"The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world!"
Following the events of Man of Steel, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) is blaming the red-caped crusader (Henry Cavill) for the destruction of Metropolis. In the midst of the city recovering, Wayne goes undercover as a masked vigilante named Batman to stop crime in Gotham City. Seeing Batman's violent ways as a threat, Superman goes out to stop him. Meanwhile, Wayne discovers that a terrorist has been in contact with the eccentric owner of LexCorp, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). Trying to find proof, he soon finds himself not the only one on Luthor's trail, as a mysterious woman named Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) is looking to find answers herself.
Batman v Superman features some strong acting, with almost every cast member delivering their part. Contrary to all controversy, Affleck is a surprisingly effective Batman and Bruce Wayne. His approach to the character differs from Christian Bale, but he certainly has the attitude and the personality of the character. His character isn't given a lot of development (more on that later), but I'm definitely interested in seeing what he does later on in the DCCU.
Cavill returns from Man of Steel and does a good job, though the character of Superman doesn't really have a lot of depth. That being said, its funny how he isn't recognized through the glasses (though I could say the same about how Cavill wasn't recognized while he was walking through Times Square in a late night show promotion earlier). Amy Adams also returns as Lois Lane and is given a lot to do. She shows the determination and grit to do things on her own, while also being heartfelt at the right moments. Gadot is very solid in the few scenes she's given (I love her accent).
The supporting cast is great. Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane and Harry Lennix. among others, all also return with a handful of scenes apiece, and do very nicely with what they are given. (SPOILER ALERT! Kevin Costner is given a surprisingly exciting cameo) The best performances in the film, however, go to Holly Hunter and Jeremy Irons. Hunter only has a few scenes, but she delivers her moments with raw authenticity and a convincing. take-no-prisoners personality. Irons takes Michael Caine's place as Alfred, and is also surprisingly effective and convincing as Batman's butler. He also delivers a couple of the film's funniest lines. Scoot McNairy is also a solid performer in a few scenes.
The visual effects, cinematography and production design are all fantastic. Like Man of Steel and The Dark Knight films, the style of filming is a darker, more brooding and realistic tone. And it works nicely for this film. The slow-motion start of the film (which explores the all-too-familiar Batman origin story), is incredibly well-done and well-shot. Thankfully, the film doesn't really rely on CGI until the final 30-45 minutes. And in that final battle scene, the visual eye-candy escalates to a 12 and almost goes too over-the-top. Hans Zimmer's music score (his final one apparently for a superhero film) stands out as perhaps one of his most impressive ones to date, with impressive moments in-between action scenes.
Batman V. Superman also features more blatant hints at future films in this universe than the Marvel Cinematic Universe hardly ever does. With the notable exception of Suicide Squad, the rest of the Justice League is given about a minute each in terms of introduction (though The Flash is seen a little longer in one other scene if fans pay attention). The scene this all plays out in is somewhat out-of-place in the film, but its still very exciting to see these characters for the first time on the big screen.
Finally, Batman v. Superman has probably the most daring and engaging ending (or should I say, cliffhanger) I've ever seen out of a superhero film. Talking about this further would spoil the movie, but I will say, it caught me by surprise and really put me at the edge of my seat. For me, the way this mash-up ended gave this superhero showdown major bonus points.
On the downside, Batman V. Superman has so much going on, that the film is often not very cohesive. All the independent parts are strong and working great, but until the final 30 minutes, they don't really gel together. Its' almost as if Zach Snyder (the director) was trying to take plot points that would have worked for 2 or 3 possible movies and mash them together. It works a few times, but, in this case, I felt the Batman side of the story to be somewhat disserviced and not given enough attention to really understand the character's motivation (hopefully we'll see more in future films). Since I was already aware of Man of Steel's characters, the continuing story arc from that movie seemed to be easier to follow.
Also, the bathtub scene with Clark and Lois, in my opinion, was incredibly unnecessary. Usually I would complain about this anyway for families, but, its so out-of-place and so out-of-character as far as Superman is concerned, its just a bad scene, period. It should have ended up on the cutting room floor.
Finally, the only cast member that seems underwhelming is Eisenberg. He tries really hard, and his approach to Lex Luthor does work sometimes (particularly in a few intense scenes). But at other times, his psychotic-inspired acting comes across as more annoying and "trying too hard" than anything else. In his last scene, I wanted to say "dude, shut up!".
Batman v. Superman is easily one of the most-anticipated films of the last several years. Film fans and comic book fans had been waiting for these two titans to clash on screen. And, even though I'm not a diehard comic book fan, a few of the friends I went with certainly were. In preparation, I watched Batman Begins and re-watched Man of Steel before seeing this. If you do watch Batman v. Superman, I would recommend watching Man of Steel first. Some things in the movie certainly won't make sense unless you watch that movie.
