Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Movie Review

Released: March 25th 2016 (Worldwide)

Length: 151 Minutes

Certificate: 12A

Director: Zack Snyder

Starring: Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Jessie Eisenberg, Gal Gadot, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne and Holly Hunter.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has received a massive amount of anticipation and features some of the biggest names in comic book history. But for the first phase in a planned franchise, the film is an enormous disappointment and a textbook example of how NOT to construct a cinematic universe.

BVS picks up several months after Man of Steel in which Superman (Henry Cavill) took on General Zod (Michael Shannon) in a battle which destroyed a sizeable portion of Metropolis. Batman (Ben Affleck), who was also present on the ground watches helplessly as his employees in Wayne Tower are killed in the ensuing chaos and begins to hold an animosity towards the superhero. In the midst of this growing controversy, Lex Luthor (Jessie Eisenburg) hatches a devilish scheme to trick the two vigilantes into fighting each other and so begins DC’s crackpot scheme to begin their own cinematic universe. The one good thing I can say about the plot is that the opening act does give some context to the destruction seen in the closing third of Man of Steel (even if it never follows through with it). Other than that, it’s an absolute mess; bouncing between numerous scenes, intrusive dream sequences and random locations at a constantly nauseating rate, BVS can never tell a cohesive story effectively. The film bungles so many important moments, and shoehorns in so much unnecessary filler that should have been kept back for other films. Every half an hour or so, a scene comes out of nowhere which is so obviously signposted to set up the Justice League that it distracts from the already convoluted proceedings. Often times you’ll have no idea what’s going on in these scenes because again, there’s no development to be found and at other points you’ll wonder if you’re watching two films squeezed and jammed into one. Dare I say it; the plot of BVS could be the most confused and cluttered plot ever devised for a superhero movie.

The characters of Batman v Superman are very poorly developed and the film suffers greatly for it. The needle in the quality haystack is Ben Affleck who makes for a great Batman; contrary to all the naysayers, he encapsulates the more grizzled and weary Caped Crusader with ease and you can sense that he’s been through hell in his crime fighting career which has spanned over twenty years. At the same time though, a big chunk of his backstory feels missing; after a very brief retelling of his origins the film chucks us straight into the action alongside the equally well portrayed Alfred (Jeremy Irons), expecting audiences to be familiar with this version of the character from the outset. Batman is well acted in this movie but you won’t be as attached as you could be. Regretfully, Affleck and Irons are the only solid performances to be found here; the rest are either too basic or wasted opportunities. Henry Cavill is neglected the most here as Superman; aside from a couple of reflective moments his character does little to progress and his character arc (which would have made for good continuity with Man of Steel) quickly gets tossed out the window in favour of the action. Gal Gadot gives a serviceable opening performance as Wonder Woman but her appearance is severely limited by the amount of screen time she’s given. Where Gal Gadot’s presence is basic and minimalistic, Jesse Eisenberg’s is painfully annoying. Forgive the informality but to put it bluntly; this guy sucks. He has no threatening presence whatsoever; his quips are a complete turn-off and every time he opened his mouth, I just wanted to block my ears. It’s such a flawed vision for the character and one which I hope won’t stick around for future films. Because of the film’s insistence on straightforward action, characters that have flanked comic book pages for decades are almost completely bare-bones. The same holds for true for Lois Lane (Amy Adams), Martha Kent (Diane Lane) and Editor Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) who are all sidelined for this entry.

Taking its gloomy and dark style from Man of Steel, Batman v Superman is most definitely a sight to behold; dazzling effects, a foreboding atmosphere and strong editing all coalesce to bring us another eye-popping spectacle. This time around the highlights come from Batman, whose fight scenes are both impactful and well-choreographed; the soundtrack is suitably sweeping and conveys an epic tone which is unmatched by the film’s other components. Snyder’s cinematic flair carries over from 300 and Watchmen with a wide array of camera shots to give varying views of the action. There’s never a moment where the action sequences become as incompetent as the plot and characters. As was the case with its predecessor, Batman v Superman is very flashy but without any sort of context, it all becomes so meaningless, unable to land the impact it intends to make on the audience.

Batfleck is brilliant and it definitely looks pretty, but in a desperate bid to kick-start the Justice League, Snyder and Warner Bros have made a critical mistake. Batman v Superman really is one of the most incoherent, inconsequential and incomprehensible messes ever put onto the big screen and it all comes down to a misguided company who places financial gain ahead of artistic vision.

Rating: 1.5/5 Stars