The Bell Cannot Be Unrung!

Rating: 9/10 (28 November 2017)

This movie's major problem is twofold: first, it is the first Batman movie succeeding Nolan's wonderful Dark Knight trilogy which is, mildly speaking, hard to compete with. Second - and this is, in my opinion, the more severe problem - it is not an easy movie. I want to explain why this makes Dawn of Justice exceptional, where I see issues, and why I consider it the best superhero movie of the last few years.
Apparently, BvS deviates from the typical Hollywood cooking recipe for blockbusters. There is no villain in this movie, instead the main conflict(s) take place within the two characters, Clark Kent alias The Superman and Bruce Wayne alias The Batman. Snyder presents us a very sinister version of Bruce Wayne, who has spent many years fighting crime in Gotham and who has become bitter over it, and all his bitterness is just about to turn the virtuous fighter for justice he once has been into a nightmarish and ruthless vigilante. Clark Kent, in the meantime, is having a hard time being the Superman. He has to learn that all his actions have consequences he is not able to anticipate, and that not everybody is grateful for what he is doing. All in all, not much space left to be a hero - for both characters. To make it all worse, there is a third character, Lex Luthor, who also has issues with Superman (and with his own sanity, actually), and who is pulling strings in the background, trying to push Superman and Batman into the final confrontation. Exciting premise!
The storytelling focuses mainly on the escalation of these initial conflicts, while at the same time it paints vivid pictures of the characters. Nothing feels rushed, every scene has its place and its message, and besides Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent themselves, various side characters fill the movie with life and soul, most noteworthy Lois Lane and Wonder Woman. The storytelling is another example of why this movie is not easy: the plot is not fed to you in little pieces, you actually have to pay attention and think. Some scenes cannot be understood immediately and only make sense later in the movie, or they can but they require you to make connections yourself. As a result, plot- and character-developments feel very natural. This actually adds a lot of intensity to the movie and allows you to dive deep into the events you are watching without anything feeling artificial.
BvS is already great due to what I wrote before, but what makes it really awesome is the score. Oh, how much I love the score! Such a fireworks of atmosphere and tension. The whole score builds on two main themes, Superman's and Batman's (surprise!), and two side themes, Luthor's and Wonder Woman's. Each title is woven around one of them, making the whole soundtrack sound like it is telling the story for itself. It perfectly fits the atmosphere created by pictures and dialogues and gives the characters and scenes that last touch of personality. In some scenes, I even feel the sound mixing has gone too much in favor of the special effects, putting the music in the background when it reaches its epic climax (e.g. Metropolis being devastated by the Kryptonians, or the scene in which Batman wreaks havoc at the port).
I also enjoy the absence of jokes and situation comedy, since I feel it would rid the movie and the characters of their depth and would make the core conflicts seem irrelevant. The movie lives from its darkness and heaviness and fits Superman and Batman well. Superman because it it turns him from the uninteresting sunny boy he usually is into a conflicted, quite human adult who is experiencing the complexity of the world he is living in. And Batman because, you know, he is Batman... If you were to make a movie out of a Scott Snyder comic or out of The Dark Knight Returns, you wouldn't make it a comedy, right?
The actors' performances are great without exception, a lot has already been written about this topic, so I won't go any deeper than saying that Amy Adams excelled all the other actors who were already great. A lot of people say that Jesse Eisenberg overacted his part, and while I can very well understand that impression, it did not really bother me. He gave the dark and actually very quiet atmosphere a touch of craziness and bizarreness without scratching its seriousness, so I quite enjoyed his scenes.
The one actual issue I have with the movie is Lex Luthor's character development. The process of Luthor racing down the madness slide is fun to watch but at the same time not well told. I suppose it is the lack of focus on his character that makes especially the creation of Doomsday in the end a bit incomprehensible. One word on the most notorious scene from the movie ("Martha!") - I have read a lot of comments making fun about this scene, dismissing Bruce Wayne's decision to spare his opponent as being ridiculous. If you watch the movie, follow the portrayal of Bruce Wayne closely, think about the scene, try to understand his decision and I'm sure you will get what is really going on in this important moment. Little hint: it's got nothing to do with anyone's first name being Martha.
So, I hope I gave you an impression of why I really like BvS, and why I prefer it over most other comic adaptations. I really hope that the DCEU will develop towards a movie adaptation of the Injustice story line, as foreshadowed in the apocalyptic scene in the middle of BvS's main plot. I know, no other DC releases have reference this scene yet, but I still have hope. Injustice: Year One in the tone and atmosphere of BvS (and with a comparable score!) would blast me straight out of my cinema chair.