Have to say, this film was dope. I checked the run time right before I walked into AMC and thought that two and a half hours might be pushing it, but in hindsight it was time well spent. To the subject of Batman vs Superman, I thought they did the idea justice. One thing I really worried about when the title was first announced and the trailers first came out was that the reason for their fight would be dumb. But it wasn't. I understood it from both sides. Batman's heavily scarred by the events of Man of Steel in Metropolis, having literally been at ground zero. People he knew and employed were then also hurt in the confrontation between Superman and Zod. And nearly two years later it's still affectin Batman, to the point that he's having nightmares about Superman. I honestly thought it added something new to the character, while acknowledging previously covered ground, and nicely tied in the finale of the first film. We see the issue of superheroes needing to be held accountable for their actions over in the MCU right now and that was a big theme here, but it's something that really isn't covered that often. Realistically however, and both the DCEU and the MCU go for more realistic portrayals, its something that would be.
Tons of damage was caused by the MOS fight, the body count was mentioned here as being in the thousands. While it's not Superman's fault per se, it's something he was directly involved in and people should rightfully be divided on how to feel over it. I enjoyed the way they tied this into Bruce's personality, his anger and methods. Batman's the guy among the Justice League whose outgunned. He can't fly, can't move at super speed, and he certainly isn't going to be changing shape. When it comes to him winning a fight it's just as much about his intellect as it his his physical capabilities, and I think that (In regards to his confrontation with Superman) they really showed that here. Only part I thought they slipped up on is that he didn't construct as many Kryptonite weapons as I expected him too. But even then he still had a few traps for Superman along with the weapons he did have, which is classic Batman and exactly what i'd expect him to do, especially when he's choosing the area the fight's taking place in.
Don't know about anyone else, but I also thought the fight between Batman and Superman was pretty great. Batman came out on top, but for the fight itself there were moments Bruce was doing well and moments that Clark was doing well, and similar to Tony vs the Hulk in AoU it was pretty damn clear that our resident genius was doing everything he could not to die. So both characters were treated fairly. Both had awesome moments in comparison to the other. In terms of fighting, this is also the best live action Batman we've ever seen. Really don't even think it's a contest. Everything was extremely fluid, while also being brutal and visually didn't make Batman look like he could just take on an army with zero effort. He struggled, slipped up a time or two, but came out on top anyways. You also had him using a lot of force against his opponents and even outright killing some. This isn't the first time we've seen a live action Batman kill and while some people probably don't vibe with it, I think it fits. Especially since (Whether you liked it or not) Superman killed Zod at the end of the last film. And Lord knows that of the 3 Wonder Woman can be expected to kill someone when her film gets here.
I liked Superman in this film. Not a fan of the character, but I think he actually comes with a number of interesting ideas and questions when introduced to a world that's never seen something like him before. And I honestly think one of the best aspects of the film was the constant debate about his place in the world (And that switching back and forth between this debate and him doing various super-deeds was perfect). He's a larger than life figure with immense powers, so it's natural that he use them, but also very natural that people respect, fear, and question him. I was actually a little disappointed that his appearance in court was cut short like it was. Was interested to see what he was planning to say. I remember that when the trailers were being released Martha Kent got some flack for talking about how he didn't owe the world anything. Watching the actual scene, I still agree with her 100%. Superman doesn't owe people a damn thing, but it's the fact that he then chooses to save and help where he can that makes him the hero that he is. Not a major fan of Lois Lane's actress, but I think her relationship with Clark works. If there's one thing I was disappointed by for Superman it's that his fight with Doomsday didn't go on a little longer before Bruce and Diana got involved. Like, Superman vs Doomsday is basically THE fight for Superman. It's a championship match on the scale of Rocky vs Apollo. I think a few more minutes wouldn't have been out of the question.
On that note, I actually don't know that i was satisfied with Doomsday here. He appeared, did his stuff, was definitely tough, but at the end I kind of left the film feeling that he just...wasn't as good as everyone else in terms of a performance. Like they could've used a bunch of other villains and it would've been just fine.
