Let's do good first -
The opening scene and credits are heart racing and awesome to watch. Seeing Bruce run headfirst into the calamity of the end of MoS to rescue/help people is perfect and getting a first hand view of the destruction is a very valid way to make the audience realise that Batman hating Superman is a very believable.
And speaking of Batman, Ben Affleck DOES bring the best live-action Batman in this movie to life. While I still don't like him killing, and branding people (basically putting a target on their heads in prison), this Batman is a brutal and dangerous force of reckoning. The costume is awesome, the batmobile awesome and watching him create weapons and his plan to bring down a god in motion is just glimpse into how smart this Batman is.
Affleck brings Batman to life in a way we haven't seen before. I honestly can't wait for his solo movie (I just hope it isn't against the Joker, save that till later).
Jeremy Irons was also a good Alfred, I liked the banter between him and Bruce and it was nice to see him actually fixing things and stuff. But for me it'll be a long time before he rivals Michael Caine as my favourite Alfred.
Wonder Woman. Right, I'm putting her in the good catagory, because she was good. Gal Gadot does a good job of making her interesting and she looks badass in the armor and when fighting Doomsday. The little hints to her past adventures are intruiging and I'm left wanting to see more of her. But a few little niggle are I'm not sure if Gadot can carry her own solo movie, she was good, but she had limited diologue and screentime. Another is, she didn't need to be in this movie...she's kinda just there to be there and everything she did could have (and probably should have) been down by Batman or Superman).
Regardless, Wonder Woman was done well.
The action was great. One the action (finally) starts between the two heavyweights, it's an awesome spectcle to behold. And the fight with all 3 fighting Doomsday was also great, with Batman staying on the sidelines and firing at Doomsday while WW holds him with her lasso and Superman coming in to deliver blows.
The score was good. Individual themes and moments were awesome and elevated by the music. Wonder Womans theme is good. But some of suffers and I'll get into it with the bad....but no, I liked the score.
Some of the set designs, like the Batcave for example were nicely done....
And....that's the good from me...
And now, The bad....
Superman. Cavil is a good Superman. In MoS he was much better tbh, and while that was a Clark Kent struggling to decide who he was, how to use his powers and what it all means etc fit in that movie. Here, it's just tedious and annoying. At the end of MoS it seems like he's accepted being Superman and going to be a bit brighter and happier. It's like a step backward, a regression. He's still broody here. Barely talks for the first half hour/40 minutes. When we see the montage of people he saves he doesn't look happy about it, he doesn't smile or reassure it just looks like he's looking down on them for needing to be saved. When he's with Lois or Martha however, he is much improved and those smaller scenes are nice and emotional. Superman is just smothered by angst and depression. He is not the symbol of hope and justice. I get that most of the planet hating you is going to be a downer, but c'mon, it's dragging on. There was a whole s**t fit about him killing in MoS, while killing Zod was fine (not all the people in buildings and ****), here he kills that terrorist holding Lois hostage. No, really. People can argue he didn't, we didn't see the guy die or Superman braced the guy etc. He flies at high speed at the guy and smashes him through several concrete walls...he is dead. And he didn't even need to do that, he could have easily melted the gun, or burnt the guys hand etc...it was just needless use of power, I feel. I mean, to be very fair it is a fickle and minor point in this movie. But to me, that guy died. Superman should have had a chance to speak at the senate hearing to explain himself. It could have been Henry Cavill's moment to both show off his acting skills as Superman.
And then, the big thing....
Superman dies. I know he dies. And comes back. It's in the comics. One of/if not Supermans best comic arc. But it is terrible and so so so wasted in this movie....It was sad between Supes and Lois, yea. But other than that, I felt nothing at all. So far in this universe, the planets population hated him and they were just coming round to him. Superman wasn't loved on such a scale as in that time in the comics and even for us we had barely any reason to care other than the fact, he's freaking Superman. WB/DC in their haste, blew their load way too early with this storyline and didn't do the comics any justice. This would have been soooo much more impactful had they waited a few more movies, a second MoS, both parts of the Justice league and finallly do it in a final MoS as a wrap to the trilogy. Give time for the Superman in MoS to become that true symbol of hope he should be, let him not win, but Earn, the love of the public, his fellow heroes and us as an audience. He simply hasn't earned that death at this point. If this sounds similar to the Angry Joe review on YT then good, because he nails it better. I'm parroting it yea but that's honestly how I feel. Because this Superman has destroyed an entire city, killed thousands in collateral, killed Zod (which is good), saved a few people in montages, gotten a grudge against Batman and been manipulated by Lex, all the while being conflicted and moody and downright depressing....
And then he's coming back. God damnit....you couldn't even stick to killing him. You just had to have that grave scene...the public aren't idiots, we know Superman will be back in JL or further down the line, but to kill him and then undo it within 15 minutes is just awful. What a waste.....anyway next point.
Pacing/Editing/Too much s**t happening...
