Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016), starring Ben Afleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot

Synopsis

Lex Luthor plans to have Batman kill Superman for him, by manipulating him into killing the “murderous alien”.

Review of Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

A few things up front: this is a review of the extended version of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, not the cinema release. The extended version is clearly a better movie. But the question is: is it a good movie?

Various points about Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

Family friendly?

Off the bat (no pun intended) let’s make this clear: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is not family friendly. Lots of violence, lots of foul language, Superman & Lois Lane engaging in sex, etc.

Batman

I hate the portrayal of Batman in this movie. It’s honestly as though The Punisher was wearing a Batman suit. He’s vicious, without mercy, and has no interest in protecting innocent bystanders. Collateral damage, you know. There’s a scene where he’s chasing villains, and because of how he’s doing this, a gasoline truck overturns, explodes, and kills or injures multiple people. And Batman doesn’t care. This is contrary to the spirit of Batman, and his motivation. He’s not a rage-fueled vengeance machine. He’s about protecting the innocent citizens from criminals who don’t care who gets hurt. It’s why he does it. He was unable to save his parents from a minor criminal (Joe Chill). He’s determined to save as many as possible.

Bruce Wayne

I love Ben Afleck’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne. When people are being hurt or killed in the fight between Superman and Zod, Bruce runs into danger. Not away from it, like most people. He cares, and takes action to help the innocent, the unprotected. He’s suave, sophisticated, and very intelligent — as we see when he’s dancing with Diana.

Wonder Woman

I love the portrayal of Wonder Woman. She’s absolutely, spot-on perfectly portrayed. Kudos to Gal Gadot. I literally can’t think of how she could have improved her performance.

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor’s portrayal is … different. He’s no longer a genius-level scientist. He’s one of the Internet millionaires, and has leveraged that to become wealthy. His father was apparently abusive, and he blames God for not protecting him. In fact, that’s the whole reason behind his hatred of Superman. He views him as a “god in the flesh”. Which just doesn’t ring true with me. Superman never puts himself as a god, etc. It might have worked, if there had been some religious cult that tried to worship him, build shrines to him, etc. But … there wasn’t. No complaint about Jesse Eisenberg‘s portrayal. He can only follow the script.

Martha …

This was supposed to be the heart of the movie. As Superman’s being killed, he begs Batman to rescue his mother — named Martha. This was supposed to show to Batman that Superman wasn’t an alien invader, but a person. He’s person who loves his mother, and is concerned for her … Even at the point of death. But it doesn’t work. It comes across more silly than serious. As in Man of Steel, Superman seems like he’s bounced around by external forces, and not the cause of things.

Doomsday

Doomsday. Seriously, this was the worst part of the movie for me. Is Doomsday some Kryptonian organic superweapon? Nope. An unstoppable “doomsday” machine? Nope. He’s cloned from the dead Zod & living Luthor’s DNA. And, much of the climax of the fight is … dumb. Why is Superman wielding the Kryptonite spear that’s killing him? Couldn’t Wonder Woman do it? Sure; but then Superman wouldn’t be killed. Couldn’t he have attacked from behind? Yup. Couldn’t Superman have literally punched him into orbit? And on, and on.

Editorial review of Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice courtesy of Amazon.com

The extended cut of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” includes 30 more minutes of story and action not seen in theaters! Also includes the Theatrical Version of the film plus over 2 hours of bonus content. From director Zack Snyder comes “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” starring Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent in the characters’ first big-screen pairing. Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.