That being said, hearing all the positive reception from fans made me excited, but then the scathing reception from critics made me scratch my head. I knew then that this would be a very difficult film to review. And, in some ways, I can see why the critics didn't like this so much. But at the same time, I found more of the reasons why fans loved this movie.
Snyder's very ambitious second movie for DC and Warner Bros. is actually pretty close to what he described it to be, "the Empire Strikes Back of superhero films". Its' thrilling, exciting, and it has an unexpectedly emotional (though unrelentingly dark) ending. By the time you reach the end of this, you want to see what comes next for this unfolding universe of films. And, at the same time, it is a whole mess of fun seeing Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman come together to fight on the big screen for the first time.
Beyond that fantastic fight scene, the rest of the film has a lot of strong points too. The film (for the most part), is brilliantly cast. The flashbacks and possible reference points to future movies are fun to watch also. Also, the suspense and mystery surrounding some of the scenes building up to the battle between the two superheroes is as sweat-inducing and engaging as what one could hope for.
However, I agree with the critics in the fact that Snyder's final product is often pretty messy. The 2 and a half hour running time does go by at a quick pace, but the plots leading into the major battle often don't quite mesh together so well. One has to wonder if this movie might would have worked better if divided into two 90-minute films instead. And, even though the negativity surrounding Affleck's casting was quickly disproven here, Eisenberg's casting is more proven to be a mistake here.
In the end, its the gaping problems I mentioned that keep Batman V. Superman from reaching the heights of the best superhero movies made such as Spider-Man 2 and both Avengers films (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, another great superhero movie, does a much better job being cohesive despite having many characters to work with). In fact, I felt Man of Steel to be a much more cohesive and more-developed superhero film.
But, that being said, Batman v. Superman is still very fun and exciting. And I'm happy to say that the trailer that many people complained about earlier this year doesn't quite reveal everything. There are a couple of scenes in particular here that make this film perhaps the most daring and risk-taking effort I've seen to date out of this fast-growing genre.
Those things, along with some fantastic performances (particularly from the supporting cast), elevate Batman V. Superman far above where the critics have placed it at.
Score: 6.9/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: About the same in frequency and coarseness than other superhero movies in the past few years. The harshest words heard are three uses of "J---- C----!" and two of "g--d---". Batman spits out the s-word once. Other sporadic interjections include two uses of "son of a b----", and one use each of "h---", "d---", "balls", and "p---". "Oh my g--" is interjected five times.
Adult Content: One very disappointing (and unnecessary) scene has Lois taking a bath (arms and legs cover up just barely anything private), with Clark barging in. He then joins her (fully clothed) and they kiss passionately. Diana Prince wears a couple of very low-cut outfits. Bruce flirts with her, talks about her dress, and he also balks about a couple of women he's "known". Zod is shown naked (but his critical parts are not shown). It's hinted at that a criminal Batman catches was involved as a pedophile or sex trafficking.
Violence: The opening scene shows Superman's fight with Zod during the end of Man of Steel, where we see several buildings fall and apparently shows a huge body count (a pillar falls on an employee's legs, and a little girl is nearly crushed). Fireballs destroy other buildings. Batman takes out plenty of people with guns and fists (we don't see much blood). One nightmarish scene shows blood coming out of Bruce's parents coffins, with a gigantic terrifying bat creature emerging from it. The batmobile flips over several cars and guns down several in another intense scene also. Someone is shot in the head (off-screen). Lois is nearly done in several times (before being saved). Superman crashes a baddie through a wall (after-effects off-screen). Batman and Superman pummel each other through walls and nearly do each other in several times. Kryptonite trips Superman up a handful of times. Doomsday's electricity shocks and destroys a lot of a city (his image is likely to cause nightmares for younger children). Someone is stabbed with a spear. Two characters are impaled. Lex Luthor slices open his hand intentionally. An explosion kills many (effects off-screen). Someone is kidnapped and the word "Witch" is written on the victim's head. We witness Bruce's parents' death in slow motion in a flashback (results seen are very minimal). Bruce falls down his well (bats swarm him after).
Drugs/Alcohol: Alcohol is served and consumed in a handful of scenes.
Other: A jar of urine makes an appearance in a key scene. Lex Luthor manipulates many. Evolution is referred to a handful of times. A brief display of vandalism. Batman steals a couple of things. Some talk of "God vs. man" and other things by Lex Luthor may prove to be headscratching for some.
