Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice

As late to the party as I am here's my two cents on DC's first entry for 2016 (or the year of the superhero as it should now be known) Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice. This is a huge undertaking and one that feels a little hasty considering a certain Marvel versus movie is only a week away. What's immediately clear after leaving the cinema is that Zack Snyder has given himself slightly too much to do here; set up the next four films in the franchise (Justice League 1 and 2, Batman reboot and Wonder Woman), continue the Superman story set up in Man Of Steel, introduce a new big-bad (a certain Lex Luthor) and, of course, bring in The Dark Knight. Perhaps that's where we should start and, before you ask, Ben Affleck is a sound casting choice. He looks the part in terms of build (weighing in as hench as Henry Cavill's Kal-El) and I especially like how Snyder has chosen to go with an older, greying Batman (akin to the marvellous The Dark Knight Returns animated films). What feels wrong is the placement of Batman in the Superman universe, and not vice-versa. Christopher Nolan (who, let's not forget, Exec-Produces here) has already created the most celebrated comic-book/superhero franchise of all time and already left a suitable cliffhanger in place with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Robin finding the Bat-Cave. Creating a new Batman for this film wasn't a bad idea per-se but, without a standalone film to introduce Affleck first, it's hard to feel for the character. Yes, the backstory is tastefully done and out the way during the opening credits and, yes, the new suit and Batmobile look great but Bruce Wayne feels a secondary character here and his story holds too many plot-holes to mention (one such example: there are constant referrals to Batman's long crime-fighting past and even a few Joker mentions yet all at the Daily Planet don't seem to be aware of his existence prior to the beginning of this film.) Luckily, there's just cause for the titular characters to have their particular beef (however 'convenient' some of their meetings are) and the fight between them, which you'll have to wait a loooong time for, is well worth it. On to Lex Luthor and the casting of Jesse Eisenberg which seems to have caused such derision. I think he does very well here; we see lots of different sides to Luthor; spoiled, intelligent, cunning, evil yet also personable and humorous. He drives the plot and, when the hair finally gets removed, we're in no doubt that he will be a big threat in the upcoming Justice League. The issue is he's just not a threat in this film and, instead, we're left with Kryptonian mega-beast Doomsday who kinda randomly appears and 'thrives off energy' (so of course the US government nukes it). After such a serious, moody build-up this CGI-overload is a crushing disappointment (even if the 'is he'/'isn't he' ending is very good indeed.) Speaking of The Justice League; we get our first glimpses of the rest of the crew here and a particularly film-stealing show from Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman. A lot has been made about such a famous character finally coming to screen and Gadot doesn't disappoint; her standalone film should be a cracker. So, what to make of this film though? It's good, of course it is, and continues DC's recent resurgence. It's dark, gritty and very adult indeed (despite the fact that glasses are still enough to suitably differentiate Superman and Clark Kent to the wider world.) However, Snyder is trying to do in one film what took Marvel ten to do and it comes off as a decision made to compete with their big hitting rival. Why not introduce the other characters first? Why not use any of Nolan's cast? Why not release Suicide Squad first (because who knows how that storyline could possibly fit into this world?!) As a massive DC fan it pains me to say but it's a missed opportunity. 3 stars ***