A battle of epic proportions pits the two most iconic superheroes in the DC Comics universe against one another, in Zach Snyder’s “Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice”. Following his titanic struggle against General Zod, Metropolis has been razed to the ground and Superman (Henry Cavill) is the most controversial figure in the world. While for many he is still an emblem of hope, a growing number of people consider him a threat to humanity, seeking justice for the chaos he has brought to Earth. As far as Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) is concerned, Superman is clearly a danger to society. He fears for the future of the world with such a reckless power left ungoverned, and so he dons his mask and cape to write Superman’s wrongs. The rivalry between them is furious, fueled by bitterness and vengeance, and nothing can dissuade them from waging this war. However, a dark new threat arises in the form of Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) an entrepreneur who has a power greater than either of them to endanger the world and cause total destruction. “Batman Vs Superman” is rated PG-13 for intense violence and occasional sensuality.

For every solid positive about “Batman Vs Superman”, there is a negative of equal value. I came into this film expecting a lot of problems, but the ones I got weren’t the ones I was expecting. To that, I will owe a couple of apologies in this film to certain aspects of the movie that far exceeded my low expectations for them. First of all, I apologize to Ben Affleck. He portrays the Bruce Wayne that I have always wanted to see; the aged ass kicker who is still a playboy at heart. Affleck really is one of my favorite Batman’s that I have seen over the sixty plus year media career for the character. For most of the movie, you see things from his point of view. Affleck wears his heart on his sleeve for the victims of Metropolis, which included a lot of his friends. Ben really puts in the work to make this character the most relatable he has been in decades, and that aspect alone made it very easy to fall in love with his quiet, but calculating persona. In addition to this, the batsuit is so beautifully structured, and levels the playing field to Superman’s bullet proof exterior. I’m still not huge on Henry Cavill, but his performance is a little better than the wooden one he gave in “Man of Steel”. My biggest critique in his performance is that he never brings out the true charisma in the Superman character. His facials are always on one setting alone, and that bothers me for a character who is supposed to be loved by millions. I also apologize to Gal Gadot. She blew me away as Wonder Woman, and gives the females in the audience a badass chick who is front and center at all of the action. Gal channels enough Linda Carter finese, while showcasing a modern day rebel who holds her own with the two major protagonists of the film. One apology I won’t be giving is that of Jesse Eisenberg, who i absolutely loathed in this movie. I am a huge Jesse Eisenberg fan, but this role just wasn’t right for him. As The Riddler, Jesse would kill it, but as Lex Luthor, he’s simply too animated. The genius of the character is there, but I couldn’t help but laugh AT him every time he came on screen. His lines are simply ridiculous, and I never felt his powerful intimidation once in the movie.

Next I move on to the polarizing Zack Snyder, who succeeds and fails at a lot of aspects of the movie. Like most Snyder films, this one is gorgeous. Zack once again teams with longtime collaborator and master of cinematography effects Larry Fong. Larry is the #1 guy to bring to life the gorgeous backdrops right off of the comic pages, but his real majestic touch comes in the form of 3D effects that does give the audience enough bang for their buck. The CGI is pretty solid for the most part. My only gripe comes in the design of Doomsday as seen on the trailer. He looks nothing like his original sketches, and comes off more like Slash from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

As for the screenplay, Snyder still doesn’t have much of a voice when it comes to compelling scripts. At a ridiculously long two hours and twenty-six minutes, “Batman Vs Superman” crawls along at a snails pace, and a lot of that has to do with poorly structured scenes that never feel whole. For the first and second acts of the movie, nothing feels cohesive, and it gives off that feeling that we may be watching more than one movie at a time. We do get some hints at a future movie, but it comes off like too much is being crowded in. Make no mistakes about it, this is a bloated film, filled with far too many future directions at once. If a movie is confident enough, it can just focus on making the current film a successful one, but Snyder’s film gives the audience a peek behind the curtain that felt insulting to certain characters. Not to compare the two, but Marvel gave most of The Avengers their own films, and that was how you got to understand the backstories of the characters. With this movie, the investment in these new characters we are introduced to has zero effect on us because we are presented them in the most brief of lights.

The fight scenes are sparse in supply, but are wonderfully choreographed. The big showdown between our two title characters does live up to its legendary status, but you have to crawl through so much to get to that eight minutes of bone-crunching action. To anyone who asks how Batman could possibly compete with an indestructible opponent, there are some real genius directions that the character motivations take that I internally applauded. Music Composer Hans Zimmer once again nails the real character emotions and visual backdrops of the film’s gritty setting. When a score is strong like the ones Zimmer has mastered for films like “Inception” or “The Dark Knight Series”, the characters will eventually move with the music, and not vice versa. Hans surrounds us with dark and ominous orchestral tones that communicate a feeling of impending doom, and it left me with goosebumps on more than one occasion. My favorite piece is definitely that of the introduction to Wonder Woman that is one hundred percent audience applause proof.

“Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” is disappointing, but the movie manages to gain some traction by stylish visuals, as well as Affleck’s middle finger to all of his doubters (Myself included). The film does cram in way too many subplots, and as a result, it’s left a bloated endurance test of physical numbness. It’s a movie that the DC universe wants, but not the one it deserves.

5/10