Not As Bad As the Critics Are Saying

Rating: Null/10 (4 April 2016)

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) fears that Superman (Henry Cavill) and his wars on Earth are causing innocent people their lives so he plans to take him out. What he doesn't know is that Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) has his own plans for destruction.
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE isn't the worst film ever made like some critics would lead you to believe. While I didn't hate the movie I must say that it's certainly a disappointment for the most part because of the missed opportunities throughout the picture. There are some solid performances, some dazzling special effects and the final forty-minutes are terrific but everything leading up to the finale is just downright slow, boring and for an "action" movie these early scenes are quite forgetful.
I'm going to place the majority of the blame on the screenplay because so much of the early stuff simply wasn't needed. THE AVENGERS showed how this type of film could be made and while I don't blame this film for being dark, at the same time it looks like some fun could leak through at some point. What really hurt the movie is the fact that it's just so boring and this here is the biggest problem. I was rather shocked but I was really falling asleep throughout the early portions of the film and I constantly had to keep moving around in my chair to stay awake.
As I said, the final forty or so minutes finally picked up the pace and we actually got some terrific action scenes as Batman and Superman finally have to team up. The biggest question going in was how would Affleck do. Well, I thought he was just fine in the role, although certainly not on the same level as Bale. I thought the actor pulled off the Wayne aspect as well as Batman. I'm not the biggest fan of Cavill's Superman and I honestly didn't think too much of Eisenberg. Amy Adams does what she can in her supporting role and Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Laurence Fishburn are fun.
I've never really cared too much for Zach Snyder as a director and needless to say, his work here isn't going to have me hoping he's behind the camera on future films. I thought he finally got the crazy finale going in the right direction but he did very little with the earlier, smaller action scenes nor did he do anything with the dialogue and drama. In fact, some of the dialogue was downright embarrassing.
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is obviously just an introduction to future films so hopefully they use this as what not to do going forward.