[sa226]

Sa226's long awaited review, that I'm sure most of you have been waiting for on the edge of your seat.

As I go along, I have a feeling this is going to get increasingly negative. But I did enjoy the movie. Want a rating? hmmmm 6.8\10. It would be lower if it was based purely on expectations. Raise it if was just based on me being entertained. I can go along along with logic leaps and plot holes. Even characterizations that are terrible. My pure enjoyment of the film was lowered because of weird editing, pacing issues and crap jammed in that didn't need to be there.

Plot and general story: I liked and could buy the general gist of the plot. Batman and Superman are guys on the same side who have fundamental idealogical differences, they are manipulated by Lex Luthor. Its a rolling boil that slowly boils over into the two iconic characters coming into conflict. They resolve their differences, realize they've been manipulated and go after the real threat. Sure, works for me. But holy crap the execution was terrible. The resolution was a slap in the face to fans of the characters. Yeah the "Martha" thing humanized Superman in the eyes of Batman in that moment. Profound? Maybe. Utter waste of potential, yep. That kind of leads me to the next point that was probably the biggest issue. This was 2.5 movies in one. Batman V Superman, Superman: Doomsday and a Justice League setup. The whole nightmare scene was completely pointless. The time traveller and Parademon bit in the graveyard could have worked, but the whole scene was not at all necessary.

What they should have done was Batman V Superman, then the Justice League. Then do Man of Steel 2 where you bring in Doomsday and kill off Superman. If you're going to kill Superman you have to elevate him to the point where it matters that you do. I didn't really care that they killed Superman in this because I didn't care about the character, and I know that that Cavill is already filming Justice League, so the whole point of the Doomsday story arc is flushed down the toilet.

Characters

Batman: Bright spot. To me, Ben Affleck is a fantastic Batman and an even better Bruce Wayne. He nailed it. That scene where he clears the warehouse and saves Martha is worth the price of admission alone. But why the killing? I could get on board with him killing in his old broken down, depressed, angry and slightly crazy state. But then redeem him once the team up starts. Nope, just straight up murders fools. If they're going to do the "Under the Red Hood" story line, a murderous Batman pretty much destroys the most poignant part of that arc. The Bruce Wayne\Alfred scenes were spot on.

Superman: Ugh, where to begin. Every time they took one step forward with the character, they took three steps back. I'm a Superman fan, no doubt. I don't agree that he's boring and lame. In this new cinematic universe generation of the comic books where every hero is flawed, whats wrong with a Superhero that is good for the sake of being good? Why is that lame? His biggest weakness is that he is pretty much god like, but he still can't be in 2 places at once. He knows that while he is saving one person another is likely dying. He saves the cat out of the tree, while Batman burns down the forest so that the cat can't get into the tree. I actually have no issue with Cavill, I think he is doing a fine job with a freakin tough character. There were moments of the Superman that I wanted to see, but not enough. Basically this version of Supeman is really ####ty at being Superman. Superman wouldn't collapse in front of Lex Luthor desperately trying to gather some polaroids like some sissy pants. I got on board with the killing of Zod as the reason or turning point of Superman's reluctance to kill in MoS, but then he pretty much murders a terrorist in the first scene of this movie. Superman has an issue with Batman's way of doing things. So in the batmobile scene, ol Brucey is wreaking havoc while Superman is hiding behind a corner waiting for the Batmobile to run into him. Everybody thinks Batman is cool, but people need concvincing that Superman is a guy worth rooting for. This movie didn't do that at all. If you're going to kill him, build him up into the guy that was sold to us in the trailers for MoS. I just didn't really care that he died, when I should.

Lois Lane: Not much to say, I like Amy Adams, I think she is a good Lois. But I don't know why she has to be some sort of action sidekick, it feels just as out of place as anything else in the movie.

Lex Luthor: Eisenberg is a very good actor. I have no issue with him. I think he did a great job with what he was given. I just hate this version of Lex. To me the best on screen version of Lex was Rosenbaum from Smallville. Lex is a charming, suave dude that is evil to the core. He's the type of guy that charms and impresses the hell out of you, but leaves you feeling greasy for some reason. He's not some weird acting spoiled brat.

Wonder Woman: Great. Gadot was great and it was the one stuffed in thing that I had no issue with. To me it worked. I liked the intrigue of Bruce Wayne finding the picture of her from 1918.

Doomsday: Could have been more accurate to the comics, but meh. He's a monster

Alfred: Awesome.

Justice League Tease: Ok, but so completely out of place and unnesessary. An after credits thing would have worked much better, but that's too much like Marvel, so people would lose it. I don't know if the tease is just that, a tease. But I'm not a huge fan of the Injustice arc and I think Darkseid is too early for JL Part1. But we'll see.

After I've completely torn this thing to shreds, and sound like a butthurt fanboy, I actually did enjoy it. I'm certainly going to see it again. It just annoys me that after 3 years of anticipation this is what we get. The killing of Jimmy Olsen the CIA agent in the first scene was a microcosm of what they're doing with the DCU. Screw you Silver Age! Bang. I'm looking forward to Justice League, and I think Wonder Woman is going to be a pleasant surprise. While the character issues are there, I am curious to see if the R rated directors cut fixes some of the editing and pacing issues.