Right, after that powerful opening scene, the movie just....I wouldn't say everything about it is horrible, but the cutting of back and forth between scenes, as well as up to the first meeting between Bat/Sup is just boring. Going between Lois and what she's doing to Batman doing his thing and Lex and his convulted plan and the senator and the confusing/weird dream sequences...it's just a mess and doesn't flow well at all. It's honestly boring to watch, I would have been on my phone if I didn't have this hatred of people being on their phones in the cinema. The convultion continues after the titlar heroes first meeting, albiet less so. It's just cramming way too much into it and the comparision of their being 4 or 5 great movies stuck in there somewhere are very valid. In there is a MoS sequel with Luthor as the main bad guy trying to discredit Superman. There's an awesome Batman solo with a rage fuelled Batman who has possibly lost his way. There's a Batman v Superman movie (duh) with the two heroes going at each other. And there's a death of Superman movie. If they made just one of those the main focus throughout the movie then it would have been much better. But it doesn't, it crams puzzle pieces together from other puzzles. The main reason probably that this movie is being disliked/hated so much. It's downright tedious and hard enough to sit through once. Only things I'll be rewatching are the opening scene and fight scenes. Maybe all the batman scenes if one fan edits them together as a mini movie.
And this also hurt the score. I mean, the mixing of the music/themes changed drastically, sometimes abruptly during scene changes. It was very jarring. And I like WWs theme, but when it started playing after she saves Batman and stands there and the music, I may have laughed out loud. It's a cool theme but the entire tone of the movie is just so serious and grim and then suddenly that played, it was such a strange switch up.
Lois Lane. Look, Amy Adams is very good in the role. And Lois is a good character. But she was just getting shoehorned in and turning up in scenes randomly and given scenes that were not neeeded at all. And that load of crap of taking away from the final battle...Lois goes and throws away the spear, realises the spear is needed, goes to get spear, nearly drowns, Superman has to go ****ing save her. Seriously to be watching Superman and the other two fighting Doomsday and then "oh ****, Lois is dying brb" was asinine. Lois and Clark together were well done, but it was that sense of her having too much to do, yet she didn't need to be the person doing all these things. Hell, having Batman be the one to need to go get the spear would have worked better.
Lex Luthor. **** me. I hated him. Like the portrayal. Jesse Eisenberg was just playing himself for the most part, with a bit of wannabe Joker thrown in. The young hip eccentric billionaire was downright awful and the weird ticks and noises he'd make sometimes are just off putting. There ARE one or two moments where he is actually serious and has a few good lines (Like bending a god to his will) that are pretty scary and shows a much better performance. But the rest is just s**t and annoying. And his plan is just stupid and again convulted. Why does he hate Superman? Just because of the end of MoS? Why does he have files (and logos, yea wtf is he some sort of graphic designer?) on all the Justice League members? He wants Superman to kill Batman, okay...and unlease Doomsday to kill Superman. Then what? Is he going to control Doomsday, doesn't look it, just another unstoppable monster to destroy Earth unleased. And if he knows others are coming to Earth to kill/enslave etc why kill Earths best defense? Does he expect to talk his way out of that? Does he just want the Planet to get ****ed up? Why? He wanted to frame Superman for the senate explosion or not? I can't tell. And he framed Superman for all the dead people in Africa? I still don't get that, the public would know Superman doesn't kill people with bullets and the explosion would just be stupid cause isn't it the next scene it's reported it was the cripple guy who caused it? I just don't get it. Why does he peel off the skin of the fingerprints and put them on his to access the ship instead of cutting of the hand to access the ship. Even that seemed overly complicated. And the ship - sorry, I'm just typing this as I think and I'm delving into more plot holes and stuff....Anyway Lex, very very bad.
Some things about Batman. Yes, he's the best thing in this movie for me by a longshot....but there's a few things that felt off. It's not the killing....look, if something bad happened in the past to push Bats to this extreme then okay, that's interesting. But it's in a few lines of mysterious dialogue and that's it. Not saying it should have been crammed in with everything else again, but out of all the dream/nightmares one of them should have been a callback to what's happened. I think the majority of us know/think it's to do with Joker and Jason Todd, but the GA doesn't know that at all, so it works for people who know that storyline, but for most viewers they have no clue and Batman is killing just now because....you know, different. Batman is also kinda stupid as well. Worlds Greatest Detective being played by Lex like a fiddle. That's something he should be able to figure out very quickly....he leaves the Kryptonite spear just lying there for anyone to pick up (and some idiot to throw away in the water).....and what has Batman been doing since the end of MoS? Why now is he suddenly keen to take out Superman and sees him as a monster? Yea he is to blame for Metropolis and the horrible dreams of Superman destroying the world are good enough reason to hate him. But in the 18 months since then, hasn't Superman going around saving hundreds, if not thousands of people? All around the world...almost everyday? Batman doesn't look into all that and kinda realise, over time, "huh, he's actually saved more people than me...maybe he's not all bad...he's somebody to keep check on absoultely." Vengence can do a lot to influence, but it seems contrived to get Batman to fight Superman and if Lex's plans to frame Supes for those attacks actually worked on Batman then wtf...ridculous. It would have been better if this was set directly after MoS....and Batman is hell bent on stopping Superman, based exactly on that one thing, destroyed Metropolis, and it would have worked better as "he's an alien, he has no care for us or ties to humanity" with no evidence to support the opposite side...actually, how can I say he's the best Batman then?....eh, I'm still going to stick with it.
