JC13’s review published on Letterboxd:
"That son of a bitch brought the war to us."- Bruce Wayne
I'm one of the few people who actually likes Man of Steel, but when this film was first announced I was a bit skeptical. I thought it was a mistake bringing in Batman so soon and that they should have done at least one more stand alone Superman movie first. I hoped the film would work out in the end, but that skepticism never went away for me. So when the reviews began coming out earlier this week and were less than favorable I really wasn't sure what I'd think of the film.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was directed by Zack Snyder, a director I feel gets a massive amount of undeserved hate. Is he one of the best directors working today? Certainly not. He's also far from the worst though. I'd say the main problems with the film lie in the script, but even that isn't nearly as bad as some people are saying. The film definitely has a lot crammed in, but I felt that Snyder handled it all pretty well and the film kept my interest throughout its two and a half hour running time.
Coming to the cast we have Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman. When it was first announced that Affleck would don the cape and cowl a lot of people were upset. I wasn't one of them. I always though Affleck was a good choice and he proved me right. He was the best part of the film for me, playing a darker more violent Batman than we've ever seen. This Batman certainly doesn't have a no killing rule and I liked seeing a more brutal take on the character. His fight scenes were great, all of his suits were badass, he's the most physichally impressive Batman we've seen, and I liked the batmobile. Batman is a character of two parts though and Affleck was also really good as Bruce Wayne.
The casting choice that I was worried about was Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. In the end I thought he was okay, but he's just not menacing at all. I definitely feel that they could have picked someone better for the role. Henry Cavill was good once again as Clark Kent/Superman and everyone else returning from Man of Steel did a good job as well. Jermey Irons proved to be a really good choice for Alfred and he worked well with Affleck. Gal Godot doesn't have very much screentime, but I liked her as Wonder Woman.
My biggest problem with Man of Steel is the overblown action finale with buildings being knocked down left and right. This film has some of that as well, but it's not as repetetive and doesn't go on as long. I've never read the comic books so I know nothing about Doomsday, but I wasn't a huge fan of his portrayal in this. All he really does is destroy stuff, so he's not a particularly memorable villain in my book as he basically just reminded me of Abomination from The Incredible Hulk. He was really just there to unite our heroes.
I liked how they set up the tension between Batman and Superman. The opening scene did a great job to get it going in that regard and I felt that part of the story was handled well throughout. Some parts of the film did feel unnecessary though and others felt rushed. The film has some flaws for sure, but the hugely negative reaction from critics seems unwarranted. Films like this are supposed to be entertaining and I myself was entertained the whole way through and none of the problems I had with the movie got in the way of my enjoyment of it.
One of my favorite aspects of Batman v Superman was the score composed by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. Zimmer has long been one of my favorite composers and he delivers once again (along with Junkie XL) here creating some strong themes for the main characters. Overall I wasn't really sure what I'd think of this one going in, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. It's not perfect by any means, but it has more than enough good to out weigh the bad in my opinion. The villains are pretty weak, but Affleck is possibly the best Batman to date, there are some great action scenes (some are a bit much), and it's just a fun movie overall. 7.5/10