The Movie We Needed, But Not the One We Deserved

Rating: 4/10 (28 March 2016)

The expectations were high. Perhaps too high for its own good. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in a nutshell, was promised to be the beginning of a greater age in its respective superhero genre, and finally deliver a worthy franchise to rival that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The result? A dark, horribly messy, poorly edited attempt at creating the roots of an entire movie universe within the boundaries of one film, deprived of a meaningful narrative, with some highly entertaining action scenes sprinkled around occasionally great characters.
Warner Bros. decided to try and play catch up with their Marvel counterparts by saying, "they do A, B, and C, we do X, Y, and Z". Unfortunately, this is the major issue revolving around the superhero showdown. The attempt to create a large and rich extended universe practically in one film paves way for unbalanced disorder, with horrible pacing that leaves most of the movie dragging its feet in the sand. Director Zack Snyder's vision for this film was overall a defective one, with the entirety of the movie feeling like a contest started by Warner Bros. to try and one-up everything Marvel has done thus far. One thing this did prove, is that the film and its respective franchise, in its current state, are worlds behind what's happening at Marvel Studios.
There are times during the 2.5 hour film that feel like you're watching 3 or 4 different movies, and with deficient editing, the film also, at times, feels like a 151 minute trailer, devoid of any proper pacing as formerly stated. It is far too jumbled to coherently tell one single engaging story, it's an overloaded blur and a failed venture into making what should have been 3 or 4 movies into one. It's all flash and no finish, a mansion with no foundation.
When a new actor is cast into the role of an iconic character that people have loved across generations, it's usually met with skepticism from a large and passionate fan base. Maybe no casting in superhero film history was met with more skepticism than Ben Affleck landing the role as the legendary Batman. Minus one colossal flaw in the writing of the character (a MAJOR turn-off towards the film as a die hard Batman fan), Aflleck delivers a solid performance as the Caped Crusader, and an even better Bruce Wayne. Batman is fearsome and brooding, and overall I enjoyed this Batman more than any other character in the film, aside from the enormous previously mentioned flaw.
Henry Cavill returns as the Man of Steel, his character now in a much different position than before. The story leads Superman into exciting new dangers, but that same story strips the Man of Tomorrow from becoming something greater, no thanks to the horrible narrative cluster. Cavill's Superman isn't exceptional, but for the mood of the film, it was done well enough to get the stamp of approval. Gal Gadot proves any doubters wrong with an epic showcasing as Wonder Woman. Aided by stellar effects, the Amazon Princess's silver screen debut did not disappoint, even if her involvement felt forced.
While the Golden Trinity delivered a solid performance, the portrayal of Lex Luthor by Jesse Eisenberg is an absolute disaster. Whether you believe in taking age-long characters in a new direction or not, Eisenberg's Luthor was a tremendously annoying and painful thorn in the side of the film, giving off the complete wrong sense of what the iconic villain should be about. Easily one of the greatest downfalls of the movie, Eisenberg, along with more poor writing, sadly ruin one of comic book's all-time greatest villains.
Not all is lost in this film, with many high notes to reflect upon. Along with the portrayals of Batman, Wonder Woman and occasionally Superman, the initial cameo from The Flash was pretty awesome, and although it could be confusing for some viewers, any legitimate comic fan will know what's going on. Add to that a couple other cameos from Cyborg and Aquaman, and while they felt hopelessly forced, they were fun to see on screen for the first time, even if it was for a handful of seconds.
When it's not bogged down by poor editing, the movie's action is entertaining on a grand scale. God-like characters soar into battle and when he's in action, Batman is fun to watch. Add to that the phenomenal score composed by Hans Zimmer, who doesn't disappoint with the epic tone he musically sets for the movie. Although I have been harsh on the overall narrative, the immediate story set up between Batman and Superman is not a bad one by any means, and occasionally is wonderful. It's a shame that not only did the climax of our two heroes disappoint overall, but that there was again to much of an uncoordinated rhythm to keep any intensity flowing smoothly. BvS lives up to its subtitle by setting the stage for the upcoming Justice League film, but it took a lot of agonizing and unnecessary time to get there.
It's difficult to be so excited for a film and its characters and end up riddling it with negative criticism. I wanted desperately to walk out of the theater with nothing but positives, but no matter how much money this film makes, regardless of the different steps the DC Extended Universe is taking to succeed, the cold hard truth is this; Batman v Superman is collaborative chaos, weighed down by atrocious pacing, disjointed editing, overloaded storytelling, or a lack thereof, and some poorly written and developed characters. I truly believe this film collapsed under the weight of its own shoulders, too big for its own good. I have hope for the future of the DC movie world, but in its current state, with Zack Snyder at the helm, it's hard to see a brighter future through the dark, dark void that is Batman v Superman.
4.5/10