Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill
Directed by Zack Snyder
Dark, dismal, and downright dull – Zack Snyder’s latest grim take on DC’s most beloved characters raises some interesting questions but never bothers to answer them.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice delivers in the action spectacle department as Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader and Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel trade their fair share of supersized blows. However, the murky reason why the two are fighting in the first place and the subsequent justification for putting their differences aside to become Justice League BFFs are each astoundingly stupid. The film’s vacuous plot is on one hand blandly predictable and yet needlessly cluttered as it becomes clear the producers are more concerned with setting up future movies rather than telling a decent story.
Bruce Wayne/Batman is mad at Superman for causing all that destruction in the previous film, Lex Luthor (a completely bonkers Jesse Eisenberg) is mad at both of them, and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) shows up to help save the day.
The serious tone borders on self-parody at times and the clunky, expository script makes Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s painful dialogue sound like a Harlequin romance novel.
However, the movie is not unwatchable. Once the setup occurs there is plenty of action, Affleck is a formidable Batman, and Gadot’s underused Amazonian superheroine is exciting to watch as her upcoming standalone origin film remains genuinely intriguing.
Yet, the fundamental problem still persists; Batman v Superman is the latest hodge-podge of clichés and tropes that breeds cynicism amongst superhero movie audiences
