Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Except for the fact that for the first hour they talk with the attention and style as if someone ate the Bible and drank it down with horse sedatives, except that for almost two hours one tries to understand why those two hate each other so much that in a few seconds they began to love each other, except that almost all dynamic shifts are done by gossip and dream sequences, except that the motivation and actions of the characters follow the logic of the perverted screenwriting god of lobotomy, except that it (again) does not have full-fledged characters, but only square voices, except that Jesse Eisenberg plays a very low-cost version of Heath Ledger, except... what did I want? I don't know anymore. Actually, I do. Nice pictures for comic fanboys and excellent directing of contact events. I think. I have a dull feeling that Man of Steel pissed me off more than this Dawn of Randomness. If DC has chosen to make their films as a genetic conglomeration of highly comic stylization and very rhetorical references to serious topics, they are going to have to find a director who will be able to keep it all together. But it's not Snyder, especially when he is working with a screenplay that is more like a set of unrelated ideas for further elaboration. (24/03/2016)

SPOILER ALERT!! – This anticipated disaster is a blockbuster full of surprises. Zack Snyder skillfully twists what seemed like a nightmare during promotion, namely Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor and Doomsday as the final monster. The former, as a disturbing element of a jumping gnome in the trailers, is a captivating portrayal of a young man with great power consumed by his own ambitions. The latter, despite its visual similarity, functions as a multiple catharsis with an amazing soundtrack in the background of a suitably titanic (and sufficiently impactful) fight. However, what precedes this catharsis is a mishmash where confidence alternates with noticeable hesitation. The most notable aspect is referencing comic events that we have never seen in movies and will not see in the foreseeable future, regardless of how the whole building of the grand universe ended. Why mention the Joker and his deeds when we have never encountered him in this world? On the other hand, the criticized enticement to the Justice League led by Wonder Woman does not end up being an eyesore, even though this is where DC significantly stumbled over its own feet. Now, all it takes is for Gal Gadot to blink a few times, put on an all-knowing smile, and not only Bruce Wayne will be left speechless. Unfortunately, it is precisely The Dark Knight who remains in the background throughout the entire duration, which is the biggest failure given the space he is given. It's not that Ben Affleck is utterly hopeless, as melancholic pondering suits him. It's just that in direct confrontation with Henry Cavill, especially in emotional moments, he is outdone by his counterpart in almost every sentence, and it's a bit sad to see how he unexpectedly fails to deliver such intense scenes. On the other hand, Cavill dominates with every gesture in the role of a descending Messiah, and his bond with Lois Lane is the most magical thread of the entire film. After two and a half hours of proper chaos, I haven't absorbed everything. There is too much noise, insensitive throwing away of potentially gracious storylines, and I dislike how overdone Batman's behavior is considering the fragility of his motivation and its resolution. Nevertheless, this power struggle made sense, it could have paved the way for interesting creative efforts, but everything was overshadowed by the desire to step towards the Justice League. It was more than thoroughly enticing – and still, it didn't arouse any desire, let alone hunger, in me. (31/03/2016)

Three-hour Ultimate Edition; definitely a grown-up comic. This film is just like Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, it's similarly ambitious as an author, it's told on a grand epic scale, it wants to convey a lot, so the usual runtime isn't enough, it's just so sprawling that maybe it's detrimental to it and the average viewer won't appreciate it, which is a shame. Judging by the reviews, I was afraid of Eisenberg's overacted Lex Luthor, and unnecessarily so, I was also afraid Snyder would reveal his other self, again unnecessarily so (the 15 minutes or so of the fight with Doomsday were easily digestible), so my criticisms would be small, for example the reconciliation of Batman and Superman was too rushed, but otherwise it was fine and in the unedited ultimatum version everything made sense, everything fit together. The result was better (i.e. darker, more mature) than most of the overstuffed Marvel films for undemanding teenagers. And in retrospect I now appreciate the previous Man of Steel, though my complaints about the digital clutter remain. PS: A message to those who complain about the film being too dark: don't look at screen rips or low quality dvd-rips (1,5 GB and smaller), fools.... (21/07/2016)

Not as good as I hoped, not as bad as I feared. Excellently acting by the main heroic trio, awfully bad villains. A screenplay full of holes with illogical motivations. The action digital - as you would expect - but pretty good, even so. It should have been a little slower. The movie wants to say and show an awful lot of things. Not that today’s comic books aren’t overfull too. The intro with Affleck’s Wayne is awesome. (23/03/2016)

The film ended up being a little better than the trailers. Still, the plot was a bit too chaotic. I think they chose the actors well, but they kept it pretty tame with the Superman character. Batman was a little more fleshed out, but they could have pushed harder with him too. Or maybe they didn't push on purpose, so that one of them wouldn't be more sympathetic to the audience. Still, we've all got our favorite, haven't we. I have no major problem with Lex Luthor as he was introduced here, and I'm quite interested in his future development. I just hope they realize that if they want to make a Joker out of him, it's going to be rather awkward. Oh, and the music was really good. 3 stars. (02/04/2016)