Cardinal Sin was making characters stupid

Rating: 6/10 (11 December 2017)

I just re-watched this leaden, disappointing movie, but decided to give the Ultimate Edition a chance.
The overall experience was better, and this time around I realized the real problem with the film was that to get the "big battle," they needed to make Bruce Wayne/Batman stupid and easily manipulated...and they needed to make Superman kind of thick, too. I liked Affleck's Batman, but hated that he was a moron, subject to a lot of Dramatically Convenient Stupidity(tm) which dragged the story toward the inevitable Superhero Showdown!
As such, the peripheral characters were a lot more interesting than the putative leads. Alfred (Jeremy Irons) sarcastic asides about Bruce Wayne's mental health and social life made him feel like a real character. Holly Hunter as a crusading Senator was equally compelling. And yeah, Gal Godot's Wonder Woman made the entire film, that's no lie.
Is it as awful as you heard? Probably not, but it's painful to see the missed opportunity for a good film. They were also handicapped by trying to "make the entryway film to the DCU!" by shoehorning in unnecessary cameos of heroes yet to come. The far more entertaining (critically and commercially successful) Wonder Woman seemed to have learned from B v. S's failures, and made a single movie that still managed to be open to other adventures and possibilities.
And, that being said "Justice League" was a huge improvement, and worth watching, as well.