Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Smug and self-important would be my short, three-word summary of Batman vs Superman. Just like 2013’s Man of Steel, this movie had promise, but simply did not deliver. From the desaturated colour palate to the pretentious dialogue, this movie took its self way, way too seriously.

Right off the bat (pun not intended), Zach Snyder a bunch of borrowed ideas and imagery, right down to Mama Wayne’s pearl necklace, and thinks that its okay because its all in slow-motion and more artistic. Sure we’ve seen boy Bruce surrounded by bats before, but its okay to do it again because this time they’re making him fly through symbolism! And these borrowed ideas continue, even having Batman get his car stolen from a party by a woman who would end up becoming his ally. Even the Harry Potter wand battles are borrowed from.

We are thrown right into the ending of Man of Steel, this time from Bruce Wayne’s perspective. Then we go to Lois Lane in the desert for some reason, then Lex Luthor doing stuff, then Superman doing stuff,… the whole story is very fragmented and shoddily edited together. It is constantly jumping storylines in a way which make the seams very apparent. And then out of the blue we get some sort of doomsday prophesy and a time traveler showing up? C’mon! No cohesion whatsoever. A mess, one might say.

I liked Ben Affleck taking up the bat suit, and I liked Wonder Woman quite a bit (despite her addition being entirely extraneous). I didn’t care for Jesse Eisenberg as Lex though, Henry Cavill was just there, and Jeremy Irons never felt like he was in the same movie.

The visuals of this movie were completely ruined by the choice, once again, to go almost grey throughout the whole thing. Not to mention they went a little far with the religious imagery (both visually and in the writing). Man, did they ever miss the mark with Superman here.

And then finally, once it seems to be over with the prolonged action set pieces (the only interesting one being the actual fight between Supes and Bats), we get an almost Return of the King ending which feels like it takes another half hour to conclude. Not to mention the desperation to turn this into DC’s avengers by hinting at a further storyline. Honestly, that scene with Lex in the jail cell was so tacked on it was eye rolling.

Sorry DC comics. It was a nice idea, but poorly executed. Too long, too full of itself, too disjointed, too joyless.
4/10