"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" Movie Review

It’s finally here! The movie that launches the DC Comics cinematic universe, something that Marvel has done so well starting with ‘The Avengers’, and the first time two of the most iconic superheroes face off in live action, has released. Obviously, the expectations are sky high. So, how does the movie fare? To be honest, the movie is a bit underwhelming – it’s not a bad movie, but it sure doesn’t live up to the hype and squanders away the perfect opportunity for DC to knock it out of the park.

Plot-wise, I can’t go into too much detail without spoilers. Eighteen months after the events of ‘Man of Steel’, the world is split on how to look at Superman – is he a saviour of the people, or is he a disaster waiting to happen? Though most people think of him as a God, there are those who consider him a threat to humanity – key among them are Lex Luthor, a millionaire entrepreneur in Metropolis, and Bruce Wayne, a millionaire entrepreneur in the neighbouring Gotham City who is secretly the vigilante crime fighter Batman. The actions of these characters and the moral dilemmas they face form the crux of the story. Of course, throw into that the political angle of the whole thing highlighted through a junior senator’s character, Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, and a whole bunch of other stuff, and you have a mash up of events pretty much crammed into a long two and a half hours.

Though he is very good at producing visually stunning movies and grand action pieces, I personally feel Zack Snyder isn’t a very good story teller. Of the ones I have seen, I have noticed that his movies are more a series of amazing scenes than a cohesive story that is well knit. Moreover, he tends to sacrifice good pacing with crisp editing in favour of lovingly created shots with close ups and lots and lots of slow motion (though I have to commend him for incorporating so much imagery from the comics, particularly ‘The Dark Knight Returns’, which would definitely please the comic book fans). This movie, similar to ‘Man of Steel ‘(MoS) (which I wasn’t a fan of), has the same shortcomings. Also, similar to that movie, there is an attempt to convey the message of extreme gravitas in the plot with scenes meant to impact you emotionally which don’t really deliver. Both movies suffer from the same problem of taking itself too seriously, and this is why they are not as fun as they should be. And this is one of the key areas where Marvel has succeeded so well – the movies can be goofy without needing to be campy.

That being said, ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ is a much better movie than MoS. It looks like they have made an effort to avoid some of the stuff that was criticised in the predecessor – the fight scenes are not stretched on forever, more of a plot here, there is some humour here (very little though) and the addition of new characters definitely livens up proceedings here. One thing that impressed me the most is how they have shown the impact on the ground of the devastating events of MoS, and it sets up this movie. Superhero movies have been showing a lot of destruction which has kind of numbed the audience to how bad it is, so it was refreshing to see a common person’s viewpoint – something other superhero movies could benefit from (both Ant Man and Deadpool also had much reduced stakes). The action scenes are very good, especially Batman taking on a floor full of goons. The climactic fight scene is good, and you get to see each hero use their own tactics and work as a team, which was very good. And of course, the fight between the two heroes is any superhero fan’s dream come true, and Snyder does justice to the sequence.

For me, the highlight of the movie was the Batman character and his story arc. Ben Affleck is an inspired choice, and he perfectly portrays the troubled hero. Though there isn’t too much given in terms of backstory (other than the obligatory parents’ death scene and a few hints at past events), it’s clear to see that Batman has seen a lot thanks to Affleck’s performance. He is convincing as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Also his chemistry with Jeremy Irons’s Alfred is very good. I would be very keen to see the solo Batman movie he would be in. Gal Gadot makes an impression despite limited screen time. The take on Lex Luthor is very different and eccentric bordering on hyper-crazy and Jesse Eisenberg fits this new image – not sure if I really like it though. Henry Cavill as Superman is decent, and so are the other returning cast members.

All in all, the movie is definitely not the best comic book movie, and I would think it was a great opportunity gone begging. That being said, I think the positives outweigh the negatives. Despite its long runtime, the movie was engrossing and I wasn’t bored at all. And most importantly, the movie does a good job of setting up the DC cinematic universe, which would have been DC’s main goal. I, for one, am pumped for it!