Say what you want, this time you can't blame it on Ben Afleck. I thought he was both a quality Bruce Wayne and Batman. In fact, this Batman was probably one of my favorites. I loved how brutal he was. I've always thought that Batman has translated onto the big screen as a big softy, at least until Christian Bale came onto the scene, that is. Afleck's bat did a thorough job of kicking butt and taking names with some help from a pretty cool batmobile.
There's one more pro that stands out: Without spoiling anything, there is a major explosion that happens at a certain point in the movie. As the fire is dancing around Superman, you can see the hurt and pain all over his face. It was a beautiful, memorable scene. A rose in a concrete jungle.
Put the kiddies to bed. It's about to get ugly.
Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice was like losing my virginity. You go in expecting something amazing, but what you actually get is a confusing, forced mess. When it was over, I was left asking myself: What the hell just happened?
Blame it on the confusing dream sequences that start when the credits open and hit you sporadically throughout the course of the movie. And just when you think you've had enough, Zack Snyder hits you with a dream within a dream. It almost felt like the main characters spent more time asleep than awake.
Blame it on the awful script that left you shaking your head. I almost felt bad for the actors/actresses throughout the course of the movie as they were doing the best with what they were given. The dialogue is corny at times and painful at others. It does little to advance the story at all. I don't know what's worse, the script or the schizophrenic directions this movie manages to go in.
Blame it on improbabilities, some of which you will have to see for yourself. One that does stick out that I can mention: How is it that Lois Lane somehow manages to find a way to end up where the superheroes are battling all the time? Last time I checked, she doesn't have a batwing or super flight speed. No, all she has is some kind of strange telepathy that allows her to know everything that's going on even when she wasn't there to begin with and apparently the most fearless taxi driver in the world.
Blame it on a Lex Luthor and a Wonder Woman that I just wasn't impressed by. Blame it on a lackluster ending that offers no payoff for all the slower spots the audience had to sit through. Blame it on the overly-used gloom-and-doom atmosphere that was so suffocating, it almost made me wish I was in Seattle getting rained on everyday. Blame it on trying to keep up with the Marvelses by introducing sixty different characters in two and a half hours. And blame it on the fact that, when those two and a half hours were up, I was no more connected to said characters than when the movie started.
But, whatever you do, don't blame Ben Afleck. It's not his fault. Not this time. This movie was bad all by itself. It's a crime on cinema with its largest heist being that it's going to steal your money regardless of how bad it is. DC is heading down a dark path that I fear it might already be too late to bounce back from. I give this film--and I say "this film" because I refuse to type that long, ridiculous title more than once--a 37.
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