So I just saw “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and this is my gut reaction: I don’t really get all of the critical reviews of this film. (Critical meaning of critics, like professional people that Rotten Tomatoes aggregates.) I should say that I went into this film with pretty low to minimal expectations after hearing nothing but awful things about this movie from critics and most of my friends on social media.

Regardless, here’s my review, and, like with the “Star Wars” one, I will warn before I get to any spoilers.

Overall, I liked the film, despite it's flaws. It was entertaining, fast, and visually interesting.

Now, I want to say that I do not think this movie is perfect, but I do think that the criticism of this film is a bit hefty. Like, as of writing this article, it’s at 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s lower than “Paul Blart Mall Cop." That’s lower than “Knowing." That’s… actually higher than “Sucker Punch." Eh, fair enough.

The fight scenes were visually interesting but definitely choppy; a stark contrast to, say, “300," which had cinematically interesting fight scenes (albeit, everyone looked a tad drunk on slow motion). Overall, the cinematography wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing either.

The score was pretty good—with focus of the song in the final fight scene, which is fantastic. Those who have seen the film will know what I’m talking about. It set the tone for that scene pretty well and made the whole scene more enjoyable.

The pace has been most people's biggest complaint thus far, and I can understand—it is very fast and feels rushed at times, but I also can’t say I was ever bored during it. This movie is over two and a half hours long and doesn’t really feel like it’s that long; compare it to a film like “Interstellar," which is only a little bit longer and felt like it was that long.

I agree with the testaments of those surprised by how great Affleck was. He definitely impressed me with his grizzled and old(er) version of Batman. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he’s my favorite Batman, but he definitely impressed me. Jeremy Irons was also great, but I mean, Jeremy Irons is pretty great usually.

I’m probably one of the few who actually liked Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as Lex Luthor. I don’t know, I thought his kookiness worked for me. I mean, this isn’t Hackman or Spacey, or even Rosenbaum, but I really liked the eccentricity he presented. The immaturity combined with the devious genius. I also have the benefit of having never read any of the comics ever, and therefore I can't have a character 'ruined' for me outside of comparing other adaptations to this one. I’ll probably get more hate for this opinion than any of my others.

The whole cast was pretty great. We already know Cavill; and Gal Gadot did a pretty great job as well, albeit with more limited screen time, which I've also heard frustrations with, and understand. None of the acting I could really point out as inherently ‘bad.’

I’ve run out of things to talk about that aren't spoilers, and a lot of the problems I had with the film are spoilers, so I guess conclusively, I would say I liked the film and I’m probably going to see it again, maybe not in the theater, but definitely eventually. If you’re even remotely interested in either of these characters or this movie, I would suggest going and seeing it. It’s minimally a fun action movie that has pretty good acting and effects.

Is this movie as good as “Avengers?" No. Is it as bad as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine?" Nope. It’s definitely just as good as some of the Marvel films it was inevitably be compared to, and I would say as good as its predecessor, “Man of Steel."

I have the benefit of not knowing the source material, so nothing can be “ruined” for me, in terms of adaptation, and I judged this movie as just that, a movie, with my only knowledge being other movies of these same characters. Did I love this movie? I don’t know if I’m ready to love again, but I did enjoy this movie as a movie, and I think if you go into it with an open mind and legitimately no real expectations other than seeing a superhero movie, which may seem like a travesty to some people, you can enjoy this movie too.

Here’s where the spoiler talk begins, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read any further.

OK, three, two, one:

When the movie opened with a Batman origin story, I almost audibly groaned “Again?” And I felt that way for most of the movie until they connected the fact that both of their mothers’ names are ‘Martha’ (by the way, how did I never pick up on that? That’s either ingenious planning or lazy writing or naming, I don’t know which). But still, they could’ve included the scene of him visiting the grave and having the weird grave bat monster nightmare and let that be the memory he has when Superman says the name.

Also, Bruce Wayne’s weird desert bug people apocalypse future nightmare felt like it went on too long. He definitely ‘woke up’ like, twice in that sequence. And how do you get knocked out in a dream? I don’t know, but that whole sequence kind of took me out of the movie for a second, because it didn’t really make sense. I don't really understand why any of that had to happen, other than show us that Batman is super afraid of a Superman tyranny future—but we already knew that?

I did like the Flash being in his dream (or ‘dream’) as well; that was a nice tease. And I can see why people were bothered by the ‘cameo introductions’ of the four other main Justice League members on Lex’s computer files. I personally am not bothered by it though. I don’t know why, but that seems like the most efficient way for them to introduce the characters quickly, which is exactly why people hated it.

“But Marvel has done slow character introduction so effectively!” you may protest, and I would say: “yeah, you’re right.” And DC is making up for lost time, and to pull off introducing (not fleshing out most though), essentially, five ‘brand new’ characters (depending on whether or not you count Doomsday as a real character or not) and making a movie that didn’t end up like the raging tornado dumpster fire that is “Batman & Robin” is a miracle. Maybe that's just me. I'm sure someone's going to say that "Batman & Robin" is better than this movie.

I am also not trying to say the script was flawless. Some examples:

Did anyone else feel like Wonder Woman’s introduction at the party was kind of reminiscent of Catwoman’s introduction in “The Dark Knight Rises?" I mean, she even stole something from Bruce. Like, what? Why would you do that? And why can they only meet at really fancy parties? I mean, overall, Gal Gadot felt underused. She didn't have a lot of lines, and in her first 'scene' at Lex's party she didn't really talk to anyone at all. I can see why there are frustrations with how her character was handled.

The scenes with Lois and the spear were annoying. That entire sequence was invented entirely to make Lois be in trouble and then make Superman have to sacrifice himself with the spear. I was wondering for a while like, “hey, that’s water, is Aquaman going to show up?” and then he never did, and I thought, “wait, why did she go after it?” Batman told Supermthan that they would need the spear and that he left it in the building, but he, firstly, didn’t know Lois had drowned it, and secondly, didn’t tell her that they would need it again.

Maybe she just knew they needed it because Lois Lane is a smart lady? I mean, I’m okay with that explanation, but I wish there had been a scene that Lois realized that they needed the spear or heard Batman say they needed it and ran back for it instead of just her all of the sudden going for it because the plot needed her to.

This tweet sums up my confusion with the Wonder Woman introduction scene. Sorry, this person just said it too perfectly and it would feel like plagiarism to reword it.

They also didn’t really explain how Luthor created Doomsday. All he did was submerge Zod in the water and then put his blood on his face and said something about a deformity. Maybe I missed the integral dialogue that explained how it was all donem but it all just seemed like it was way too easy. Also, the design of Doomday was kind of... weird. I don't want to say 'dumb', but it wasn't visually appealing and didn't follow what I had envisioned Doomsday was going to look like. (Boo me, having one expectation). He looked like a Ninja Turtle or a troll from "Lord of the Rings." Oh well, at least they gave him the bone spikes. (Kind of).

Anyway, like I said, I haven’t read the comic books and I’m judging these movies as movies, but I think this one was good, all things considered. It definitely has its flaws and I will probably notice more things on my second watch, but I also don’t agree that this movie is somehow worse than “Don’t Mess With The Zohan,” which is what Rotten Tomatoes would have you believe.

"Das Jus Me Doe!" - the1janitor

Let me know what you liked in the comments, but please be mindful that some people are even slower at seeing films than me, and at least mark it if you post spoilers.

Also, check out my friend Andy’s review of the film!

Thank you for reading!