*This review may contain some SPOILERS*

So first of all I should mention, I was never a fan of Man of Steel. It was long, chopped up in a very confusing manner, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, I thought was a bad choice in my eyes, and the only good thing about it was the visual aspect. Oh, and the fact that Henry Cavill is a super sexy and suitable Superman/Clark Kent. Together with that, I wasn’t really keen on watching this. Besides the fact that Amy Adams was already a bad casting decision, as beautiful has Gal Gadot is, I didn’t think she would be a good Wonder Woman. I faced the same prospect with Ben Affleck. Could he be a good Batman? Or should I say, could he better than Christian Bale? I just don’t find Affleck dark enough to be the dark knight (team Bale for life). I felt like it was George Clooney all over again. Just no! All in all, by far, the only really good DC films have been Nolan’s Batman’s. Every choice in all three films was magical.

So, with all those already negative feelings, I got my little self into the cinema and sat and watched Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I was open to the idea that this could be a next level, giant film that will outdo its bigger bro Man of Steel.

It was a slightly, small step up from Man of Steel. Just a little bit. Before I go on, with what I think will be a lengthy and more negative review, I need to add a disclaimer. This movie was good. Don’t get me wrong. There is a lot of deep content, plenty of potential, but the missing factor in what could have been an awesome movie, was the flow and link between scenes and content. I feel robbed of a good story; a great one even. But, the Batman vs Superman element was just not strong enough, and that’s what the hype and lead up to the film’s release was going on about.

It starts off with our introduction to Bruce and the moment his parents are killed. This memory plays back as little Brucey falls to the bottom of a hole. We have to assume here that this is our introduction to the Bruce Wayne/Batman story, from the Superman perspective. The beginning is very Bruce Wayne orientated. We are told the Man of Steel story in Bruce’s standpoint. We see where Bruce was while all that alien stuff was happening. This was cool and fast paced. He seems pretty pissed at Superman for everything that happened, and it’s here we believe Batman is born into the Superman universe. We get the idea the Bruce and Alfred (played nicely by the great Jeremy Irons) have seen their fair share of darkness. Their partnership is the only light relief in the film. First question – but isn’t Bruce from Gotham?

From here is where it starts to go down hill. It chops into a scene where Lois (I just can’t take Adams seriously), is taken to the middle of the desert, assumingly Middle Eastern region, and is held hostage. Then Superman comes to her rescue. Okay, cool. What of it?

Then we see the massive statue of Superman in the middle of Metropolis, yet everybody in the city holds him accountable for what happened 18 months ago. They want him to face the people and apologise to those who got hurt by a war he was so deeply involved with. But you have a statue of him in the middle of your city, looking protective and strong. So do you like the guy, or not? Another possible writing fault.

Then it cuts to Jesse Eisenberg’s character, Lex Luthor. He is a crazy scientist with evil plans to destroy the world. He wants to use the newly founded alien ship that made its way to Earth 18 months ago. Does it hold the key to mass destruction?

Then we meet Gal Gadot’s character. It’s not until late in the movie do we discover who she really is and see her as Wonder Woman. Just like Bruce, she too believes something is up with Lex.

Then cut to Lois finding a rare bullet, we didn’t see go into a notebook of hers until we get a flash back moment from when she was captured in the middle of the desert. The bullet plot itself, plays no significance to the movie. If it did, I missed it.

Oh and then, some guy in a wheel chair Lex gives him, blows up a government building where Superman was attending to apologise to the people.

Then we see Batman, who is trying to stop Anatoli Knyazev, played by Australia’s own, Callan Mulvey, who is bringing Lex some ammo for the weapon he wants to build. Superman arrives and we don’t quite get why he’s stopping Batman from stopping the bad guy.

Then Clarke’s mum (Diane Lane) is taken. She’s used as bait by Lex to start a war between Batman and Superman, but what’s that actually got to do with anything? Eventually, Superman makes his way to Gotham. Batman has booby traps and what not set up, which don’t work because you can’t hurt Superman. However, we do see scenes of Bruce where he discovers Superman’s kryptonite, but we don’t know how.

