My Grade: C+
I’m not the biggest fan of superheroes or superhero movies. However, I do like Batman. He doesn’t have magic powers, he isn’t an alien or a norse god… he’s just a man. A rich man, but a man none the less. Superman is the exact opposite. He’s an all powerful alien with pretty much every super power and only has one weakness: a space rock. That’s just not interesting to me as a character. So it’s safe to say I saw this flick because of Batman. It’s like watching a baseball game because you’re a fan of one of the teams. Using the sports analogy, pitting Batman against Superman - arguably the two most iconic superheroes of all time - is like the Superbowl for comic book fans. I was, am, and always will be Team Batman.
The plot of the flick is more than a little convoluted. There is way too much going on even for the somewhat bloated run-time. But that plot isn’t what sold tickets, though; it’s the promise of a fight between Batman and Superman. So talking about the story beats of Lex Luther trying to get a big chunk of Kryptonite, Batman trying to get it from him, Wonderwoman skulking around Lexcorp, the weird dream sequences, and the awkward relationship between Superman and Lois Lane isn’t necessary. It’s not necessary because the fight is awesome.
Once it happens, nothing else matters. It’s worth the price of admission just to see the titular fight. You might think it’s a bit of a stretch that a plain old rich dude with some cool gadgets could even come close to hanging in there when battling an all powerful alien with only one weakness. Surprisingly, they make it believable, though. I won’t ruin it and tell you who wins, but I do have to talk about how the fight actually ends. It’s downright silly. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t seen it and you do see it, you’ll be scratching your head like I was when the fight abruptly ends over something so trivial and dumb… its borderline infuriating to end this epic, amazing fight in this silly way.
The best parts of this flick are some of the more controversial aspects. I’ll go ahead and say it: Ben Affleck is a very good Bruce Wayne and maybe an even better Batman. I didn’t jump on the anti-Affleck bandwagon like most did when that casting announcement was originally made. I thought he was a great choice and I was right. Also, I enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luther. Many people found him annoying and accused him of overacting but I thought he was great. Everything from the nervous ticks to the visible struggle to restrain the insanity were played very well. Then, of course, there is Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Everyone agrees she is great, there just wasn’t enough of her.
Overall, the plot is too busy and there are some major leaps in logic and some downright ridiculous aspects. Also, the big battle with Doomsday was kind of anti-climactic. I’ve also never been a fan of CGI monsters. But it revealed a great Batman, set up a promising Wonder Woman for her solo outing, and the tone was more appealing to me than the squeaky clean Marvel movies. So it’s worth a watch if you’re a fan of the genre but it’s not a great start to the DC Extended Universe.
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