Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

Here we go. DC’s big attempt to jumpstart their movie franchises and build their own shared universe, starring their most iconic characters.

From the early reviews I was expecting a trainwreck of epic proportions. Having seen it now I think they sold this film way short. Let’s be clear: this is NOT movie in the Marvel superhero mold, and going in with any preconceptions is just going to bias the viewer against what has been accomplished here. It’s far from perfect, but should be judged on its own merits rather than be compared to what other companies are doing.

While there were elements added to the character I didn’t care for, overall Ben Affleck’s Batman was quite interesting and played well. I’d very much like to see the rumored stand alone movie featuring this take. Superman didn’t work nearly as well. Henry Cavill just couldn’t seem to capture the nuanced emotions needed for how the part was written. Superman needed to convey being various stages of conflicted, angry, and worried, and instead I kept seeing the same semi-stern largely neutral expression in every scene. What little we saw of Gal Godot’s Wonder Woman made me excited for seeing more of her in the future.

Going back to preconceived notions, Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is another aspect that really needs to be judged without comparison to other versions. It worked great for me, as I thought his maniac, ruthless Luthor was the perfect compliment / counterpoint to the atmosphere of the movie. But any viewer expecting / wanting Kevin Spacey will find the performance jarring and likely disappointing.

While there were definitely several areas that could’ve been improved, I enjoyed B v S overall. Decent story progression, intriguing versions of most of the characters, and a fair amount of potential going forward. I personally think the critic reviews were a bit too hard on this, and would recommend checking it out for yourself.