Universe building.
Jesus this was genuinely terrible. Like god awful. First of all that dream sequence with the Flash was terrible. No idea what was going on....how is it the Flash can go back in time into someones dream? Or, if it's a vision of the future then still, why can Flash time travel through dreams? What's the sense? And Lois is the key, did I get that right? Because she saved Superman from him? Or is this a set up for the future? Either way it's so confusing and stupid.
And why does Lex have files on the JL members? Okay, maybe he's been looking into it and found several people with powers. I can believe that. But then he designs them logos and they are logos they end up using in the future? Why's that? The Flash isn't in costume in the cctv so it ends up with Lex knowing at least 5 of the JLs alter egos, but he doesn't tell anyone? Sure he can use it as blackmail, but it's just doesn't fit well for me...
Flashs file cameo was stupid. Cyborgs was weird. Aquamans was stupid and weird. Seriously, he looks cool, but he floats up to a camera, slowly and then destroys it and shoots off at breakneck speed.
Everything about that email/file scene is just so so forced and because it's has no bearing on the plot or conclusion of the movie. It's just a huge neo sign for everyone saying "LOOK! LOOK! WE'RE DOING THE JUSTICE LEAGUE! GET IT?" and makes me think that that WB are treating the GA as idiots who have to have everything spelled out.
It's all just rushed and haphazard.
Theme
I get that a whole "Superheroes in the real world" thing and seeing Superman as a god and everything but it's boring and tedious in the movie, like overprentious and clever. And if you don't get them you are an idiot. That's how most of this movie is kinda played. All the questions of "Is Superman a god?" or "Does the world need Superman" should have all been done in a MoS sequel.
Humor.
Doesn't actually work at all for the stuff that is in it, for the most part. The snide remarks Alfred makes are good. And, I don't know if this was supposed to be humorus but I think so, when Batman is wailing on Superman who is gradually regaining his power and Batman just backs off from him, that actually got a laugh from me. OH and also, the scene from the trailer "is she with you?" was actually better in the movie. But other than that the whole thing was just bad. Even the jar of piss...that went on way too long that scene..
Other things...
Seeing the Waynes dying again is unnecessary and done worse than other interpreations. Why does Thomas Wayne fight back as well? I thought the whole point was they were good people and would just give up their wallet without a fight and they still die because crime is cruel and unfair and s**t just happens. In fighting back, that point is just gone.
And then the whole "Martha" thing with the names. It...jeez, I'm torn on this...I kinda like and hate it at the same time. I like they both have the same names and it really comes out of nowhere for Bruce and he realises that Superman does have ties to humanity and stuff....but...Superman has been saving countless people around the world ever since MoS, why didn't that show some sort of empathy or connection to humanity? Why would he be doing all that if he didn't give a crap? And why didn't Superman call her mom or mother? He doesn't call her Martha at all, right? Until that point...and then suddenly Lois turns up again in the middle and tells Batman it's his mothers name. Why couldn't Superman have just said that...Batman asks who Martha is and Supes just says "My mother, it's mother." And then Batman realises...ugh...it's a good concept but again it feels hamfisted and off.
Superman goes to Batman and asks for help but Batman doesn't listen. Okay, fair enough but he gives up asking almost immediantly and doesn't try and talk or mention whats going on until he's being choked out and about to die.
Overall -
Are the critics wrong? Nope, I don't think so. Are they being overly cruel and sadistic? Maybe, yea maybe some are. But many of the problems and dislikes are definetly there and it's very possible that they hate it because of what it should and could have been. There's gold in there for sure, great themes and characters and plotlines but it's just smothered with plot holes and motivations and ruins plotlines and characters who don't act like they should and it's heavy handed with it's themes and pretty depressing and nihilistic when it shouldn't be. And the shoehorned universe building is bafflingly bad.
It's not the worst CBM for me (Hi there Fan4stic!) but it's really not the best and most epic CBM ever. It's on the same level as Amazing Spider-Man 2 for me, which I hated. But I hated that because it ruined characters I knew and grew up with and loved. With this, I'm just seeing a "meh." level movie that has Batman show up to make it salvagable.
It just didn't deliver on it's potential.
It's contradictory considering what happened later in the film.
I really wanted BvS to be better. There were a few brilliantly shot scenes, but felt it was all over the place myself for the time being.
