Not the perfect gladiator match, but something close to it.

Rating: 3/10 (24 March 2016)

Gonna start off by saying I could very well be biased, but I wanted to review this nonetheless. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a great way to kick off the DCEU (or whatever they choose to call it). Ben Affleck was fantastic, and gave the feeling that Frank Miller's Batman from TDKR was on screen. Henry Cavill continues to do a great job as Superman, and the dynamic between these two characters is exactly what the filmmakers intended; tense and opposing of one another. The supporting cast was great, but sometimes they felt like filler between big scenes, which is a shame. And as the title suggests, this is definitely a Dawn of Justice movie. The setup for future films was very prominent, which I felt I was going to get based on the trailers. If you're wanting a strict "Batman and Superman fight" movie, this isn't entirely it. And the biggest player in why that is is because of arguably the weakest link of the movie; Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. Yeah, if you watched the trailers and cringed when you saw him, then I can safely say you weren't lied to. Was he a... good villain? You could say so. He did have some very evil-genius moments that I can't deny were well put together, but he just isn't Lex Luthor. Not a modernized version or something similar, just simply an awkward, genius, rich scientist teenager. I hope that if/when he returns in a future film, he is much less Eisenberg and more Luthor (call me a comic purist if you want). But I don't know for sure.
Now, my last thing to point out is the amount of things crammed into this movie. While I can't say it felt like everything was happening at once and I felt uncomfortable with it all being there, I found plenty of moments that, had the editors taken out, would've helped the movie a little. I will say there were one too many scenes dedicated to "Dawn of Justice" When really the film could've focused more on the "Batman v Superman."
All in all, these issues didn't deter from what is otherwise a very good and fun experience. The atmosphere was great, the score was excellent (you've outdone yourself again, Mr. Zimmer), Batman and Superman were excellent on screen, especially together, and the overall storyline felt cohesive for the average movie goer, even more-so myself. If you want a good kick-start to the new DC movie franchise, this is your movie. And if you want to see Batman and Superman fight, you may have to trudge through "the red capes are coming" and some extra Justice League build-up, but the time is worth it. Give me a Batman v Superman 2 as soon as we've gotten through Justice League Part 2.