Review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) by Ahnehnois — 25 Mar 2016

For all its controversial casting choices, it isn't Ben Affleck or Gal Godot that drags this movie down, it's Jesse Eisenberg's ridiculous Lex Luthor. His pointless yammering represents the film as a whole; it has a few good moments and plays with a few interesting ideas, but there's no there there. The real blame for this mess, though, lies on the people who made it.

The movie suffers from the excess of characters usually reserved for the third, bad film of a superhero trilogy. Did a movie about Batman vs Superman really need Lex Luthor? Probably not. Did it need a CGI wasteland with Doomsday at the center? Definitely not. And while this was a passable Wonder Woman, the forced inclusion of Superman's wife and mother, both dithering about pointlessly with cringeworthy dialogue, is unlikely to placate whatever portion of people looked at a BvS movie and thought to themselves "this needs more women". The excess of characters leaves little time for the movie's central conflict, with Batman's one-note rage coming off as hollow.

Even more time is wasted on CGI fakery (whereas the smart blockbusters, Batman movies included, go hard for real locations and practical effects), and the hallmark of lazy writing: excessive dream sequences. And for all the stakes this movie purports to have, the ham-handed introduction of the Justice League leaves little doubt in the viewer's mind that regardless of how many explosions we see, everyone will be back for the next movie. Except, possibly, the audience.