As a comic book fan, it’s a safe bet that I’ll see 99 percent of superhero movies in my lifetime. As someone who hated 2013’s “Man of Steel”, however, it was a longshot that I would greatly enjoy the film’s sort-of sequel “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”. The dismal reviews for the film further pushed this point and I went into the theater with low expectations anyway. Still, nothing could have prepared me for just how terrible “Dawn of Justice” is. Boring and incoherent, DC Comics is going to have to try a lot harder if they want to catch up with Marvel.
The film opens with the never-before-seen (sarcasm) killing of Bruce Wayne’s parents. Why another one of these scenes ever needed to be committed to film is far beyond my pay grade but I digress. This was followed by a (genuinely cool) re-telling of the “Man of Steel” climactic battle from Bruce Wayne’s point of view. This is probably the last plot point that I understood, because after this point the plot immediately divides into multiple storylines, none of which are entirely clear. One involves Bruce Wayne trying to track down a mysterious “White Portuguese” character, another involves the government (specifically Senator June Finch) trying to hold Superman accountable for his actions. And then there’s Lex Luthor, who has discovered kryptonite and wants to use it to…control Superman? Kill Batman? I don't know guys, sorry.
The casting of Ben Affleck as Batman received a lot of negative press before the film’s release, which is understandable, considering Affleck’s last romp as a superhero was 2003’s mismatched “Daredevil”. However, Affleck’s performance isn’t really a problem here. It’s not exceptional or anything, but he definitely plays his part well. This can also be said for newcomer Gal Gadot, in her extremely limited role as Wonder Woman, who establishes herself as cool and independent from her first appearance. The entire rest of the cast, however, are either less-than-stellar or sort of irrelevant. Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons is given so little to do as Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred that you’ll probably forget he was even in the movie. Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is just…bad. It’s not entirely his fault; the idea to make him a socially awkward, possibly “psychotic” (as Lois Lane describes him) young man doesn’t work at all. His hammy and exaggerated performance doesn’t help at all, though.
Henry Cavill again fails to own the role of Superman and right along with him is Amy Adams, in her thankless role of Lois Lane. Both of these actors are incredibly talented, which makes their boring performances in these films all the more frustrating.
Typical for a Zack Snyder film (“300”, “Watchmen”), the action and visuals are simply beautiful. The visual effects and cinematography are definitely great, however, this makes the movie amount to little more than the meal you order that looks nothing like the beautiful picture in the menu. Sometimes the story is ridiculously complicated, like DC’s awkward attempts at introducing the rest of the Justice League, and sometimes the plot nonexistent, as with the EXTREMELY tedious dream sequences. One dream sequence is about ten minutes (which is ridiculous), while an appearance from Kevin Costner as Clark Kent’s dead father made my entire row turn to their phones.
The biggest problem? This movie isn’t only boring and all over the place, it’s TWO AND A HALF HOURS of boring all-over-the-place-ness! After dragging you through two hours of boredom, a particularly underwhelming fight between the two heroes we came to watch duke it out, and a “where the hell did that come from?” climax featuring Doomsday and Wonder Woman, this movie has the NERVE to refuse to end. The last twenty minutes feature about five multiple endings, none of which I’ll spoil here. Just know that the “cliffhanger” the film chooses to actually end on is something I guarantee you won’t care about.
As an aspiring filmmaker myself, I’m not normally one to call a film “bad”. I choose to say, “well I personally didn’t like it” or “it wasn’t for me.” I don’t hesitate to call “Batman v Superman” a bad film, however, because it simply feels like lazy filmmaking. The storylines, characters, and scenarios are simply stitched together by gorgeous visuals and action sequences. When Snyder stated that this film was “for the fans”, you have to wonder who he could possibly be talking about. Perhaps, he was referring to the fans of Marvel who now have two mediocre films to use in their “Marvel is better than DC” argument.
