A Beautiful Mess

Rating: 6/10 (28 March 2016)

(warning: mild spoilers)
If you are someone who liked Man of Steel, you will be entertained. If you are someone who is a fan of the comics, you will be pleased. But if you fan of film, you will be disappointed.
If you thought this film was about the ideological differences between two heroes and their physical fight to sort out these differences, you will be invested in the first half of the movie, as I was. And I must say, Snyder did make a visually stunning film, which is what I have come to expect from him. It is filmed fine, graded fine (maybe too unsaturated for some) and it is acted well generally. Also the score is great, especially with each hero and villain getting their own theme- props to Zimmer and Junkie XL.
The plot has the potential to be good, but it is too convoluted. The writing is okay, it is very true to the comics but it almost tries to pick so much from the comics that it is an overload of ideas. While the ideas are interesting and good individually, none of them are developed or explored in the detail required to do them justice. My main problem with the film is how it is executed, the editing is poor, the pacing is almost not considered when trying to fit what they intended into one film, and then there is the franchising!
In world flooded with superhero films, franchising is now all the producers care about. I am appalled at the audacity of the studio to introduce certain heroes in the way they did, and am also appalled at how much time the studio have spent in trying to create a justice league in this film. They should have used this time to make this film good. But now I feel studios are more interested in planning the next sequel before they make a film. And if franchising isn't bad enough, the marketing might be even worse. Dear Studio, please stop showing your film in the trailer.
The film begins very well, showing the events of man of steel from Bruce Wayne's perspective. I actually was invested in this duel of differences between Clark and Bruce, and the whole concept of Batman V Superman. Cavill still pulls off the role of Superman to me, and his performance is just fine. For me it was Ben Affleck who stole the show. He has the physical presence to be Batman, but he is also a brilliant Bruce Wayne. We learn a lot about his character in this film, who he is, what he has become and why he has become this way. Batman is dark, brooding, intelligent and the crime fighting vigilant detective we all love. Also Jeremy Irons is a fantastic Alfred, and Alfred's relationship with Bruce is very well portrayed, it is fresh and unique. Rather than being a just a butler, he is a partner to Bruce. Gal Gadot was good as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman but was really not needed in this film at all. As for the fights. They were great, especially the Batman V Superman fight. As for the final fight, while it was entertaining to watch, it belonged in another film, it felt out of place, and Doomsday was handled very badly. I just want to add that the nightmare sequence was brave, original and brilliant.
While there were those aspects that worked, the film as a whole, did not. This film is a mess. There are four different stories being told and two different movies being shown. There is the man of steel sequel, the origin of the new batman, the actual Batman V Superman and the 'Dawn of Justice'. There is not enough time and care spent on any of these stories which is a shame as they all showed such great potential. Certain scenes and subplots are not even needed, especially the attempted courtroom build up. Amy Adams fulfills her role as Lois Lane but her character is written poorly. They have tried to incorporate her into the story to give her importance and this comes across very forced. The scenes with Lois take away from the film, they are not needed, and really she should not have been given as big of a role as she has got. Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luther will either work for you or will not. For me, it did not work. They went down the crazy route and while the sinister side was portrayed well, I found his character overall very annoying, over- the-top, and like a two dimensional cartoon character. Now, in a film filled with destruction I expect a fair dose of CGI, but there are a few occasions in the long run time where the CGI is laugh worthy. The scenes are also baldy put together, with lazy editing, inefficient pacing and lack of the grandness needed in such a film. The scenes just jump so incessantly from sub plot to sub plot, the the plot becomes disjointed and disjunctive.
I watch to films to be told a story. And the story wasn't told well. It fell flat for me, with the ending not packing the emotional punch it was aiming to do. Parts really worked but I am reviewing the film as a whole so I cannot say this is a good film. I am disappointed as I wanted this film to be good, I wanted to love it. And I could deny its flaws but it would feel wrong. Overall, the movie is entertaining, original and fairly epic on scale. However it is also cluttered and narratively messy. It does the job, but only just about. Yet optimistically going forth, it sets up and has now built a world for a justice league to exist so I look forward to seeing what they do next.