Score: 3 out of 5 stars
This is film review 10
It’s the moment we all have been waiting to see! In one corner is a mecha-suit wearing, gun-toting, robotic-voiced Batman (Ben Affleck), and in the next corner is an angry-faced, muscle-bound Superman (Henry Cavill) ready to break down some punches and maybe shed a little blood in the new film by Zack Snyder, ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’. Admit it, you were truly excited to see two of your favorite superheroes duke it out in a death-match. I mean, come on! It’s Batman vs. Superman! Who wouldn’t want to see that? It’s every superhero lover’s wet dream come true if you ask me! Sadly, I wanted to see more of a conflict and less of a jumbled story.
‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ takes place in Metropolis where Bruce Wayne happens to be during the fight between Superman and General Zod (Michael Shannon) in ‘Man of Steel.’ Lives were lost, cities were destroyed, and Superman has been dealing with a little controversy ever since, especially with Senator Finch (Holly Hunter). Cut to 18 months later. Superman is doing his thing: stopping terrorists, saving citizens, romancing reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams), and working at The Daily Planet under the identity: Clark Kent. While in Gotham, Batman is bringing his own brand of violent justice among crime-doers, which also causes a bit of a stir on the news.
Most of ‘Batman V Superman’ focuses not only on how both Batman and Superman save their cities, but also their personal conflicts and how to deal with the controversy surrounding both sides. This ultimately leads up to the fight we all have been waiting to see. The movie starts off slow and clunky, but once we get to the fight, the action gets more interesting and helps the movie get better than when it started. Besides its first half, ‘Batman V Superman’ is a flawed movie. The casting of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was all-wrong to begin with; I’d rather have Bryan Cranston play Lex Luthor.
The way Eisenberg portrays Luthor is like Jim Carrey playing Count Olaf in ‘Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events’, but forced and with inappropriate humorous quips that don’t fit the tone of the character. I actually enjoyed Jeremy Irons playing Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s butler, more than Eisenberg as Luthor.
There are also a couple of characters that are shoehorned into the film just to add more conflict (Doomsday), or set up the ‘Justice League’ movie (Jason Momoa’s Aquaman cameo). One character who did surprise me was Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), who I thought was going to be shoehorned just to set up the ‘Justice League’ movie as well, but the way she was setup and her action sequences were near perfect. The action sequences in ‘Batman V Superman’ in general were well-choreographed, even when the film itself wasn’t well-constructed.
There are also a couple things I do need to mention: Ben Affleck’s performance and the ending (which I thankfully won’t spoil). I was skeptical about Ben Affleck playing The Caped Crusader, but he did the character justice, despite not always hitting the right notes. He may be the best Batman since Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ films and LEGO Batman in ‘The LEGO Movie’. While the ending to ‘Batman V Superman’ was as dull as the first half of the film, I thought it had a sense of maturity and bravery to it. Still want to know who wins? See the movie for yourself and show your team spirit with pride!
Jon Spencer Reviews 