So, here is that big scene we were waiting for, Batman V Superman. They fight. Batman releases the kryptonite a few times. Superman is weaker than usual. Batman almost has him, until Superman says the name, ‘Martha.’ That’s all it took for these two to stop fighting. Batman asks ‘why are you saying that name?’ and it’s Lois that makes her way to stop Batman from hurting Superman anymore. ‘it’s his mother,’ she tells him and he stops because he too, had a mother named Martha. This brings us back to the significance of Bruce’s dad saying his mum’s name, as he takes his last breath in that first scene.

If you were as confused reading all that, as I was writing it, then you know what it was like to watch this movie.

I feel so ripped off. Why call it Batman v Superman when it wasn’t even slightly that? And when it was, it didn’t even flow with the other twenty million story lines that were going on. They eventually come together to stop Lex, with Batman even referring to himself as ‘one of your sons friends,’ to Superman’s mother as he saves her from Anatoli. Oh, and some massive monster thing is unleashed as well which brings the two together and introduces us to Wonder Woman.

When we do see Wonder Woman for the first time, it is in a confidential file Bruce sends to Diana (Gal Gadot). It had four folders, one of the Flash (Grant Gustin is the only Flash in my eyes, by the way), one of Aquaman, another of Cyborg, and of course the folder containing information about Wonder Woman. When she looks at the file, it’s as though she was meant to act guilty for being discovered, but that’s not what came across. It felt like she was expressing shock that she is someone she never knew she was. It did not make sense.

There are also some dream sequences that are very abrupt and completely throw you off.

Are you still confused? Or does it all actually make sense but just doesn’t fit together? It’s as though, the image is there, but the creators of the puzzle didn’t cut the pieces in the correct shape in order for all the pieces to fit together and create an image we longed for. There were plenty of big impact scenes, but nothing ties them together. The idea is there, the final result is there, but the lead up and the link itself is extremely questionable because it’s almost missing. It’s like the writers and Snyder had just one too many ideas and wanted them all in the film, despite the connections being weak. There were way too many stories. Everybody had their own back story we are never told, and so when they came into play, they are thrown right at us with no explanation.

The most exciting bit of the film is our introduction to the other Meta-humans (got so excited hearing that word). The file that Bruce discovers with Wonder Woman in it, is the first glimpse of the Justice League and I have high hopes for it.

So, what about the actors? Okay, Affleck plays a pretty decent Batman. You forget it’s him. He really embodies the Batman persona. Gadot as Wonder Woman though – she can play a nice girl who is really a bad-ass quite well. I think we see this in her performance in the Fast and Furious movies also. But, her physic is not Wonder Woman enough. I am not body shaming. You need to think about how Wonder Woman was portrayed in comics and past shows and movies. She is supposed to be an Amazonian woman, full in the hips and breast. Gadot could have done it if she put on some weight and got her squat on. She wasn’t empowering enough, and the suit just did not help her look dominant enough. The big tribal drum sound that plays over Wonder Woman’s reveal, was the toughest thing about her. That music was epic.
I think Lex should have either played more of an impact in the film; there are times where he is a little lost, otherwise he should not have been included at all, despite Eisenberg being so good at making him so creepy and evil. Without him, maybe then they could have played on the Batman V Superman theme even more. I know he is the reason they fight in the first place, but again, just a lost character.

There is one big spoiler I won’t give away, just in case you haven’t seen it yet. It’s a bit significant.

Look, it’s worth a watch. I think Batman and Superman fans will love it. Kids that just want a bunch of fighting scenes will love it. People that over analyse like me, will think it was… meh.

I give Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice a 3 out of 5. I know it had good bits. I know it could have been better. It just did not blow me away. Marvel wins this round again. It did get me very excited for Justice League. We wait…

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