Gritty, brooding and atmospheric, though with a few gaping logic holes

Rating: 7/10 (9 August 2016)

I do like this film. Despite the complaints of it being too dark and not enough levity, I disagree. There's no way of truly telling the story of two deeply troubled men without it being really dark.
Batman/Bruce Wayne is probably a sociopath, and Clark Kent has a massive identity crisis. The reality of these two characters would be monstrous and not a particularly jovial story.
All that aside, there are a few things about this film that left me scratching my head.
Early in the film we see a team of mercenaries try to frame Superman for the murder of a warring gang in Africa by shooting them with unique bullets. Clearly anyone with a brain in their head would know that Superman doesn't need bullets to kill anyone, yet it makes it to a government hearing on Capitol Hill.
To me, it really feels like Superman is actually a dimwit throughout the film and has no analytical skills or common sense whatsoever. He is so easily manipulated by Luthor at the third act that he forgets he's a superhuman.
After the wheelchair explodes in the hearing, Superman could very easily have identified the perpetrator and gone after him, pretty much solving all of the issues of the latter part of the film. Instead he goes in a sulk and into exile.
Despite his clear ability to hear that his mother was in distress from afar in Man of Steel, he is blissfully unaware of her kidnap, but is able to come to Lois Lane's rescue after Luthor chucks her off the building.
Lois Lane is a bit stupid too. After being kidnapped and flown in a helicopter to the roof, she blithely walks to the edge of the helipad rather than going to a safer part of the pad. It's not like Luthor was a particularly big guy so she could easily have fended him off.
Despite this murderous streak that is apparent, Superman quickly acquiesces to Luthor's will and goes off to fight Batman rather than standing up to him. He could very easily have "persuaded" Luthor to tell him where to find his mother, or just used some basic detective work, alongside his superhuman senses to locate her. He was willing to kill Zod to protect his mother in MoS...
Then, upon his arrival at the battle ground with Batman, he really doesn't try very hard to explain the situation to Batman. Yes, Batman is spoiling for a fight, but Superman could very easily have stayed further back and used his words. Instead, he gets annoyed and starts punching like a petulant teenager.
Of course, Batman is a bit of a dumbass in this too. Despite being known for his exceptional detective skills and using them to great effect throughout the story, he is unable to deduce that Luthor is behind it all. Or maybe he is but doesn't care? In that case that makes him quite unlikable.
Moreover, the montage of him preparing the kryptonite weaponry is all well and good, but if he really wanted to quickly take down Superman, why not just make the kryptonite spear a projectile? Of course a lot has been said about why the two reconcile. I think it's not executed well in the film, but I get that Batman suddenly remembers his humanity.
Then of course there's the climax of the movie when they kill Doomsday. Again, Superman doesn't think anything through and could easily have killed the monster from any other angle that kept him out of harm's way. Or he could have had Wonder Woman or Batman undertake it. Sigh.
I would be interested to see the director's cut to see if there's more explanation for a lot of these things that has been lost.
Still, despite this, with suspension of disbelief it is a great cinematic spectacle.