Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Review

I had a lot of fun... seeing all the reactions towards the negative reviews of this hugely anticipated blockbuster. I've also been enjoying seeing some of my favorite YouTubers talk about it. I think BanditIncorporated's "spoiler-free review" was the funniest I have seen and nothing else could top it.

I wasn't part of the hype train for Batman v Superman. This is probably because of my feelings towards its predecessor, Man of Steel, in which I'm afraid of even picking a side: love it or hate it? I wasn't looking forward to it, therefore it was difficult for this movie to even disappoint me. Despite that, I was so let down. Throughout the movie's entire run time, I had only one expression, and that was a lack thereof. It hardly changed, and I'll talk about why in the coming paragraphs.

Let me get this out of the way: I'm not jumping on the hate bandwagon. I'm not even trying to echo these negative reactions like it's cool to hate Batman v Superman. I came into this movie with these mixed-to-negative reactions in mind. There are a lot of black and white comments where you have to hate something or love it; there is never a grey area, and chances are, I might have ended up in the latter option. At the same time, I was willing to come up with my own conclusion upon finishing my viewing of it.  Here it is: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a mess.

But first, I have some positives, even if there aren't that many. The movie was off to a good start. It nicely summed up Batman's origin story without wasting a lot of time. I also liked seeing Man of Steel from Bruce Wayne's point of view. It was nice to see a different point of view from the controversial final battle and how the civilians were struggling from all that destruction.

And that's it. The movie went downhill for me afterwards.

When Ben Affleck was first announced to play Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, there was some outcry among superhero fans. I think that's because of his performance in Daredevil, but I think people were overlooking the fact that he has come a long way since then, starring in better films and even directing some good films. I was not one of those naysayers. Unlike them, I reserved judgment until I watched this movie.

While a lot of people praise Batfleck, I didn't think he was as great as everybody else claimed him to be, but he wasn't gosh-awful either. I also didn't mind the fact that his interpretation of the character kills enemies, this time with firearms. Previous film incarnations of the character, most notably Michael Keaton's Batman, has killed before. The filmmakers can make him an anti-hero for all I care. My main problem is that I couldn't connect this character, nor do I even care about his vengeance towards Superman the whole way through, which is a running theme for this review.

There has been a rise of the "Sad Affleck" meme after this one interview concerning the negative reviews of this movie. If there is one thing Ben Affleck should be grateful for, it's that he is getting a lot of praise for his portrayal of Batman, so it's not a total loss.

Jeremy Irons as Alfred? I saw potential humor in his character, but I found him pretty underwhelming. There is not a single line from him that stood out to me and he was just there. Some more meaningful interactions with Wayne would have been nice.

What about Henry Cavill as Superman? Didn't care either. He does have his moments where he discusses his dilemma about being a superhero or whatever, but he's not very interesting. There is nothing that makes me want to invest in his character, even after this montage of him saving people, because he is just so blandly-written.

I thought Amy Adams did okay as Lois Lane. She did her best with whatever she was given, but all that potential character that was sort of present in Man of Steel is absent. There's none of those snide remarks or any form of personality that would have otherwise been a nice update to Lois Lane. That's not to mention that her chemistry with Superman is not present. Not once did I buy the fact that they were in love or even get invested in their romance. It was just that one bathtub scene and that's it. There is no emotional weight to it. The film also tries way too hard to make her useful, and it just didn't work for reasons that I will not spoil.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman? Not a lot to say. When she finally dons the costume and kicks some butt, all that joy that was potentially building up was non-existent. How the heck did the filmmakers make the Amazonian Princess so boring and not at all exciting? I'm starting to become more worried about her upcoming solo film now.

The worst of the bunch, however, is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I haven't been a fan of the actor. I wasn't blown away by his performance in The Social Network, and this did nothing for me. Look, I don't mind an eccentric take on the character. Both Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey had hints of that when they played Luthor in the previous Superman movies. Heck, some of his humor can even counter the grim and joyless tone. My gosh does that backfire because he was just so annoying and unfunny. Even worse, the character's motivations were either all over the place or unclear. Why does he hold a grudge against Supes? Why does he want Batman to fight him? Who the heck came up with that lame Granny's Peach Tea joke while writing the screenplay?!

The story overall is just one big mess. There is not a clear goal and many of the characters listed do not have enough screentime to leave an impression. It also overstuffed to the point that story feels very incoherent. In one part, the movie does address the controversial battle from Man of Steel to where Supes himself actually shows up at a trial. But that is all brushed aside for more things like Bruce Wayne having some bad dreams. There was also a subplot where Wayne discovers other superheroes that could lead to the foundation of the Justice League. Why have that scene if they're not gonna play a big part in the film's climax? It is so pointless.

And you know that inevitable fight between the title characters? It wasn't exciting the whole way through. That feeling I got when watching movies like The Avengers or Mad Max: Fury Road was nowhere to be found. There were hardly any stakes to keep me interested in what was going on. The final battle, which I will not spoil if the trailers haven't done so already, did not do any better. I didn't care about what would happen to these characters because they weren't written well enough for me to give a darn.

The other action scenes were nothing to brag about. There's some car chases, some fist fights reminiscent of the Batman: Arkham games, and there is some CGI spectacle for the audience to admire, I guess.

The more I listen to the film's score by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL, the more let down I feel. While it does bring back some themes from Man of Steel, it is uninspired and forgettable at best. The only exception, however, is Wonder Woman's theme "Is She With You?" That one rocks.

I've also mentioned that this movie is needlessly grim and joyless. It's so desperate to be different from the Marvel movies that it forgot one important element that would have made it worth a viewing: fun. It's not fun to watch. It's also not very engaging because of the convoluted plot. To anyone who had issues with Avengers: Age of Ultron, like having too many characters or just having moments that set up future installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is Citizen Kane compared to this one.

At least Age of Ultron had scenes where the superheroes have light-hearted interactions like they're best friends; it has a villain who was fun to watch and had a simple, but clear goal; and had action scenes that were a joy to watch. This might not be a fair comparison, since Age of Ultron is not about superheroes fighting each other, so I guess we'll see how Captain America: Civil War handles this in less than a couple of months, though I have my own worries about that one.

All that $420 million that went into production of Batman v Superman wasn't even enough to fix all these problems. I doubt even the upcoming R-rated Director's Cut will fix this mess of a movie. Wait, an R-rated cut?! Just who exactly is this movie supposed to be aimed for? That just adds to how confused this movie is.

A part of me wanted to like this at least okay, but it failed to even entertain me, especially its action scenes. I don't... hate this movie. It came close, but it did not get under my skin unlike this one film I reviewed last year (whose title that I really don't want to type again). Guys, this movie is...

HEAVILY FLAWED

The story is incoherent, the characters are boring, the action scenes were underwhelming, the score was bland, and the special effects were nothing to write home about. Despite this, it's still going to make a heck-ton of money. I was just glad that I didn't pay to see it since I don't like supporting bad films. People were looking forward to seeing Batman and Superman fighting each other, and they'll certainly get just that.

If you like this movie or even find it average at best, all the power to you. I'm not going to ask you to jump off a cliff for liking it. I just view it as a massively unimpressive movie that made lose any hope I have for the DC Extended Universe.

This begs the question: does Batman v Superman bleed? Yes it can. It can bleed to death for I care.