This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Ryan Francis’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
I'm sorry in advance to all the haters, but I really do love Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, and now I love his follow-up, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice even more. I was getting nervous there with all of the critical backlash it seems to be receiving, and I can totally admit that it does in fact have it's fair share of flaws, but damn... just like with MoS, it all seems to work for me personally. Three years of a seemingly never-ending build-up of anticipation since this was first announced, and I'm thrilled that I wasn't disappointed.
Batman is and will always be my absolute favorite comic book character. I have such a profound love and appreciation for the character and to see him done right in the hands of Ben Affleck and his fantastic performance as both Bruce Wayne/Batman was all I could hope for. A brutal and haunted Batman is a portrayal I can most definitely roll with. And somehow the fact that he straight-up killed dudes didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would (it's very possible that reading this was the case beforehand helped in not letting it get to me). Henry Cavill reprises his role as Clark Kent/Superman and even though I thought he was great in the role to begin with, I think he's even better here. Actually, the majority of the cast, new and old, are all good within their roles; although I'm still not sure how I feel about Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I wasn't sure if what I was witnessing from him was brilliant or fucking terrible or somewhere in between, although I will say that his performance left me feeling uneasy (for the right reasons though? Still not sure). But Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman - although she's not in it all that much - makes quite the impression and turns out to be an awesome casting choice because she kicks ass (as WW should). I'm now really looking forward to her solo movie next year.
Aside from some jarring editing choices, most of the technical aspects are top notch, as I feel can now be expected from the work of Zack Snyder. I really enjoyed the cinematography, especially during the utterly badass "Knightmare" sequence where the action is done in one take. I even ended up really digging the opening scene featuring the death of Bruce's parents, which I initially thought "How many fuckin' times do I need to see them die?", but it's elevated by Snyder's visual flair. The score by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL is magnificent as well. I'll definitely be picking it up when I get the chance, which is not something I do very often with film scores.
BvS is nowhere near a perfect film - I am honestly hoping that the three-hour director's cut on home release works out at least some of the kinks - but I must say that I totally love it for what it is and am thrilled with how the DCEU is starting out, hence the full rating (for now, at least). It's a superhero flick that I already look forward to experiencing again, and I seriously can't wait to see with Snyder does with the Justice League movie. Finally seeing all of these amazing DC characters onscreen together brings great joy to my soul.