Solid, Two-Part Plot

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2016)

Overall this was a fine film. It was nothing spectacular, but it certainly wasn't bad. The casting of Ben Affleck as Batman/ Bruce Wayne was brilliant, and he gave a fantastic performance, surpassing Christian Bale in my opinion. This movie felt like two movies combined into one, though, with the first half more of a political drama, and the second a paint-by-numbers, franchise superhero film.
I felt that the first half was extremely well done, and explored the moral conflicts of having a figure like Superman exist and act unchecked, as well as the comparison between Superman and Batman. A lot of Batman's story in particular was shown, not told, and what was told was extremely subtle. This version of Batman is different, and a lot of people will dislike how the character was portrayed, but I felt it worked very well and was a logical evolution of the masked vigilante. Where Batman's role was a welcome change of pace from the exposition-loaded superhero movies we've had the past few years, the same cannot be said for nearly any of the other characters. This movie is DC's attempt at a cinematic universe, so they had to shoe-horn in and introduce other characters they would later incorporate. Ergo, some characters felt very flat with superficial motives, and served simply to progress the plot. I give props to this movie, however, for several of its decisions in which to take the story, and for using as few tropes as possible in the process. Still, some of the tropes that were used were borderline painful to endure.
For people who are die-hard comic book fans with very rigid opinions about certain characters and their story-arcs, this is probably not a movie you'll enjoy. If you want a popcorn flick that requires little to no thought on the viewer's part, this is also not going to be a movie you enjoy. For those of you who disliked Man of Steel, however, I think you will like this movie if only because it explores the consequences of having a Superman. It had it flaws, but none of them broke the movie for me. Batman v Superman isn't necessarily "fun," but for the most part it is well executed, and deserves a 7/10.