Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice Review: Promises Made by the Trailers Remain Unfulfilled
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot
KawKaw Rating: 3/5
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice can be termed as a classic case of critics vs. Fans. While critics across the globe have lambasted the movie, fans have gifted it with the 6th highest weekend grossing ever collected by a movie at a whopping $170 million. But does that mean that fans overall are satisfied with the film? Ummmmm not really… If you go and visit Rotten Tomatoes you will see the movie there has a 72% audience rating, which is pretty mediocre for a film that had so much expectation and hype built up around it since the first trailer came out.
Now let’s get back to the movie itself. The film starts where the previous Superman flick The Man of Steel left off. Superman fighting Zod and in the process destroying half a city in which Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) suffers some loses. He realizes the power that this alien possesses and takes it up on himself to defeat him. In order to do it he would need Kryptonite which weakens Superman’s powers. That Kryptonite has been recovered by Lex Corp, a conglomerate owned by evil minded Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). At the same time a congressional hearing is going on in Washington D.C. about the dangers of having such a powerful alien on planet earth and the possible consequences that may ensue in the near future. The Kryptonite is then stolen from Lex Luthor by Batman who then turns it into some fancy weapon (one of them being an old fashioned spear) to defeat Superman. The two then engages in a battle egged on and planned by Lex Luthor and the rest you will have to see in the theater. Towards the end the two join hands along with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to destroy Doomsday who was created by Lex Luthor after his plan to pit the two superheroes against each other fails.
That’s pretty much what the two and a half hour movie gives you. The storyline is strong, but is somehow failed by lack of strong performance by almost all the characters. The biggest talking point, however, would be the lack of strong performance by Ben Affleck in his role as the Batman. Don’t get me wrong, Affleck does pretty well here. But does he match up to the standard laid down by Christian Bale? We think he still has a fair bit to go to match Bale. Another talking point in the movie may be the very bad acting performance of Jesse Eisenberg in his role as Lex Luthor. We feel he overdid it and in the process failed to espouse the real villainous feel that we attribute to Lex Luthor of DC Comics.
But the biggest let down of the film is where it was supposed to come alive. Yes, we are talking about the fight between the two legends. The battle between Batman and Superman is engaging, but never has it reached a point where it makes to sit in the edge of your seat. In this fight, we feel Superman gives up too soon and gives Batman a free run on him without any justifiable purpose.
But then who are we to judge? The film has already grossed over $400 million in worldwide collection and we are pretty sure it will go on to break a few more records. We suggest you do go and watch this movie, but also be ready for some major disappointment as it never delivers on the promises that the movie trailers made to its audience.
