Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Rating: 4/10 (25 November 2017)

I am a massive DC fanboy, and I haven't missed a film based on a DC character since 1997. I would stand in line with my hard earned cash on their opening day. Ironically, the first film I had the honor to see as a young lad was Batman and Robin, by Joel Schumacher. Many of you would feel pity, but compared to this, it is a masterpiece.
When Batman v Superman was released, my lifelong love affair with the Batman character came to an abrupt end. That film was lackluster at best, which is a shame as the actors was really good in their roles.
One would think that such a poor performance critically would have been met with a severance package for either Zack, or Chris, preferably both. Instead, they were awarded with a larger budget.
True to form, the film was plagued with development issues. It was supposed to have been released earlier, but the original cut was deemed "unwatchable" by test audiences, resulting in re-shoots with a new director, Joss Whedon. The Zack faithful swear that this was the downfall of the film, spoiler alert, it was not.
Snyder has a tendency to over-rely on CGI, with smaller productions, this is not problematic, but on large scale, it is very noticeable. The CGI looks like a late naughties PlayStation game. Cyborg's CGI is unconvincing, which is a shame as the actor portraying him does a very good job. The complete third act looks amateurish, and ugly. The film might have had a better chance if the production team had relied on practical effects instead of CGI.
The story is almost non-existent, there is never the feeling of real urgency. Steppenwolf is at best, a C-grade villain, the majority of the viewing public would've never encountered this character before, and why should they? The reason for this thin story line is the splitting of a single story that would've worked well as a film into two boring films. It has never worked, and has always left me feeling cheated.
If I hadn't seen the previous mess, I might have given Chris Terrio the benefit of the doubt. He is by no stretch a bad writer, but he is definitely not suited for this genre.
The actors is the best part of this film. They were clearly recruited by a very good casting director.
As a DC fanboy, I am disgusted, and repulsed by this film. I don't want to see another incoherent extended cut, and I sincerely hope that we will vote with our wallets, and bury this franchise. It is a revoltingly bad story-line with bad visuals (because of a director that hasn't worked without it since his second feature). Steer clear, there isn't a better cut, let's bury this, and forget it happened.