As far as movie reviews go, this is going to be a hard one to write. There were many aspects of this film that I liked, and many that I disliked. Nonetheless, I will try to add it all up and give you an assessment (which will almost undoubtably fall somewhere in the middle of the road).

Batman v Superman - Dawn of Justice is, if I’m counting correctly, DC’s second step in their extended cinematic universe (which I will refer to as the DCCU from this point onward). This is a concept that was pioneered by Marvel, starting in 2008 with Iron Man.

DC started their DCCU with Man of Steel a few years ago. As some of you have heard me say in the past, I am not a big fan of MoS. There are those who will defend it to the death, but for me the flaws were so glaring and so numerous, that I simply couldn’t accept it.

Batman v Superman, unfortunately, bears almost all of the critical errors that sunk Man of Steel. Most of the characters receive very little attention and aren’t given the kind of radical developmental treatment necessary to bring them to life, which ultimately leaves us with hollow husks that fly around and ‘do’ things that normally require a large quantity of CGI, rather than smart dialogue and interactions.

To be sure, almost all of the characters in Batman v Superman are about as dynamic as a wet carrot, with two exceptions. The first exception is Bruce Wayne who, played by Ben Affleck (who I am not usually very fond of), is actually one of the best written characters in the movie (barring some questionably corny dialogue that irked me from time to time).

I actually felt that Batman got better quality character development in this film (which featured the emergence of several new characters), than Superman got in MoS (a film that was supposed to be dedicated to him). Apparently Zack Snyder is an avid Batman fan, because it’s clear to me that more focus was put on him than his titular opponent.

The only problem with Batman in this film is the fact that his vendetta against Superman is, well, questionable to say the least. Remember that overly long battle sequence that occurred at the end of MoS? Well, apparently in this instance one of Bruce Wayne’s skyscrapers was destroyed, along with several dozen of his coworkers and friends. So, naturally, Bruce is begrudged because Superman was to blame for this horrible tragedy (which happened while Superman was destroying General Zod’s World Engine, which would have wiped out all life on Earth if he hadn’t).

Damn you, Superman! How dare you save my planet, while simultaneously annihilating the last remnants of your own civilization?!? For shame! >:(

See the problem? This is only further exacerbated by what is (in my opinion) the second worst line of dialogue in the film, wherein Bruce Wayne says something along the lines of ‘If there’s even a one percent chance that he is our enemy, then we have to take it as an absolute certainty!’ That’s the kind of illogical thinking that got OJ acquitted. I’d expect that out of a bumbling yahoo, not someone with a genius-level intellect like Bruce Wayne.

The other character that I adored in this movie was Lex Luthor, as played by Jesse Eisenberg (who, unlike Ben Affleck, I am a huge fan of). To me, it’s critical for any successful movie to have a compelling villain at the helm, and this guy is about as compelling as you could hope for. He’s jittery, twisted, spouts amazing dialogue, and has an interesting agenda (things that General Zod, sadly, lacked in MoS).

But, unfortunately, all of the other characters are either thoughtlessly shoehorned into the film, or simply serve as an irrelevant piece of background fodder. Superman, as he was in the previous film, is just as bland and just as boring (maybe more so). Lois Lane is underused, despite being played by a more than capable actress. And Wonder Woman is carelessly inserted into the film because, well, why the hell not? Kind of like how Black Widow was forced into Iron Man 2.

It is interesting to note, however, that even though Black Widow was underdeveloped in Iron Man 2, she became much more prevalent in later films. Time will tell if Wonder Woman will receive better treatment in films to come.

The other thing that irks me in this film is some of the lazy plot developments that occurred. The most glaring, for example, is how Lex Luthor creates Doomsday. Basically, he cuts the finger tips off of General Zod’s corpse, crudely attaches them to his fingers, uses them to board the crashed Kryptonian vessel from the first film while dragging Zod’s lifeless body behind him (no easy task for the ever-scrawny Lex Luthor), and activates the on-board computer (which apparently has no security protocols beyond basic finger print analysis).

Then, he kindly asks the computer to take Zod’s body and create a biomutagenic super weapon. The computer says something along the lines of ‘naw, we can’t do that; Kryptonian law forbids it’. Lex responds with something along the lines of ‘Just do it’, and the computer accepts without question. I swear, sometimes my laptop gives me more trouble when I’m trying to make a render.

Come to think of it, wouldn't the ship's computer become suspicious when the person disguised with General Zod's fingertips supplied General Zod's dead body to the ship's biogenesis chamber? Odd that he was able to get away with that.

Speaking of plot devices: Doomsday. I am getting so sick and tired of Superhero movies culminating with an epic, CGI-ridden battle of the ages between the heroes and some vague monstrosity. I hated it in The Avengers, I hated it in Spider-Man 3, and I hated it here. Why do movie makers have to resort to this tiresome cliche?

I mean, if you look at the most critically successful super hero films ever made, none of them do that. Batman Begins, X-Men, Spider-Man 2, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight are all films that focus on more small-scale, choreographed fight scenes between smaller parties. I would much rather watch Batman have a fist fight with the Joker, or watch Spider-Man fight Doc Ock on top of a train, than watch these jumbled eyesores play out in predictable fashion.

But of course, Zack Snyder just can’t help himself. He was able to execute some restraint in Watchmen, but since then he just can’t stop himself from orchestrating endless sequences of pure CGI madness that neither aid the storytelling, nor add anything intelligent to the film.

And speaking of storytelling, what’s with all the dream sequences? Seriously, there’s way too many of them in this film. It gets tiring after a while, especially when it’s very obvious that you’re watching a dream sequence. Less dream sequences, more substance. That’s my advice.

Enough with the negativity; let’s talk about one of the things Batman v Superman does infinitely right. There is a scene in this film that takes place on Capitol Hill. I will not say what happens in this scene because I never spoil anything that’s actually worth watching. What I will say is that I loved this scene. This feels like a page taken directly out of Christopher Nolan’s playbook, and it’s executed in spectacular fashion.

And it’s one of the few scenes in this film that is executed with minimal usage of CGI. That’s something that Zack Snyder, along with a lot of Hollywood filmmakers, need to get through their heads. Writing, dialogue, and cinematography will always trump visual effects. Always.

When we talk about movies, there are two routes that one can take to be successful. One can seek to entertain the audience, or to intrigue it. Batman v Superman, like Man of Steel, tries to do both and, as a result, does neither. There are pieces of the film that feel like an emulation of The Dark Knight, and there are others that feel like something out of The Avengers. Instead of trying to bridge depth with visual effects, they should have just stuck with one. That’s how Marvel does it, and that’s how Christopher Nolan did it. If Snyder had made this film with that ethos at heart, we would probably be talking about one of the best super hero films ever.

But alas, we are not talking about one of the best super hero films ever. We are talking about a middle-of-the-road, mediocre stumble in the DCCU. But hey, at least they didn’t poison it with a deceitful marketing campaign that made the film out to be something it wasn’t. At least they had the decency to not do that. For that, I generously award this film 2 out of 4 stars; see, I told you it would end up in the middle of the road! You didn’t even have to read all of this; you could’ve just stopped after the first paragraph. ;)