Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

Two titanic superheroes clash in one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, as Batman and Superman appear in a live-action film together for the first time in a movie that also prepares for the Justice League movie.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice stars Ben Affleck (Batman) and Henry Cavill (Superman) in the title roles, and is directed by Zack Snyder. In my opinion the movie is the perfect example of Snyder’s strengths and weaknesses as a director. Snyder is great at visualising what he wants to see in a film but needs more help on writing the screenplay. Batman v Superman is visually spectacular and deserves a lot of credit for being one of the (visually) best superhero movies of this generation. However, it suffers from a script that tries to accomplish too much in one movie. The movie borrows heavily from two DC comic book story arcs (The Dark Knight Returns and the Death of Superman). Both of these are big story arcs and in my opinion could have made great films on their own instead of both having elements utilised for the same movie. On top of this, the film does have connections to other story arcs from the comics and I feel like the crew included too many connections because they really wanted to seed the ground for a much larger cinematic universe.

Batman v Superman also had to set up the events of the upcoming Justice League two-part movie. Ezra Miller (The Flash), Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Ray Fisher (Cyborg) all make cameo appearances in the film. It’s clear that their inclusions were to set up the Justice League (like how we’ve seen the Marvel movies set up their next movie) so it’s no surprise that Bruce Wayne talks about setting up a team towards the end of the film.

On top of Batman v Superman trying to accomplish too much (especially taking into account that it’s only the second movie in the DC Cinematic Universe), the reason that leads to Batman and Superman putting their differences aside and teaming up to stop Lex Luthor was very weak. I appreciated that the writers made re-using Bruce Wayne’s origin story again relevant by having Batman learn that Superman’s mother is also called Martha and Lex has her hostage, but I still think it was a predictable move used to get the characters to put their differences aside. You could argue that the revelation makes Batman realise that their fighting is wrong and has him see Superman in a different way, but I felt like the writers could have had the exact same effect portrayed without using something predictable like their mothers having the same name. Like I said though, at least the writers made Batman’s origin story being shown again relevant.

That said, I think the casting for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was perfect. Affleck puts in a strong debut performance as Batman and is already being considered as one of the best Batman actors to date. Cavill returns as Superman (after his debut in the role in 2013’s Man of Steel) and puts in another excellent performance, nearly rivalling the strong performance of Affleck. Amy Adams (Lios Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent) and Laurence Fishburne (Perry White) also reprise their roles from Man of Steel and put in excellent performances again. Jesse Eisenberg (Lex Luthor), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and Jeremy Irons (Alfred Pennyworth) also make their DC Cinematic Universe debuts in this movie and put in excellent performances. Eisenberg’s and Irons’ new takes on Lex and Alfred respectively were instantly memorable and Gadot was the perfect choice to bring Wonder Woman to the big-screen for the first time. It would have been nice to see more of Wonder Woman in the film but she still managed to play a pivotal role and I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more of her in her solo film next year.

The villains of the movie, Lex Luthor and Doomsday, were brought to life very well in the movie. The way Luthor manages to manipulate Batman and Superman into fighting each other was done excellently and Eisenberg shows a wide range of acting abilities in his role as the main villain of the movie. He doesn’t don Luthor’s iconic bald look until the end of the movie but it was great to see him go bald by the end. The way in which Doomsday was created by the body of General Zod (Michael Shannon) was very interesting and Doomsday’s fight scenes were great to watch. It was disappointing that such an iconic DC Comics villain in Doomsday didn’t last long but he did have a big impact on the movie (more to come on that…)

While I did have complaints about the film, I will say this; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is still the perfect movie to have Batman and Superman clash on the big-screen for the first time. Zack Snyder perfectly visualised all of the fight scenes and all of the fights made for excellent viewing. I’d argue that the fight scenes in the movie are among the best I’ve ever seen from a superhero movie. It’s clear how much time and effort were put into the fight scenes and it’s a pity that the rest of the movie wasn’t as good as the fight scenes.

The death of Superman by Doomsday was also handled really well in my opinion. It was a sad moment to witness, albeit more so the characters (Bruce, Lois, Martha and Diana) responses to Clark/Superman’s death, and the funerals that were held for Clark and Superman individually. It was the death of Superman that caused Bruce Wayne to decide to set up the Justice League as hinted at earlier in the film with the cameos of The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. Seeing Superman’s coffin start to move slightly was a great way to end the film and get fans excited to see his return in the Justice League movie.

In my opinion, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a solid movie that could have been even better. It had the potential (and hype) to be one of the best superhero movies of all time but fell a little short as far as I’m concerned. The film was visually outstanding and the fight scenes were terrific. The visuals in the fight scenes in particular were very memorable and the special effects throughout the movie were used excellently. The casting was also perfect and all of the cast members put in great performances, especially Ben Affleck in his debut as Batman. However, it suffers from trying to accomplish too much in its script with the connections to numerous story arcs from the comics and setting up the Justice League movie which, while handled well, showed how much the crew felt they needed to accomplish in just the second movie from the DC Cinematic Universe. The way in which Batman and Superman put their differences aside felt rushed and predictable. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we see Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor again and we can expect to see Superman return sooner rather than later.

My rating: 8/10

By Ruari Williamson

*The opinions in this article are of the writer and do not represent the views of all of the Everything Geek Podcast staff*.