Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

A movie whose subtitle should have been the title.

DC does not have a strong track record of super hero movies in my opinion. Now, they are certainly not worse than what ever has happened with the Failtastic Four and recent Spider Man movies. This was better than those... 'movies.'    

Ok. I have to admit something. I had my doubts about this casting.

The trailers for this movie were borderline interesting. When they introduced Wonder Woman, it became more interesting, as it started to hail closer to the old Justice League cartoons (which are good). At least they were third age trailers, meaning that they showed off characters and actions but very little plot. Well no more plot than what we already knew from the title: Superman and Batman are going to go all Fight Club on each other.

Now, I'm really torn on a rating. I sat through the entire movie, drinking only some soda, without being too distracted. Now for a movie that (with previews added) lasted three hours and ten minutes that is pretty good. So I was not bored. Points in its favor. However there were times when I was completely confused. Also, while some casting was pretty good... some casting was less than good.

There is actually some nice symbolism here.

So I've been torn - do I give the movie three and half or four stars? After looking through some of my older reviews, I've found my placing.

4 out of 5 stars

Super Wonder Bat!

 I'm being maybe a touch generous, by roughly a quarter star. I don't do quarter stars.

I've recently been binging on Smallville. So I had to see this movie. Yes, I know they occur in different universes (like how Arrow, the Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow, take place in their own universe - and I guess Super Girl). However this tinged some of my perceptions of the cast.

I'm sorry, but this is not Lex Luthor.

This is Lex Luthor. This is the best Lex Luthor, ever.

Ben Affleck surprised me. I did not think he would make a good Bruce Wayne, let alone a competent Batman. I was wrong, He pulled it off much better than I thought he would. Jeremy Irons as Alfred was a good casting too. Lawrence Fishburne made a good Perry White. I don't even have any issues with Amy Adams as Lois Lane. And Gal Godot (whom I've never seen in anything before) was a good Wonder Woman casting. There were a few other good castings - I'm particularly looking forward to more Jason Mamoa as Aquaman.

But some casting was less than satisfactory. I'm sorry, but as talented as Jesse Eisenberg is, he is not Lex Luthor. Not to me. He would have made a better Joker... but Lex to me is more eloquent, more calculating, more composed, more charismatic. More Michael Rosenbaum. I was also not thrilled with the casting for Martha Kent. Again, I'm sorry but Annette O'Toole (Smallville) is the iconic Martha Kent.  

Now about the plot / tone of the movie. I'm not going to give a ton of spoilers. I really prefer to avoid as many of those as I can. The tone is very gritty almost noir. Dark foreboding scenes with washed out color (aside from Superman) dominate the movie. Darkness is everywhere, deep shadows, pale colors, gritty whites. The movie has a morose tone drawn from a limited palette of colors. I accept that. It is kind of the way these movies have been going since Nolan's time, or earlier.

Now then the plot. The first half of the movie was slow, and at times confusing. Because the movie has one tone (as I previously explained) it is not easy to tell dream sequence, from memory, from the present. I'm still not certain about one specific scene, a scene I will not spoil for you, but I think it might have been a dream with a time traveler - maybe? Once the plot coalesces from its many differing sources, the pace of the movie picks right up and the action starts. The action is very good. It has real weight to it, real impact.

For a nearly three hour long movie, I was not bored. Some things felt rough, some plot threads need a good tugging, and some were probably set ups for the next few movies.

It's worth a go see.
It's certainly not the best super hero movie ever (I'll always be a bigger fan of Marvel), but it is not the worst by a long shot (take your pick - any Fantastic Four movie, the Hulk films, the Spider Man movies. Those were bad). It's middle of the pack, maybe edging towards the upper layers.

Now I'm planning on going to see the Force Awakens again in the dollar theater... I need another fix of Star Wars.