Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice - Not as bad as you’ve probably heard

Okay, I know I’m a little late to the party here – ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’ has been out for a while now, so I was well aware of the split opinions when I finally got round to watching this on DVD.  From what I gathered you either thought it was the greatest film ever made or a steaming pile of bat-kryptonite.

I come down somewhere in the middle.  I’m no die-hard comic book fan, so I can’t really tell you how well the main characters are represented, apart from how they compare to their various filmic incarnations.  But I can tell you that, although it’s no classic, it’s probably not as bad as you’ve heard.  But then that’s not to say that it isn’t without faults.

First of all, if you didn’t know, the comic company behind Batman and Superman is DC and they’re playing catch-up to rivals Marvel when it comes to recent big screen outings.  Marvel created a ‘shared universe’ where they made a film about each superhero then combined them for an ‘ensemble’ movie.  Now, DC is jumping on the bandwagon, but is going a little too far too fast.  BVS is packed full of characters and sub-plots, many of which could have been taken out.  It only really had the Man of Steel (aka Superman 1) before it, so it’s trying to get too much information in, compared to Marvel’s slow build up.

Then you have Jessie Eissenberg.  Yes, he plays the main villain ‘Lex Luthor’ (or Luthor’s son to be precise).  However, as many feared, he’s just not up to it.  I like the actor, I just think that he was horribly miscast for this role – and it shows.  You really needed a more threatening (and older!) actor to take on the role.

Then you have the trailer.  If you were looking forward to this film then you probably saw the trailers.  They basically ended up being a condensed version of the two and a half hour film, so you can probably work out everything that’s going to happen.  No surprises here then.

But, despite its faults, I actually enjoyed it.  I was sceptical about Ben Affleck as Batman, but he was actually pretty okay (and that’s high praise for Affleck from me!).  Wonder Woman’s inclusion wasn’t as ‘shoe-horned’ in as I thought it would be and she’ll probably have a reasonably successful stand-alone movie off the back of this.  Plus the fight scene that we were all waiting for was well worth the wait (if cut short for many people’s taste).

Overall, don’t believe either the lovers or the haters.  If you go into this film with your expectations suitably set to something that will pass the time and is actually worth it for seeing – arguably – two of the greatest superheroes ever knocking seven bells out of each other, then you’ll just about get your money’s worth.  Probably one for DVD rather than paying full price in the cinema for. 

I’m well up for the Justice League – expectations set low for that, too.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that