Simon Russell’s review published on Letterboxd:
Ok let's get this out of the way first *dons hard hat*. I enjoyed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It is not a brilliant superhero film but nor is it a 30% Rotten Tomatoes film. It is a flawed film but one that rewards you for perseverance with a thrilling and epic third act.
I'll say this, if you hated Man of Steel and have no interest or investment in the characters and universe then you're wasting your time going to see this film. It expects you to care and the pace reflects that. It takes an awfully long time to get going and action set pieces are hard to come by for the first two thirds.
This is a result of Zack Snyder having the unenviable task of combining a Man of Steel sequel with Batman's introduction to the universe (including origin), whilst setting up the forthcoming Justice League all in one feature film. It's an almost impossible task, one Marvel had the luxury of using multiple films do so but Snyder does a good enough job in balancing the various threads and time spent with each character.
Superhero films constantly struggle with jamming too much into a two hour slot and this is no different. That's why Netflix's Daredevil is far and away the benchmark for comic book adaptations. It benefits greatly from a 13 episode season that allows it to do each plot thread justice (pardon the pun).
Dawn of Justice does jump from scene to scene rather abruptly and I think it will benefit from the 30 additional minutes ultimate cut, coming later this year. This will hopefully plug some gaps on a few questionable plot developments, like Lex's ultimate plan for forcing the two title characters to clash.
In terms of the much anticipated fight between Batman and Superman, I was pleasantly surprised that it ended with a decisive winner. I was predicting a stalemate but credit to Snyder for choosing a victor. Following on from this, the final fight with the trio was by far my favourite sequence of the film and Doomsday very much delivered.
For the action scenes, Snyder shows much more restraint in his direction than he has done previously. Gone for the most part are the annoying zooms from Man of Steel. I was particularly impressed with any combat scenes with Batman, echoing very much the style used in the excellent Arkham games.
So onto the newcomers. Ben Affleck having to step into Christian Bale's shoes presents a fresh take on Batman. Cynical, fed up but a seasoned veteran, Batman's experience is very much evident. Affleck was the star of the film in my opinion and certainly avoids another 2003 Daredevil disaster. He is backed up by Jeremy Irons, always an assurance of quality as Wayne's devoted butler Alfred. Jesse Eisenburg provides another fresh take on an iconic character in Lex Luthor. Eisenberg's eccentric performance was amusing enough but he continues to struggle shrugging off Mark Zuckerberg. Gal Gadot very much the crowd pleaser when she makes her entrance as Wonder Woman, excels as Diana Prince. I don't get the criticism that she wasn't used enough in a film titled Batman v Superman. She was used sparingly and rightly so because it adds enough intrigue and excitement for her solo outing in 2017.
I do think this film has suffered from coming of the back of the incredibly humorous and quick paced Deadpool because this is very much on the other end of the spectrum. Dark, moody and very long.
When compared with Marvel's first two films in their universe (Iron Man & The Incredible Hulk), Man of Steel and BvS:DoJ more than match their quality and in the case of the Incredible Hulk very much surpasses it. These universes take time to get going and it certainly was not plain sailing for Marvel in the early stages, especially as they followed The Incredible Hulk with Iron Man 2.
I'm not a film critic and I don't pretend to be. Maybe I do have a tendency to give films a pass despite their shortcomings but cinema for me is an escape from the stresses of everyday life and I will always reflect on the positives rather than gravitate towards the negatives and dwell on them for too long.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice did that job for me and I will happily return to it in the future.