Benjamin’s review published on Letterboxd:
Before you go any further, I have not mentioned many of the themes of this movie. I am going to be adding more later including discussion of those. i just need to think about them a bit more.
After having seen the film two times and letting it sink in for about five days I can finally say that... Batman v Superman is a treat for the fans of the comics, where it has trouble is with some of the general audience. It's biggest issues are some script/pacing problems and a bit of lacking character development with Superman among a few others. I will just go through the most important parts about this movie.
*Possibly very minor spoilers below*
Pro - Ben Affleck/Batman, need I say anymore. From the beginning I was confident that Ben Affleck would pull off a good Batman. But, I like many others didn't expect him to be just that good. He was phenomenal and perhaps my favorite Batman just above Keaton. The best thing about Affleck is that he was able to convey the billionaire playboy who is haunted by the death of his parents, while also playing the masked vigilante weary with the world and the crime that so vastly covers it.
Bruce's character is tackled differently in this film. Instead of being the Batman that we are used to. He is based off of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns comic. This Batman is brutal. He doesn't hesitate a second when it comes to killing. I personally liked that Batman was formed this way. It gave him that edge that we haven't really seen before in a Batman film. When he was on screen taking out bad guys he was truly scary. He had a very threatening feel to him. I applaud Ben Affleck for being the second best part of the film... Yes he was only the second best, but by far the biggest pro because a lot of the movie revolves around his character.
Pro/Con - Henry Cavill/Superman enters both my pro and con areas. I love Superman as a character and absolutely loved Zach Snyder's interpretation of him in Man of Steel. He made it a bit edgier and darker than we are used to seeing and it added a sense of humanity to Superman that I thoroughly enjoyed. I felt he had great character progression in that film. In this... well he just kinda was the same. He didn't really change. He was just there. In fact this film would have been better titled something like Batman featuring Superman: Dawn of Justice (Oh and they fight for 5 minutes)
Sadly, Superman was the biggest disappointment in this film. I wasn't even that disappointed, just a bit confused at what they were trying to do with his character the entire time. That doesn't mean he didn't have his moments, because he did. He had some great lines and some very emotional moments that were good for his character. But overall his character and his story line weren't followed as well as they could be.
Pro - Gal Gadot/Wonder Woman. I never doubted Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. I had seen her in a few things and her acting wasn't that great. I told myself before I went into Batman v Superman, that some of her acting probably wouldn't be great. But, hopefully most would be good. And, if you ask me she went past just OK and good. She was one of the standouts of the film for me. I have always been a Wonder Woman fan since I watched the Justice League as a kid and read the comics. She is a great character with a rich backstory and a strong female character that is a good role model and has been a big icon in our culture for a long time.
Gal gave it all she had for this role. She played it with charisma and with passion and ultimately didn't let anyone down. She was the beautiful, kick butt and amazing heroine that I grew up reading about. Her entrance was amazing!
Pro/Con - Jesse Eisenberg/Lex Luthor. Now if you have seen me talk about this character, you know that I really liked him and appreciated the guts WB and DC had to throw a twist on a well known villain. I personally think that it paid off in many ways. I only list him as a partial con because some scenes of his were a bit weak and badly written. He did them as best as he could, but some of them fell flat. But! The scenes with him in the Courtroom, the Party and the Rooftop Conversation with Superman are so great among others that they outweigh the few bad apples. This twist on the character was so creative and you can really see that pained, wicked, psychopath inside him.
Con - The Script/Screenplay/Direction. The script of this film wasn't the strongest. I wouldn't give it the highest rating on the board. The writers tried to cram too much into this film for their own good. They did their best, but it came off as a bit disjointed and sloppy. It wasn't anything to over gripe about but it was an issue that would be hard to ignore and not mention. One my second viewing I was able to forgive some of it. But, with Superman's character and a few plot holes it was a bit hard to do so. The biggest problem here is that for a lot of general audiences this movie will be pretty hard to follow and understand and ultimately that is its biggest problem. There is so much from the comics that would fly right over a lot of people's heads if they have no knowledge of this and the source material and I can see why that would make some people upset when viewing. As I said, this is the biggest Con of the movie but not something to hate it for. It was nowhere near that bad in my opinion. Zach Snyder did good with the direction of this film. He worked with the script that he was given. He pulled it off for the most part.
Pro - The Action. Holy cow! The action in this film is absolutely gorgeous and a treat to the eyes. Zach Snyder is very much a visual storyteller. He creates shots that a lot of other directors have never dared to create. The fight between Doomsday and the Trinity is the biggest pro I have next to Wonder Woman herself. The colors, the flashiness and the entire way it was shot was breathtaking to behold. Wonder Woman jumping around using her sword to hack at this huge villain. Superman punching him into space and Batman dodging every blow that it threw. These bits were so impressive and cool that they earn themselves the absolute biggest pro in my review.
Pro/Con - Batman v Superman. Of course, I can't leave without mentioning the Batman v Superman fight. This fight was amazing, until the end. We watch the two titans fling punches at each other for about five minutes and then poof Batman is about to kill Superman. The tension builds and then something kinda "interesting" happens. This is why this is a pro/con situation. I loved the fight, but then ending was rather anti-climactic. Thank goodness it spawned into the second best fight scene in the movie. Batman travels to an abandoned warehouse to help *SPOILER* and beats the crap out of the bad guys. This scene felt as if it was taken straight out of the Arkham games and was so fricken cool.
Batman v Superman is a mixed bag in which the good outweighs the bad. It is a very divisive film already and has sparked many good and bad arguments. I encourage you to check out this film yourself if you have not already. Please watch it for yourself and make your own opinion. You may be surprised at how much you enjoy it.
Overall I think this movie is a good film, not great but good. But, I had an absolute blast watching it which is why it gets the rating I have chosen to give it.
It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a flawed and beautiful film with many redeeming qualities and a must see for any DC fan and on the big screen.
I give Batman v Superman a 4/5
Now keep reading for my last pro/con
****Some Major Spoilers contained below****
Pro/Con - The Justice League setup. Now perhaps the most important question in the film was the set up of the Justice League good. Well, it was great for the most part. The first scene we get that could be considered setup is the Knightmare sequence. This is one of the coolest sequences in the film and also a very important one. Batman finds himself in a desert land, most likely Apokalypse the planet of Darkseid(A major Justice League Villain) or possibly earth. Here Batman gets what is assumed to be a glimpse of the future. In this future Lois Lane is dead and Superman is evil. Batman also gets a small glance at what the world would be like if Darkseid took over as well. He wakes up/is jolted from a daze. He turns to see a ton of lighting and enter the Flash. The Flash's cameo was the best cameo in the film. He appears to Bruce, having time traveled from the future. He gives him a message that he must create the Justice League. This was perfect setup.
The second part of the setup was Wonder Woman reading a bunch of meta-human files on a hard drive from Lexcorp. This scene just didn't fit the flow of the actual film and would have been much better suited to an after credit scene. But, that is what we got and that is why it is a con.