Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles wit...
I can firmly say that if you told me ten years we would see Batman and Superman on screen together in live action, I would slap you in the face and call you a dirty liar. The spectacle of the movie is seeing these two "larger than life" fictional characters share the same screen, and intimidate the crowd with each of their manly presences. The film had a lot going for it, but a lot to live up to as well. What the film does great is the character of Batman, They do not scrimp on the Bruce Wayne face time, and they most definitely were not "choosy" on the amount of time we got to see the man in the cowl kick ass; in addition, Ben Affleck's performance was outstanding, providing us with a gritty, deeply troubled and seasoned Batman that we've only seen animated before, and I must say it was extremely satisfying. Unfortunately what this movie gets wrong is the character of Superman. While Batman is a brooding, super serious trauma inducing vigilante, Superman is the symbol of hope, peace and all that is good; in Dawn of Justice we get a Superman who seems tired, bored and overwhelmed with his nominal task of being a symbol. We should get to see Clark Kent feel those emotions, but when he puts on the cape we should see a Superman we recognize, who smiles, and inspires hopes in the hearts of men. Another clear misstep was the character of Lex Luthor. I don't want to touch on this too much, just because I love Jesse Eisenberg and I think he gave a great performance for what he was given;however, the character was written like the Joker, and NOT as the Lex Luthor comic book fans have come to hate and admire; this in turn tugged at my chest the entire runtime was a pale immitation of Heath Ledger's joker, that had NO place in the story, nor in the character. If we come to the overstuffed aspect of the film, I believe it could've been solved with no Doomsday, and rather the trio teaming up to Lex Luthor in his "Superman Buster" suit - also, we probably could moved the fight between Batman and Superman further down the run-time and have them stop fighting each-other because Batman realizes that Lex Luthor has tricked him, and it was all a ploy so that he could have him kill Superman for him, eliminating the God awful plot device/ coincidence of their mothers having the same name (Why did you say that name?!?!). Overall, I do believe the extended edition fixed a few minor mistakes, but couldn't fix the major mistakes of the movie, which ultimately makes this movie disappointing, and far worse than it should have been.
