As a young boy leaving the theatre with his parents, Bruce Wayne experienced his first traumatic encounter. A mugging turned to murder as he watched his parents take their last breaths in the streets of Gotham. Now we have it, Batman is born! Sick of this story? So am I. This story has been told and retold over the past six decades and it’s hard to believe that there is a single American household that doesn’t know it. That message, however, seemed to have skipped over Zack Snyder, as he felt it was necessary not only to include but to dramatize into a five minute recap that story to kick off “Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

Despite this blunder to start us off, and the many more to come, BVS isn’t all bad. Some of the writing, acting and artistry of the film was entertaining as well as moving. Personally, I went into this movie with very low expectations for actors like Ben Affleck and Jesse Eisenberg. After his “Daredevil” debacle, it seemed irresponsible to give Affleck the chance to play Batman. And Jesse Eisenberg typically plays a goofy off-the-cuff type kid with little regard for anyone or anything outside himself. How was he going to pull off the character of Lex Luthor: a young business tycoon taking over his father’s company and known nemesis to Superman? Both actors knocked it out of the park. Batman was passionate, engaging and dark. He was exactly what we’ve come to know and love in this iconic figure. Eisenberg played exactly the Lex that was written for him. His performance was equally passionate and committed, giving the audience chills.

The writing and dialogue in this film was engaging as a drama or feel-good type piece. Eisenberg’s performance as Luthor came with some very powerful and thought provoking lines. He tells the senator leading Superman’s trials, “I figured out way back that if God is all-powerful, he cannot be all good. And if he is all good, then he cannot be all-powerful. And neither can you be.” Religious beliefs aside, this sets not only the senator in a God-like state, but brings more to the David vs. Goliath imagery that resonates within the audience so strongly. After Louis Lane calls Luthor psychotic, he tells her “That is a three syllable word for any thought too big for little minds.” This provides the audience with a very clear picture of who Lex Luthor is: a madman. But should he be portrayed this way? I would argue that the traditional Lex Luthor was always interested in the good of humanity. His main problem with Superman was that he wanted his own human race to thrive and succeed and didn’t see that as a possibility with God-like beings around. The Lex Luthor we get in BVS is just as crazy as the Joker. Eisenberg’s performance is powerful and committed, but the audience can tell that this is not the real Luthor. This villain is more in league with Batman’s favorite nemesis.

Let’s go back to that opening scene. Artistically, this scene is moving and powerful, but we didn’t need it. As Bruce’s mother takes her last breath, the light fading out of her eyes, Bruce’s father, who is also fading fast whispers “Martha…” Fast forward to the long awaited fight scene between the heroes. Batman is holding a kryptonite spearhead to Superman’s neck. The time has come and we all know it. When Superman has met his end, he tells Batman that he’s letting Martha die. Batman stops dead in his tracks. Now the men have bonded and are together in alliance against the evil Lex Luthor. Is this really all it takes? Two orphan boys whose mommy’s have the same name. What a way to end the fight scene that was already lacking considering the title of the film.

Now the boys are bonded and on their way to save Martha and take down Luthor, but wait! We have a new surprise player out of left field! Doomsday! Or is it General Zod? At this point, who even knows what’s going on and more importantly, who cares, because finally here is the major fight scene we’ve all been waiting for. Here we have at least a solid ten minutes of back and forth between Doomsday and the good guys. Full-on fighting with weapons, flight and plenty of blood. And it was only interrupted for overly sentimental romantic gush once! Considering how many feelings were in this movie, that’s the real accomplishment here.

Batman and Superman are each well-known heroes with tons of backstory and history. Ignore those and you might be able to really get into this film. But given how much history has been ignored in the process of writing this movie, one may have a hard time fully engulfing themselves in it. Doomsday could have had his own movie, giving much more time for actual fighting between the Bat and the God. Instead, we get a two and a half hour pissing contest between grown-ass adults who think they’re the only one that can properly save a city. Essentially, this entire movie was DC’s means to create hype for their upcoming endeavors. Leave out the mutated General Zod, Batman backstory and gross oversentimentality and we can get at least 45 more minutes of fight scene buildup—or, at least, a shorter movie that would have put me in bed before 3:00 AM.