Review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' was not as awful as reputed, but was a huge disappointment. With the cast it had and the characters it was going to have in it it had the potential. It is such a shame that, despite some bright spots, Zach Snyder badly bungles its execution.

The best things about 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' are the final battle and Ben Affleck. The final battle, which takes up much of the final 40 minutes, is explosively thrilling, dynamically choreographed, passionately performed and beautifully shot. That's true of all of the action actually. Am usually not a big fan of Affleck, but he does do a surprisingly great job as Batman. The casting could have been disastrous but Affleck gives a brooding intensity to the character and more range than he usually exudes. Other bright spots in the cast are Jeremy Irons' very amusing Alfred, Amy Adams' feisty if somewhat underused Lois Lane and particularly Gal Gadot's positively show-stopping Wonder Woman.

Visually, 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' mostly looks good, with the sole exceptions of some very jumpy editing and the rather artificial-looking Doomsday. It's beautifully shot however and boldly dark and gritty look fits beautifully within the story. Hans Zimmer's music score has many moments of sheer power and beauty, one of his more dynamic and involving scores in recent years.

These great things are unfortunately outweighed by the bad. The weakest asset of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' is the story, which only really comes to life in the last forty minutes. In the meantime it takes seemingly forever to get there with a particularly ham-fisted, rambling and dull first hour. Another big problem with the story is that it's overstuffed, from trying to insert so many ideas, subplots and characters, and too often under-cooked dramatically, from too many of the characters being given short shrift and from too many of the subplots being underdeveloped, discarded or at the end of the day unnecessary. Half an hour's trimming at least would have made it far better already.

Snyder is great in visual style and in the action, but in the drama, which is a mess of overwrought and undercooked, and storytelling he does flounder badly here. The script is at best clunky and dreary, with few moments that evoke thought, very few moments resonate emotionally and the funnier quirkier scenes apart from with Irons seem misplaced. Pacing is all over the place, with some parts feeling jumpy and then most parts in serious begging of a steroid shot. While there are some bright spots in the cast, too many of the performances don't come off well. Jesse Eisenberg is the biggest problem, his manic and almost comical Lex Luthor belongs in another film entirely, while Henry Cavill is stiff and ill at ease this time round as Superman complete with limited expression. Laurence Fishburne tries his best and has moments but he doesn't blend as well as he could have done. And to say that the film makes a complete waste of Doomsday, who was non-threatening and pretty pointless actually, is an insult to the word wasted.

In conclusion, the potential was high but despite some bright spots 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' misses the mark. 4/10 Bethany Cox