Not as bad as critics claim, but a decent movie not without its problems

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2016)

THE CRITICS I do think many of the critiques that came out this past week were unwarranted and often exaggerated: one critic claimed that the duel between the two heroes took-up half the film!! Amazing! Their duel was surprisingly short. The more common critique is probably the one about the plot. Critics are calling the plot a mess. It's true that the plot isn't the best we've seen in a superhero movie. But, this is definitely not a "Dark Knight" or "Superman" quality plot. The movie has areas leaving you with question-marks- sometimes I think they were intentional, but in other parts probably not. Overall, the Critics were just cynical about the film: perhaps it's because of all the build-up and hype. I think this movie has been anticipated for about 3 years!! I I think some of the disappointment is due to that. Also, I think the Previews are misleading (gee, what a surprise!!) THIS IS NOT AN MMA MATCH BETWEEN BATMAN AND SUPERMAN! This movie is not merely trying to offer a fight between these two great heroes. It is only the culmination of their contrasting personas. I believe Snyder's intention was to show that Batman versus Superman is a conflict between Personas, Ideologies, Methods and Environments. The fight is only a culmination of their inherent differences as heroes. Batman is Dark, Brooding but willing to bend the rules to defeat criminals. Superman is set in boundaries and codes and tries to maintain Absolute Morality. The film tries to set this up for about the first hour or so. The way it does this IS NOT POORLY DONE. It's fairly consistent and it keeps you fairly interested.
PROS AND CONS ABOUT THE FILM Snyder is smart in bringing the characters to life in the modern setting. He presents Superman in light of the questions about Alien-life. Snyder's Superman hits on the modern topic about ETs: what if we were visited? How would we respond? What trail of conflict would ETs bring with them? I actually gained appreciation for Superman after "Man of Steel". Isn't it possible that if we were visited by ETs that they would be good and not just evil trying to invade us? Snyder gives us both-- Good and Bad ETs (Zod and other Kryptonians) as opposed to many popular myths about ALL ETs being evil and trying to colonize the planet. ALMOST NOBODY APPRECIATES THIS PERSPECTIVE
Snyder's Batman is convoluted. Sometimes, I think Affleck's Batman is pretty cool and enticing. His costume is great; the voice- manipulator has a great effect; Affleck's acting was good. But--- then Batman starts picking up guns and also blowing other guys away from his Batmobile! Batman NEVER PICKS UP A GUN. Fans knows he maintains this code because of the death of his parents. He would never do this because he would never compromise on something pertaining to the death of his parents: THE WHOLE BASIS FOR WHY HE IS EVEN BEING BATMAN!!!
With that-- SNYDER DOES GET TOO LIBERAL WITH THE COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS.
Also, Superman's presence in the film is pretty limited. We get more of Batman than Superman. Superman seems to be a fleeting presence and can almost be regarded as a cameo presence. IT's almost a Batman Movie with Superman in it.
To Snyder's credit- I think his idea of Batman versus Superman was to show the CONTRAST of the two heroes and not merely some kind of fist-fight. It feels like most critics miss this point.
The dream sequences are bizarre. The first one with Bruce Wayne dreaming of his parents' death and his encounter with the swarm of bats is fairly understandable. It is very unrealistic up to the point we realize it's a dream ending with "the light being a beautiful lie"-- we get Batman's perspective here that he is, indeed, jaded.
The dream sequence with Clark Kent seeing his earthly father was pretty off. In fact, Kevin Costner's accent changed in contrast to the first film. In the first film Costner's character spoke with a standard Kansan "plain" accent. But for some reason, in this dream, Kent encounters his father having a Texan, southern accent. He seemed different-- more like a cowboy just off the range. Amazing that the director and others did not catch this flaw.
There's another dream Wayne has where he is Batman trying to finish a shady deal to acquire kryptonite from the Lex-cons. Why is it in the middle of some desert? What the hell are those weird creatures or flying cyborg things?? Then, some weird electrical guy jumps out of his monitor giving him some hidden knowledge about where the kryptonite is.It's like some kind of poltergeist struggling in some electrical vortex- he gets sucked back into the vortex... "whooaaa, you must go to the (won't say it here)....uuggh arrrgghhh..." and then Wayne wakes up. Supposedly it's the Flash. A weird way to present him though-- "help me from the electrical vortex.... rrarrrgghh... but I will still help you be a detective fighting crime from this electrical after-life vortex...whoaaa" just bizarre
Don't want to make you think that this movie is plagued by the dream sequences. They are just a few moments and can be forgiven or overlooked by the greater whole of the story.
Ultimately, there's a lot of cynicism in the world today. This is showing itself in the critiques of this film. This film has its flaws but they do not plague the film like we see in something like SPIDER-MAN 3 (HOLY Christ!! WHAT A BAD MOVIE!!). This IS NOT A SPIDER-MAN 3!!