact, I probably enjoyed that one a bit more than this one. This one did a lot of good things and had great action sequences, but there were some things that were simply very puzzling going on too. Going in, my main concern was the casting of two of the characters as I was not sure how to feel about Ben Affleck's Batman or Jesse Eisenberg's Lex. Well, Ben Affleck turned in a very good portrayal of the Dark Knight making me wish he had gotten a stand alone film before this movie had come out. Jesse Eisenberg though was not the problem with Lex Luthor. He did alright, but it was how he was presented that I found some fault with and I will discuss that more later.
The story has Superman still saving the day, but the events of Man of Steel are shown to have claimed many innocent people, including people working for Bruce Wayne. An incident in Africa that claimed many lives has people clamoring that Superman must be controlled and enter Lex Luthor who has found a mysterious green rock among the debris from General Zod's ship. Bruce Wayne also has an interest as he wants to bring Superman to justice for the clash Superman and Zod had in Metropolis. With some manipulation, Luthor orchestrates a scenario where the two heroes are at odds and the build up to an all out fight is eminent; however, something else is going on where no one can see it, a massive threat that may be just the thing to unite the two feuding heroes and bring another hero into the mix as well.
The main problems I had with the film is the overall flow of the film. It moved slowly, but this turned out to sort of be a positive too as it really got me anticipating the showdown between Batman and Superman. I also understand why it had this pace as DC is kind of behind at the moment. Why are they so behind Marvel? Well, the first attempt at revitalizing the Superman franchise kind of stalled with Superman Returns and then the Green Lantern film also misfired. However, more than those two failures was the success of the Nolan Batman films. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed his trilogy, but he created a realistic and gritty Gotham where the son of Kyrpton just does not seem possible at all. So you cannot really have superheroes in this world, but at the same time you cannot really have this particular Batman in a world where there are super powered people, but you can't do a Justice League without Batman so you end up waiting until the Nolan films are done which takes seven years. The other main problem I had with this film is Lex Luthor. Once again, had nothing to do with the actor, but how he was presented. Why was he doing what he was doing? It made no sense, he gives a throwaway line about being abused, but that is not enough explanation as to why he wants Superman dead or why he wishes to create an abomination. It is like the fact he is Lex Luthor and Superman's number one villain is reason enough, but it isn't. We need more reason why he is the psycho that he is other than daddy hit me...at least I do. Then there was the dream sequence where Bruce wakes up from a dream and is confronted by a strange man seeming to be issuing a warning from the future or something and this too is a dream. Maybe this will be explained in a later film, but it really made no sense in the context it was used here in this film. Then again, I am more Marvel fan than DC, so someone from the DC universe may know exactly what that was all about.
Overall, I enjoyed the film a good deal. It is like a lot of films I saw last year though that just were not good enough to warrant giving the film higher than an eight which to me is a good movie so in no ways am I saying it was a bad film. Batman was done really well, the film had excellent action sequences and the fight between the two titans was awesome. There was just a lot going on that just needed more work as the film spent a bit too much time getting really revved up and there were just a few holes in the story and some of the characters. This film was not as good as Deadpool to me also released this year and I am betting I like the next superhero clash more too in the form of Captain America: Civil War, but as I have said, I have always been more Marvel than DC fan, but I do really enjoy both. I enjoyed this film quite a lot and I look forward to the next installment and I hope to see Ben Affleck get a standalone Batman film sometime in the future too.