Average: 5.5

Rating: 5/10 (26 July 2019)

The critics are right. They are also wrong, and wrong enough to warrant two hours of being ignored. This film's script is dodgy, the plot is predictable, the acting is pretty mediocre, and it is a movie about hot chicks with guns targeted towards 15-19 year-olds. In these respects, the critics are on to something. However, the action scenes are some of the most visually unique and pulse-poundingly rhythmic that cinema has ever produced. And there are so many of them that they can ALMOST make up for the rest of the film.
Don't get me wrong: the story, dialogue, and acting could all have been considerably worse, but they could also have been much better. I am recommending this film, as it is definitely worth a viewing; just don't expect anything as deep as The Matrix. There are no deep characters to be found. The deepest this movie gets is an inch. There is no great acting (though there is some good acting), and not too much plot to speak of. What this movie has, and what it does well, is action. And there is LOTS of that. Granted, no film can stand up on only its action, which is, unfortunately, all this movie has left. But what action it is! Nazi zombies are sliced to pieces, blimps are shot down in slow-mo, and towering giants with miniguns are taken down by hot girls with skimpy clothes. It is, without a doubt, a stylish, badass piece of work. It's sad, actually, that the action scenes are the only ones where this genius shines through.
As has been discussed to death already, this is Zack Snyder's first film not based on some previously released product. And while his first attempt at true originality is a noble one, it is also, unfortuanately, misguided. Snyder does best when he already has a script to work with, a story that's already been told. He clearly does try here, and there are occasional glimpses of brilliance beneath the rest of the flaccid content of this film. There are elements of Inception, The Matrix, and Alice in Wonderland on display in this movie, and normally, one would want the strengths of all, and the faults of none. However, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that the reverse is usually the truth of this film.