Batman vs Superman Review - Not bad but not great.

Rating: 4/10 (27 March 2016)

After just getting out from watching the new Batman vs Superman movie yesterday, here are my initial thoughts. The movie is not bad. Does that mean the movie is good? I'm not entirely sure. Probably. I would say I'd recommend people to watch it, more than I would not. I would also say I'd like to watch it again (maybe not in 3D) in case anything was missed, but I'll wait for the video release. It is interesting taken as a whole.
The Bad -
1. The pacing for the first 2/3 to 3/4 of the movie, going from scene to scene, character to character, motivation to motivation, with lack of any real action was almost a killer for me. It was just boring, and while I appreciate the topics being brought up, the way they were and how slowly things moved was draining. You never knew if it was a flashback scene, a dream sequence, anything. Obviously, you can figure it out, but the movie really was trying hard to be a Batman movie, no a Superman movie, no a Batman vs Superman movie, no a Batman and Superman vs Lex Luthor movie.
2. Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. He didn't portray Lex Luthor. He portrayed some bizarre Riddler / Joker amalgam on Prozac that was indeed intelligent (he reminded me of Jim Carrey from Batman Forerver at times) and did put plans together, but the plans were a bit silly and not thought through. He wanted to kill Superman. But why? There was no motivation provided for that and why he acted so nutty other than he's nutty. Also, if his plan was to kill Superman, he could have found a much easier way to do so then planning to get Batman to fight Superman. Heck, lure Superman in by capturing Lois. Hit him with the kryptonite, and bam, nail him. Why did he need Batman? Well, because the movie is called Batman vs Superman. Plus, he created Doomsday with no plan on how to take him down after he killed Superman. In fact, Doomsday was going to kill him right away. Again, either that's just stupidity or he's crazy. Either way, it's not Lex Luthor. He is supposed to be the smartest guy in the DC Universe. He reminds me of a combination of the Kingpin and Doctor Doom. Cool, Calculating and not prone to error. Jesse Eisenberg was not Lex Luthor.
3. Henry Cavill as Superman. To no fault of the actor, but too often it seemed the only thing they had him do with look stoic and grim and hover. No humor, expressions. Nothing. He is a good actor. I know he is. Use him. I did like the final scene with him and Doomsday and his willingness to sacrifice himself.
4. The Batman vs Superman fight. The fight was cool. Short but cool, but totally not needed other than to fulfill the title. As soon as Lex told Superman he had Martha Kent and he wanted Superman to kill Batman to save her life, all Superman had to do was tell Batman right away he needed his help. Instead he tried one time in a half- hearted way, and then they both wasted so much time hitting each other. It was just a waste of time and energy. I thought a much better way to have Batman and Superman really fight would be for Lex to use either mind control or Red Kryptonite on Superman so Batman would be forced to tackle him. That I could believe. The motivations of Batman to fight here seemed petty, and Superman just as much.
The Good
1. Ben Affleck as Batman. I really liked him in this movie. I liked the Batsuit, him as Bruce Wayne and I thought his fighting style was good. Yes, he used guns, but it wasn't in some horrific fashion like the Punisher. Not exactly what I'd want but good. They just needed more of it. In fact, I'd have rather the three heroes not fought at all and just teamed up. More awesome Trinity action. I'd really like to see what he (Ben Affleck) could do if he wrote and directed his own standalone film.
2. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. I thought she did a fantastic job in the limited amount of time she had. Really, there was not a huge reason for her to be there other than to interact with the other two, and help fight, but her passion for the part was apparent, and makes me happy to see the standalone movie for her coming out.
3. Doomsday and the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the movie. Apart from the reasons why he was created, which for me didn't make a lot of sense since Lex couldn't control the thing, I liked the character and the fighting at the end. The way they had things leading to other things was cool.
4. The music. It was loud, but like Man Of Steel, I really thought it did well from scene to scene.
5. The Batman vs Superman fight . The fight was not needed as I stated but to review the actual fight, it was a lot of fun.
6. The showings of The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. While I wish they'd do standalone movies for all the characters first and then a Justice League movie for character development, it was cool to see them being shown.
The indifferent
1. Zach Synder's direction. I loved 300 and Watchmen. I am not a huge Man Of Steel fan, but the consistent thing is his movies feel the same, love it or hate it.
Overall Rating â€“ 6 out of 10