Overblown, overdrawn, and depressing

Rating: 1/10 (28 March 2016)

Quite simply, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is as cumbersome a film as is the title. At two and a half hours, it could easily have been an hour shorter for the amount of plot or character development that took place. It lacks anything approaching energy, edge, humor or the "cool" factor that seems to define so many of the Marvel superhero films.
It even lacks the visual hook that people seem to love in other Zack Snyder films (myself included). There is just so much about this lumbering clunker to criticize, it seems almost unfair to start for fear I'll leave things out.
Credit where it's due - Ben Affleck does an outstanding job as Bruce Wayne/Batman. After that. well, things fall off quickly. Amy Adams spends most of the film watching Superman fly away from her, Henry Cavill is still woefully lacking in charisma, and the usually- likable Jesse Eisenberg is so caught up with Lex Luthor's tics and affectations he forgets to make him imposing or scary in any way.
Combine that with tacked-on villains, watching Gal Godot (who also feels like a throw-in) go through YouTube videos of her future Justice League teammates in what has to be the most ham-fisted segue to future films ever, and a final act that never seems to end, and you've got yourself one hot mess of a movie.
Batman v Superman needed to be epic for the DCU to take proper shape. It fails in almost every possible way.