Tell me viewer: do you bleed? You will.

Rating: 3/10 (30 November 2017)

A disappointing movie (or maybe a terrible cut of a movie). Man of Steel was a pretty decent movie, specially if we take into account what they were trying to do with the Superman character. It had coherence, sobriety and even some degree of philosophical and socio-political thought, not to mention good acting (even with all the action and special effects on screen). And let's not forget that the young Clark Kent character was a reader of Plato and that we could enjoy Hans Zimmer epic music throughout the movie (just to mention two very interesting aspects). Batman v. Superman wasn't as good as expected, considering the very awaited clash between the Bat-Man and the Super-Man, but I admit it would be difficult to convey the idea that Batman could last more than one or two rounds against Superman (even with the kryptonite weapons). Nevertheless, it was a movie that made some sense, despite the extremely weak plot surrounding Lex Luthor's plans to set off a battle between the two main characters: I mean, he is portrayed as a very intelligent man, but Bruce Wayne, as a detective, would have been able to figure out who sent him those newspaper cuts and that it was all an evil plan. Ben Affleck was a total surprise. Probably some of his best acting. His Batman was dark, sober, cunning, violent (reminding me a lot of the initial versions of Batman) and mature – a common man who had to rise to the occasion in order to protect the world from a very serious threat (an alien one), potentially apocalyptic. I mean, I think it's remarkable that a mere mortal (as heroic as he may be) faces an enhanced kryptonian and says: "Tell me. Do you bleed?" And Superman's death, though not epic, was emotional. Justice League, on the other hand, made very little sense or no sense at all. There's a great number of aspects that I could mention, but I'll just focus on the characters and their development, to keep it short and to the point: Batman: no longer the earth's defender who suffered from cold sweat thinking about the possibility that his worst nightmares would become true. Ben Affleck changed his own interpretation of Batman completely (or the writers did). It didn't work. Wonder Woman: same as before, although kind of disappointing considering her time on screen. Aquaman: I don't know what happened. They were able to turn an usually uninteresting character, though serious, haughty and noble, into a teenage joker in the body of a 38 year old man, who is also kind of a surfer. It's a character that we don't get to know at all and that has no depth. In fact, he's kind of an idiot. Flash: the comic relief. But it didn't have to be. They chose to depict him as a young man; that's fine, but that doesn't mean he has to be a wide open eyes goofball all the time. We understand there's something going on in his life, with the mother and father background, but we don't actually get to know him. Cyborg: a surprise. Also a stranger to us, but still a surprise. His mopey, melancholic and dark character was well balanced and made sense: he died and came back as something he still doesn't quite understand yet; his comprehension of the world and of himself is constantly changing due to the power of the box, and it shows. Steppenwolf: a dummy. Nothing more. He was just bits and pieces of light on screen. They could have replaced him with any other "puppet" that it would not have made a difference. We don't actually know his motivations (it's all very superficial), where he comes from, what he wants, his level of power (looks very menacing at first, but then it fades away). Superman: probably the biggest disappointment after Batman. His comeback was supposed to be extremely emotional and thrilling. Instead, it was predictable, announced and too fast. There wasn't a build up. They were actually able to destroy the "savior trope" with him. He saved the day, true, but in a very blend and lukewarm way. Finally, let me just mention the fact that the movie was sometimes kind of corny. Just remember the scene where they are all standing together on top of that building and those little flowers are growing... This is the Justice League, not a group of boy scouts. I really hope they take things slow the next time around and are able to actually build it up instead of building it down like they did. This may be evidence that having that many good and famous directors, producers and writers is a recipe for disaster.