Overstuffed

Rating: 4/10 (25 March 2016)

1. Batman v Superman feels like one of those films your friend made and you want so badly to ignore all the bad stuff and point out the good with compliment sandwiches.
2. Ben Affleck is a badass Batman. I wish there had been more of him. He is just not around enough. He's fine as Bruce Wayne but I wanted to see more of them. The best scene in the movie is where he's throwing down against those Russian henchmen in the vein of Arkham Asylum. Just goes to show, dark and gritty always goes well with Batman.
3. There is way too much going on in this movie. There's Batman hating Superman. There's a Congressional inquiry. There's crazy Lex Jr. There's Diana Prince. There's the bullet subplot. There's Wally, played by Scoot McNairy. And they still manage to chuck in the Batman origin story in the opening credits. The problem with such an enormous cast is that you need everyone to be doing things at all times. Amy Adams is shunted into the bullet subplot because she's Amy Adams and you can't have a Superman movie without Lois Lane. Holly Hunter's Senator Finch has a lot of promise, but she becomes an antagonist to Luthor for some strange reason. There's a half-baked explanation as to why Wally is antagonistic to Wayne. While we're trying to keep track of a dozen plot lines, important hints relating to the actual fight are lost.
4. The titular fight does not go on nearly long enough. Their initial clash during the high- speed Batmobile chase was tantilising but the fight itself was over like *that*. We all knew they'd end up being pals but boy does it just feel like a giant middle finger. The fight with Doomsday ends up being pretty cool (especially with the intervention of Wonder Woman, who kicks ass), even though Batman is predictably dumped on the sidelines for lack of power.
5. I'd love to give Chris Terrio (Oscar winner for Argo) credit for the good moments in the screenplay (some awesome lines, great political subtext, etc) and then forgive him for the overstuffed mess by the fact that Snyder was trying to cram an entire Phase One into this one movie. I went nuts for that "Martha" connection. The best written moment in the movie happens in Superman's Congressional hearing, and it devastates me that they weren't brave enough to follow through with it completely, but it was still hugely powerful and the clues were spread like Chris MacQuarrie. The worst moments are the dream sequences, which make absolutely no sense and ultimately play like Thor's lightning bath fantasy in Age of Ultron.
6. Henry Cavill is flat as Superman. Lord help us if he ends up as James Bond. Amy Adams tries her best but suffers from underwriting. There's only so much a talented actress can do with "be damsel in distress". She sees horrifying executions at the start of the film and kinda gets over it. Laurence Fishburne and Jeremy Irons get barely anything to do but provide a few bits of humour. Eisenberg gave a great performance, as long as you don't get bogged down trying to reconcile him with the role of Lex Luthor.
7. I love Callan Mulvey and was thrilled to see him get a good role in this movie, but his allegiances are so confusing. I have no idea what was going on at the start of the movie with him in the desert.
8. It amused me how much Snyder just kinda did his thing all over again. Everyone smashes up buildings and have those long distance punches. But what amused me were the occasional shoe-ins like "good thing this part of town is deserted" and "that island is uninhabited!" Someone needs to smash his slow-motion button, especially when he just uses it on people walking towards graves.
9. The stakes always feel high in this movie, which I give credit to Chris Terrio. The opening stuff from Man of Steel feels like it could have come from a 9/11 documentary. The scene where Batman lures Doomsday away I felt like I was watching as a helpless spectator.
10. That music was beast! I loved the guitar riff.
There's too much going on in this movie for me to love it or even like it. But the bits I loved I LOVED, and I'm thrilled to see a Batman reboot under Ben Affleck's control.