Batman vs. Superman (Because Everyone Else Has Written About It)

Batman vs. Superman is currently running at a 29% rating on Rotten Tomato. Most of the reviews are blustering assholes who like to hear themselves speak. You can tell because the first three reviews splatter words like modicum, operatic, and derivative with int the first few words of the review...a review about an indestructible guy would can fly and a billionaire who can kick the ass of the indestructible guy who can fly.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I hated Batman vs. Superman, but I also wouldn't say I loved it.

The runtime felt about 40 minutes too long. If you took out Zach Snyder's overused slo-motion trademarks shots, you could probably chop an easy 20 minutes from the film. That way, by the time the BIG BAD shows up at the film's end, you're not clock watching wonder how much longer this thing is.

Ben Affleck is the strongest part of the film. His performance is a a great Batman/Bruce split. Pretty much what I expected from him.

And though I think I understood what Snyder wanted to convey with Superman, I don't feel he pulled it off. I think Henry Cavell is serviceable as Supes, but he's a rather crappy Clark Kent. I grew up with Christopher Reeve who had perfected the duality of the role. I felt Cavell's loneliness of being an alien, but I never felt his wanting to belong amongst the people he protects, other than Lois Lane. Who is almost always terribly written, as she is in this film.

Jeremy Irons is pretty much wasted, but since this wasn't an actual Batman film, I can easily see past that. Although that being said, they sure were able to work in the old "kill the parents" origin. If you have a sexual fetish for seeing Bruce Wayne's parents killed in film, there sure is a lot of "porn" for you to choose from. I truly believe there will come a day when all filmmakers will get their turn at killing Thomas & Martha off.

Gal Gadot was excellent as Wonder Woman. I'm not sure what an entire film for WW would look like, but we're going to find out.

SPOILER (kind of): I definitely felt the Justice League reveals were forced and didn't really add to my enjoyment of the film. The kids in the theater liked seeing the Flash, so I'll leave it at that. Though they all questioned who Cyborg was.

Finally, to me, Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was the weakest part of the film. I admit I was also likely jaded going into it, as he's been a bit aloof in interviews towards the entire genre, which makes me question why he'd do the role in the first place. But he seemed to be playing a mix between Heath Ledger's Joker and David Tennant's Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Stop licking your lips, dude!

Overall, I wouldn't demand my time or money back after seeing this film (though if the technology for either is in place, you should share that with me).

I'm not putting the blame on Snyder, but I do not feel that DC has an overall grasp of their story arc the way Marvel does.

I'll leave you with this:  Lex Luthor continually refers to someone who is "coming." My guess would be Darkseid. Which could potentially be awesome...