Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Seen in 3D – cinema version. This oozes ambition right from the start. Music by Hans Zimmer, Christopher Nolan as executive producer, and a budget of a quarter of a billion. And lo and behold, it doesn't work. I wouldn't give Batman v Superman a Boo!, but in the context of the current boom in comic book adaptations, it's pretty damn weak. For one thing, I can't get my head around the script, which is utterly impotent ("Martha. Why did you say that name?" --- WHAT THE FUCK???). There are hints of Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy (the stylization of Gotham, the interweaving with politics), but Snyder, apparently in a state of psychopathic fear of future accusations that he's blatantly copied Nolan, chooses his own path again in the form of a digital orgy. Thus, in the space of 150 minutes, the motivations of the two superheroes are only very sporadically sketched out, whereas the best-drawn character is Lex Luthor, portrayed by the annoying Eisenberg (and I quite like Jesse otherwise). I purposely watched it in 3D to revel in the epic action scenes, but unfortunately I didn't get any. It's all so rushed, uncertain, and underdeveloped. It's the several years and especially the gradual building of the cinematic universe that really counts for something, because the viewer is better oriented overall and understands why a character does what he does. In the DCEU, they go about it exactly the opposite way and it feels like it too. Killed potential and, once again, after Man of Steel a very embarrassing result. A second disappointment. (03.06.2018)

I'm withholding my final rating until the extended cut. What I took away from the screening was just how incredibly simplified and overall hasty the editing was. Affleck's Bruce Wayne was great and even better than Batman, Superman was incredibly sidelined, Eisenberg was perfectly okay (as opposed to the trailers), and I like Gal Gadot in pretty much anything, but she was superb as Wonder Woman. What I find disappointing is Zimmer’s lackluster soundtrack, which, except for a few exceptions, lacks a memorable motif. Like many others, I have mixed feelings about this movie. My basic or slightly above-average knowledge of the DC world was obviously not enough. After watching it, I started browsing the Internet to find out what I had missed and, apparently, there were a lot of things. Indeed, Dawn of Justice is not a movie for the masses, but for true hardcore DC fans. For them it must be a near-orgasmic experience. After the second viewing and the subsequently watched solo movies, my rating is bound to go up. (31.03.2016)