When I first heard about their being multiple cameos in this film I thought that it was one more example of how DC was trying to catch up to Marvel instead of putting in the proper time and effort to develop this universe. Still think that way to an extent, but I also liked every single cameo they did for their Justice League film. Cyborg, Flash, Aquaman (Especially Aquaman), all were great. Gave you hints/glimpses of the characters to peak your interest, but not enough to satisfy you. And of course it's Lex Luthor who has been keeping track of these people, because that's what Lex Luthor does. With his obsession with Superman why would he not put some research into other powered beings? I've honestly wondered why you never really see him doing that in various other depictions honestly, because it's not like he doesn't have the resources to easily do so.
That being said, unlike Affleck I wasn't sure whether he could pull it off, but I thought Eisenberg's performance was solid. Best Lex Luthor i've ever seen? No, that honor still goes to Michael Rosenbaum, but this was a good version as well. He's...different than the others. Definitely has that young feeling to him, but there are also just a lot of personality quirks that set him apart as well, such as the manic way he speaks sometimes. While different, I thought it worked. And you can still see the same egocentrism and paranoia about people with more power than him. Lex and Clark barely even interacted with one another, but it was clear how much Lex despised this man he'd never met and that for all his intelligence this man is someone he just doesn't understand at the end of the day, and never will understand no matter what he does. His entire speech about God being all powerful and not being able to be all good was excellent. And if there's one thing that I can say I really just didn't like it was him creating Doomsday. Thought that was pushing it a little too far, with him using his blood and all.
I saw some people beforehand talking about how Wonder Woman stole the show and I really don't see how. She was good, most definitely, so I can see why people liked this portrayal, but at no moment did she come off with the same presence as Batman or Superman. That being said, similar to the cameos, I think they did a perfect job setting her character up. They were very certain to ensure that she really didn't have any bad moments. Superman looked awesome, Superman looked bad. Batman looked awesome, Batman looked bad. Wonder Woman only did cool stuff and it probably somewhat has to do with the fact that she isn't as popular as the other two, but I think almost certainly has to do with the fact that they really wanted people to see her in her full glory, however briefly, to get them excited for her film. I can honestly say that I don't know that i've ever been looking forward to an appearance of the character as much as I am now. I actually left the theater wanting to see her film, whereas beforehand I couldn't have cared less. In combat, she looked extremely graceful, yet powerful. When she was getting beat up by Doomsday she even smilled once. As a person that comes from a warrior race, who has been trained since birth to fight, that's exactly how she should be. She should enjoy fighting and be somewhat excited by a challenge and for her storyline you really didn't find out what it was about. The most you got was the picture of her with a bunch of people back in the 1900s, which again perfectly adds to the setup for her own film.
Can't say this is my favorite Superman film because I wouldn't really call it a Superman film. Batman and Superman share it equally. (It's then not my favorite Batman film because of Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy obviously). But I will say it's my favorite film where Superman has appeared in a main role. Think that it was better than Man of Steel and that DC's done a good job laying some actual groundwork for further films down the line. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are three of the most iconic figures in history and getting to see them on-screen, finally, was epic in my opinion. Was this as good as The Avengers to me? No, but it was very good nonetheless. Superman was solid. Wonder Woman was treated with the respect that the character deserves. Batman, as the one with the most exposure in the live action arena, might be the most polarizing figure here to some I think, because we've had so many different portrayals of him. I think that the average fan will love him, that they'll love the anger and roughness of an older Bruce Wayne. Me? He was great, Affleck gave one hell of a performance, but I think right now I might still prefer Bale (Besides the fighting, in which it's again just not a contest). Though that has a lot to do with the type of Batman I prefer. I do think that everyone can be happy with him here though. We don't need one, but i'm kind of disappointed that we won't be getting some solo Bat-films for Affleck (At least not for a while) in order to learn more about the Batman of this universe. But similar to the JLA i'm sure that'll be explained more over time.
So overall, I again thought the film was great. I'm actually fairly impressed, as I went in not expecting much from DC and they delivered and then some. Really interested to see how they handle things from now on, especially with Suicide Squad being up next.
