This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Ford Boyce’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
After the attack on Metropolis, Superman is either seen as a god, saving people in the face of utter doom and distress, or as an unjustified alien, bringing his war to Earth. Fearing the worst, Bruce Wayne/Batman decides that Superman needs to be contained. So Batman takes it upon himself to fight Superman, hence BATMAN V SUPERMAN.
I was fearing for the worst going into BVS. A 30% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 44 on Metascore made my expectations very low and even though I was still excited to see BVS, I was scared that this film could be horrible. However, I really enjoyed BVS through its messy yet engaging story, great performances, and a thoroughly entertaining film.
The story was very similar to WATCHMEN in my opinion. WATCHMEN's story was certainly stronger, but both have multiple plots and characters that were very compelling and fascinating. I was invested in Clark Kent's story and his romance with Lois Lane as well as Bruce Wayne's. However, the Justice League tie-ins make this story a complete mess. The film was almost unbearable at a point where Diana Prince gets an email from Bruce detailing all of the members of the Justice League (Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman). The Flash's scene was pretty cool, but the other scenes were awful, with Aquaman's being especially awkward. There are some other sub-plots that make the story even more of a mess, including a very intriguing nightmare sequence heavily used in the marketing, but overall I still wanted to watch the main characters overcome their struggles.
The action sequences were exciting and certainly a lot more fun than some of the sequences in MAN OF STEEL. The whole film looks fantastic, thanks to Larry Fong returning as Snyder's long running DoP (not to mention that there are some tremendous shots of Superman fighting Doomsday in space where the CGI looks perfected), but every action sequence felt distinct through its filmmaking, choreography, or characters. For instance, the nightmare scene makes no sense in the story other than to supposedly set up a future DC film, but it contains a striking color pallet compared to the rest of the film and also contains a fantastic one-take scene where Batman is snapping necks and being awesome. Then, there's the warehouse fight, where Batman was using every single gadget on his utility belt to finish the enemies in the room. It felt just like an Arkham game and it was perfect for the character of Batman. The actual Batman v Superman fight is short, but definitely sweet and the finale is very bombastic, but it is still a lot of fun. Also, the score for the action sequences was pretty awesome. Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL know how to score action films and they have a pretty good collaboration here. It's nowhere near as emotional as Zimmer's MAN OF STEEL or as energetic XL's MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, but it was very original, having many creative tracks with Lex Luthor's theme especially. With the imaginative score, the action sequences only feel more striking in my mind and they feel a lot better than MAN OF STEEL's.
The action sequences I mentioned all had one thing in common: Batman. Ben Affleck is amazing as Batman as his iteration is a vicious, cruel, and jaded one, one that we have not seen in any version before. I never really had an issue with Batman killing people since he kills somebody in almost every adaption to the big screen. Affleck's Batman is still incredibly mean though, but it also made sense for the character as he has been in Gotham for years and he's seen allies fall to villainy. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea however, you're really not going to like or appreciate this version of Batman. Anyways, Affleck steals the show and I am really looking forward to his next solo outing.
The other half in the title, Cavill as Superman, I liked a lot more this time around. In MAN OF STEEL, I was fine with Cavill, but I wanted him to have a lot more charisma and I hoped he would give a stronger performance next time around. Cavill did give a stronger performance, but the writing for his character was stronger too. Superman's motivation for fighting Batman, while rushed, actually made me feel for the almost invincible hero. Again, Clark Kent's relationship with Lois Lane felt more real this time and I love Amy Adams as Lois Lane the more and more I see her. With the better relationship with Adams/Lane and the stronger motivation, I started to love Cavill as Superman. Then the finale happened where Superman is struck down by Doomsday and he dies. I was shocked and I was ready to LOVE this part of the film. It struck me as a sign that DC had a lot of faith in their universe, but, of course, they couldn't commit to Superman's death and had to tease that he would come back in a future sequel. I know that Superman is going to come back in JUSTICE LEAGUE, but at least commit to his death for ten minutes. I still appreciate the ballsy act of killing off Superman, but it's a shame DC couldn't commit to the act. Cavill is still great as Superman though and I'm exciting for him to eventually return to the cinematic universe.
There is one more performance that is causing a lot of controversy. People are confused and angered at Jesse Eisenberg's iteration of Lex Luthor. I completely understand anybody who hates Eisenberg's portrayal, but I absolutely loved it. It's along the same lines of Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker in Burton's BATMAN where Eisenberg disappears into the character and he is committed to his interpretation. I appreciated that he did not give up on his performance, even if he doesn't really belong in the film. Every bit of dialogue he said was hilarious to me though, whether that was intentional or not is beyond me, and there was so much cheese to behold in those scenes, for instance, Lex Luthor feeds an executive a jolly rancher by slowly putting it into his mouth. You cannot say that BVS is a dour and devoid of any fun, because Eisenberg's performance is a lot of fun, again whether it was intentional or not. I just loved the amount of cheese Eisenberg brought to his performance. Also, his theme is really awesome.
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is a very polarizing film, even more so to MAN OF STEEL, however that makes it feel more special. I'm curious where it will end up in the next couple of months and I'm extremely excited for the Director's Cut, as Snyder's WATCHMEN ULTIMATE CUT was fantastic in my opinion. The film is a mess and the Justice League tie ins were awful, on par with THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, but the rest of the story was very compelling and I was invested with the characters as well. The performances all around were great to me and the action sequences were awesome. BVS will be a very interesting film to re-visit, but, on an initial impression, it actually seems very underrated at the moment. Especially at a dumbfounding 30%.
P.S.: I completely forgot about Gal Godot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. She was fine. Just like Cavill in MAN OF STEEL, she did what she could with the material given and she is basically a dues ex machina for the finale, but it was pretty cool to watch Wonder Woman in a battle. Overall, she was fine.